About the Author

Tal wrote Willy for the child he once was—and for every child building a life of their own.

He remembers watching other children move freely while ordinary moments demanded planning, effort and help from him. Born with cerebral palsy, Tal learned the ache of wanting to be like everyone else long before he learned that a life could be good without looking like everyone else's.

The turning point was not overcoming cerebral palsy or pretending the barriers were gone. It was understanding that he could combine people, knowledge, accessibility and technology to build a way that worked for him. Tal earned a degree in Behavioral Sciences and became an accessibility advocate, while continuing to shape a life around the body and abilities he actually has.

Willy grew from the sentence Tal needed as a child: you may not move through life like everyone else, but your future is still yours to imagine, choose and build. A different life is not a lesser life.