����ý

A group of young adults from Londonderry have penned a book designed to break down barriers and challenge stigma around disability.

The Adventures of Ben: A story about Inclusion and Friendship, is based on the experiences of nine young people, members of the Playtrail Youth Forum.

In the book, Ben, based on 24-year-old Owen Kelly, is a wheelchair user.

Owen said he used his own experiences to help shape the character.

"It's been wonderful to see how far the book has gone and how much we've sold already," he told ����ý Radio Foyle's The North West Today.

"It was just sort of my experiences growing up with people assuming because I'm in a chair or a walker that I couldn't do the same things as them or I didn't have the same interests as them," he continued.

"It's sort of changing that perception of 'aww because you're in a wheelchair you can't like football or you can't do certain things'."

The book is the result of a year-long collaboration between the Playtrail, a group for adults with learning disabilities, and Books by Stellas, a social enterprise that works to challenge stigma and raise awareness of autism and special educational needs.

Gavin Melly, the Playtrail's social inclusion manager, hopes the book will inspire children to treat everyone equally.

"It was about the young people thinking and reflecting on what life was like growing up for them," he said.

Gavin said the authors hope as well as educating children and other young people, nursery teachers, parent and youth workers will benefit from reading the book.

It is, he said, an educational tool that busts myths and allows a conversation to take place about the "simple things around inclusion".