Inked Mag Staff
August 9th, 2017
A Sad, Yet Inspirational Real Life Story About The Mother Of A Special Needs Child and The Meaning Behind Her Tattoo
Learn How This Mother Copes With Her Son’s Condition Through Her Tattoo Raising a child isn’t easy, especially when you throw disorders like autism into the mix. Autism is a…
Learn How This Mother Copes With Her Son’s Condition Through Her Tattoo
Raising a child isn’t easy, especially when you throw disorders like autism into the mix. Autism is a disorder that affects brain development and it is characterized by difficulty communicating and forming relationships with other people. Autism is on a spectrum, meaning that individuals who have this condition may have mild autism and be high functioning. In other circumstances, some people with autism are on the severe end of the spectrum and their inability to communicate verbally has a significant impact on their everyday life. The latter is the case for Angela St. Joan’s son Airrion, a teenage boy from Missouri who has severe autism among a handful of other conditions. St. Joan has struggled to keep up with her son’s daily challenges and created a YouTube channel where she shares the struggles that come with raising a child with autism. In a short series, St. Joan explains her choice to get a back piece dedicated to her personal journey raising Airrion and the story behind her tattoo will inspire anyone who is currently affected by different special needs disorders.
Meet Angela St. Joan, the mother, and caretaker of a teenage boy named Airrion.
Airrion has been diagnosed with severe autism, speech aphasia, pica, tardive dyskinesia, and over 2,000 different allergies.
During the time that St. Joan began searching for treatments, she also decided to depict her journey raising Airrion with a tattoo.
She began working with tattooer Joey Hill to create a tattoo that would represent autism—and soon enough one tiny idea blossomed into a large scale back piece.
St. Joan started off by getting a landscape of the Sierra Nevada mountains with a biblical quote, to represent a time when her life was simple and calm.
She also wanted the tattoo to represent her oldest son, who has helped support her and Airrion throughout this autism journey.
She also included a portrait of Saint Joan of Ark, which represents the strength and courage she continues to exhibit when raising her son.
St. Joan created a border of puzzle pieces, which is the national symbol of autism awareness. Puzzle pieces are representative with the mystery and complexity of autism spectrum disorder.
Although St. Joan has completed her tattoo, her fight against autism and the challenges that afflict her son continue. To learn more about St. Joan and her continuing battle, watch the videos below.
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