Teen with scoliosis finds therapy in drawing

Cathie France from Juniper Training helped Violet create her book

A disabled teenager who found a passion for drawing and storytelling while undergoing hospital treatment has produced her own book.

Over three years, Violet, 17, from Brierley Hill in the West Midlands, went from being able to run and walk to using a wheelchair and losing some of her ability to speak.

Her dad Steven said she was first diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and then with scoliosis.

Violet discovered her skill for drawing during lengthy spells in hospital and her father said it helped her forget about her pain.

Cathie France, a teacher from Wolverhampton-based training provider Juniper Training, helped Violet create the book.

"It's so amazing, what [she] had done that I think [we] should create it into an actual book," she said.

Violet's book came from her discovery of her drawing skills, her father said

“She’s had major surgery, so at the minute she’s unable to walk or stand,” Steven said.

“Violet was in hospital for three months and she would have been just lying in bed doing nothing and thinking over and over.

“She had the book to do, she’s completed the book while she was in hospital.”

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, an inherited condition, affects the connective tissues supporting her bones while scoliosis is a condition where the spine twists and curves to the side.

Violet's dad Steven said drawing was therapeutic for her

Most of the time Violet wears hand braces to straighten her hands, her father added.

“While she’s got the art stuff out, her hands seem to straighten up a lot better and she just forgets about the pain.

“It’s the main thing she does every single day.”

Violet now has plans to create a second book, he said.