Lisette Auton: Writing a book where every child gets to be the hero

FILLED with mermaids, mystery, and much more, Lisette Auton's debut novel celebrates the joy of found families and the importance of inclusion and acceptance. "It is proudly set in the North East with a cast of disabled characters having one heck of an adventure, bringing the two most important aspects of my identity front and centre," says the Darlington writer. "Then, obviously and why not, I added fierce mermaids and a captain with a kitten in his beard. I wanted to write a book where every child gets to be the hero, not the sidekick or evil villain, a book that says your words are important too – please write them. I hope that readers will laugh, cry, cheer on the Wrecklings, want Alpha and Badger to be their friends, to go off on adventures, and most of all, know that they are important and wonderful, exactly the way they are.”

Lisette, who lives in Darlington, explains how her own impairment has affected her life and attitudes, and why she believes that words are powerful tools for change.

Tell us a bit about your background.

I live in Darlington – a Darlo lass born and bred. My sprawling family are from North and South Shields, so weekends and school holidays were spent there. This coast was the inspiration for the book; rugged, harsh and beautiful.

I went to Bretton Hall, part of Leeds University, for drama training. The intention was never to return home to live. I was set to teach English as a foreign language in China, but life and health had other plans and I ended up back home being looked after by my parents. I then fell in love and unintentionally Darlington became my home once more. It wasn’t the plan! But no regrets, I love it here, and the creative community in the North East is fabulous. A massive part of why I have no intention of ever leaving.

The cover of Lisette Auton's book

How do you deal with the challenges your disability throws up?

My impairment means that sometimes I’m bouncy, sometimes I’m bed-bound and everything in between. I often walk with a stick. Energy has to be rationed and spontaneity definitely is not my strong point. I found it hard when I tried to work regular hours, but now that I’m freelance, I can make it work to fit my needs. It means my life may look quite small from the outside looking in, but I love it. I love lying on my bed reading and watching the tree outside, the birds that come and go. And it has meant that I’m really selective about the people and organisations I work alongside. I have an Access Rider – it isn’t a medical document, it states what I need to thrive. And with that support, I can and I am.

The challenges aren’t from the impairment itself. I have grumpy days, doesn’t everyone? And in-pain days are no fun. But the biggest barriers are those in society, that prevent me from working, or accessing events, or my friends from doing so. If they can’t get in, or there are no captions or interpreter, then I’m not going either. That’s why it’s really important to me that all the work I make is accessible as a matter of course.

Author Lisette Auton Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Your biog says you are an activist – what would you most like to change?

Please may we just have a bit more kindness? I’d really like that! I’d love to change the way we view people and worth; away from questions about productivity and about happiness instead. The view of disabled and neurodivergent people is still very often a deficit model – what can’t you do – and of seeing it as a problem that requires fixing. I don’t want or need to be fixed, but I do need the elements of the world that cause barriers to be fixed. My brain and body work in different ways, and the way society in general works doesn’t allow me to thrive. But I have so much potential, and unique ways of seeing the world, and I want that to be recognised and embraced for everyone.

The main thing I want to change right now, and I’m hoping The Secret of Haven Point can be a part of this, is the options that disabled children have to see themselves fairly represented on bookshelves – why shouldn’t we be the adventurers and not the villains? They are our future, and our future authors. I want to show that if little old me from Darlo can do this, anyone can. Dream big!

You obviously believe in the power of words to change things...

Oh, I so do! I adore words, they are my most favourite thing, alongside bodies of water, naps, chips and a nice cup of tea. I’m a bit fed up of disabled characters being the villain, the pitied person, being magically fixed. And especially so in children’s books. This is completely and utterly rubbish! I hope disabled children reading the book can breathe a sigh of relief, that they are adventuring, in a gang of fabulous friends, bickering, then making up and solving a mystery. That they are the ones in charge, saving the world. And that non-disabled children can see their peers reflected in this light. Maybe it will let disabled children know that they can be authors and creatives and then we can have loads of new narratives and sparkling ideas – I’d bloomin’ love that. I’d love for it to challenge the perception that to be the hero we need to be fixed. We can be the hero exactly the way we are.

How important are your North East roots to you?

They aren’t just important, they’re integral, a massive part of my identity. I love it here. My husband and I have kayaks, and we go off with our rescue dog, Harper Lee. A perfect day would be putting in at Tees Barrage, pootling up the Tees and getting out at Stockton for a wander to Drake the Bookshop for some reading material. Or higher up the river, where deer can wander down to surprise you and kingfishers fly overhead – breath-taking. Finishing off with a night out in Middlesbrough – such an incredible indie scene for music, art and poetry.

• Lisette Auton is a disabled writer, activist, poet, novelist, spoken-word artist, actor, film & theatre-maker and creative practitioner. She's an award-winning poet who has performed at Northern Stage, ARC, The Southbank Centre and Sage Gateshead, in pubs, in a crypt, at festivals, indoors, outdoors, on a bridge and in a launderette.