An Inspiration

1 piece of advice : increase your speaker volume a bit before watching this - the sound is low.

Amazing, wasn't it?

Stephen Wiltshire was born in London to West Indian parents on 24th April, 1974. His sister, Annette, is two years older than her brother. He lives with his mother in West London.

As a child, Stephen was mute and did not relate to other human beings. Aged three, he was diagnosed as autistic. He had no language, uncontrolled tantrums and lived entirely in his own world.

It soon became apparent, he communicated with the world through the language of drawing; first animals, then London buses, and finally buildings. Aged eight, Stephen started drawing cityscapes after the effects of an earthquake (all imaginary) as a result of being shown photographs of earthquakes in a book at school. He also became obsessed with cars and illustrations of cars at this time (his knowledge of them is encyclopaedic) and he drew most of the major London landmarks. In 1987, he was proclaimed the best child artist in Britain.

Stephen has drawn the city of Rome (featured video), Hong Kong and Tokyo. He is known as a 'Human Camera' and not only has a great memory, but is also an amazing artist.

That has got to be one of the most wonderful things i have ever read about. This man is an inspiration to so many children and people alike. As a child, people must have disregarded him, discouraged him as many people seem to think children with special needs aren't capable of doing anything. I sometimes wonder where this misconception arose from? My first trip to the Dubai Centre for Special Needs was inspirational. Those children taught me a lot more than anything else in my life. They're not ordinary - they're extraordinary. We need to understand that the message the give us is one of the most important messages of life. Each and everyone of us is special - only if we believe that we can do it (i honestly don't care how cliched and lame that may have sounded - it's true). If you don't believe in yourself, you can't achieve anything.

I am a fan of Stephen and you all should check his site out : www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk

Also, this is a picture by him of the Oxford Circus at Night and of The Buckingham Palace -