Fonthill author Michael Jacques is reaching an international audience with his first book published 18 months ago.
Jacques, 28, lives with autism and used speech-to-text technology to pen his writing debut.
The book, titled "Can't Read, Can't Write, Here's My Book", was forwarded to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario who shared it with the executive director of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust.
A few weeks later, the book and Michael's story was added to the Queen's Commonwealth Trust website, which recognizes young adults who make a positive change in their community in the 53 Commonwealth countries.
So far his book has sold 17,000 copies.
It's been a whirlwind 18 months since the book's release; Michael has been appointed to the Ministry of Education's advisory council on special education, and also elected as the vice president of Community Living Ontario.
What's next for Michael Jacques?
He keeps busy these days with speaking engagements and also plans to get a second book published so he can continue inspiring people all over the world.