Autism is a neurodevelopment disorder that impairs the individuals ability to learn, communicate, and live a normal life. They have to have constant guidance day in and day out just to be able to perform the basic abilities to live as normal of life as possible. In a visual essay by Laikin Tucker, she uses a collaboration of images that revolve around her relationship with her sister and what she has gained from having an autistic sister. She uses these images to show the readers that autistic people can be normal to a degree and they teach you ore about patience, love, what people say does not matter, and happiness should be found in the small things in life. 

he author uses texts to help the reader understand what is happening in the photo, he then uses the appeal to emotions by what is happening in the image. The organization of the photos is not as important because all the photos tribute to the overall message of the essay. 

The author starts the essay off with an image of her and her sister. According to the caption below the picture, her sister is autistic. Looking at the image, we see the two girls hugging extremely tight. Tighter than the normal hug, they literally have their arms completely wrapped around each other and the bigger girl appears to be leaning on the smaller girl. They have an extremely close relationship with each other, one you might not be able to have if your sister was not autistic. The image is also is black and white, a reader may relate the black and white filter to love and happiness, as many wedding pictures or family pictures are done in black and white. Therefore, they will know this is a close, happy, loving relationship the two girls have.   The image contributes to the overall message of the image essay of autistic individuals teach you how to love with your whole heart. 

The second image is focused on the autistic sister, it is cropped to only show her, barely any background, which emphasizes her and outrageous laughing. Bight colors are also seen in the image’s background, the audience will positive, happy vibe about the image, not just because  the girl is laughing. The audience can interpret she is in a happy mood, and everyone around her is more than likely happy and enjoying their life at the time. By reading the image’s caption, the audience will know the laughter was caused by something some, because the caption mentions they find happiness and laugher in the smallest things in life. Therefore, the image contributes to the message that autistic people give people joy, laughter and lets people know it is possible to find happiness in the small things life has to offer. 

Autistic people have limitations to the things they can do in their daily lives. They have to have assistance with almost everything. But they have determination. The third image clearly shows how the autistic girls determination helped her ride a horse, with of course, assistance from her sister. The image focuses on the girl and the horse, showing the importance of the two in the image. Also, the body language of the horse shows he is happy and listening to the autistic girl.  He is happily walking with her on her back, alongside her sister,who must care a lot about her autistic sister to help her ride a horse.  The autistic girl also has a smile on her face, which the audience can use to determine she is ecstatic to be on the back of the horse. This could possibly be her first time riding a horse, which is difficult for even a normal person to accomplish.  The audience will learn that autistic people can do what normal people do but with modification and a lot of determination. 

In the fourth and fifth images, we see the autistic girl accomplishing things that are not so easy to accomplish for normal people. The fourth image is during a commencement ceremony for her high school, the audience will infer this because she is standing in a crowd in a cap and gown with younger individuals. The image is focuses in on the autistic girl. There is a profile of the student near her but she is facing towards the camera. Making her standout from the crowd. The fifth image is of the her standing on a football field wear a sash and crown while holding a bouquet of flowers, in a fancy dress. The audience could infer the girl just won homecoming queen. Her face is radiating with pride as she more than likely stand in front of a crowd. An autistic girl was was voted for homecoming queen, beating all of the other contestants. Which is a pretty amazing feat. This is every high school girls dream of winning. But she is there, in that moment a “normal” person, she outdid everyone else. Showing the audience she can be like everyone else just with more determination than the rest an she is made to stand out from the crowd. 

The author then switches from her original photos to photos that are more generic. This could be because it is a more personal situation and she did not want to expose the full truth behind what is being said, or it could just convey the message more clearly than an image of her own could. The sixth image is of a young girl, clinching her fist, her head leaned back, and it seems like she is screaming or have a meltdown basically. As a normal thing, people would think only children have meltdowns, but the audience learns that autistic individuals also have meltdown because they cannot communicate effectively which leads to frustration.  By analyzing this image, a person would have to realize it would take a special person to be able to deal with an adult who is having a meltdown, as it is already tough enough to handle a child who is throwing a tantrum. Therefore, the sister learns a lot about patience. 

An image of two people holding hand sincerely is used as the seventh image. It goes along with what is said in the caption about how they are each other’s “rock”. The focus on the two people holding hand in the image conveys a feeling of sincerity, love, and support. The color of the image as whole gives the audience a feeling of warmth and reassurance. Relating and helping show the meaning behind having them image, autistic people offer a kind of support nobody else can offer. They know their autistic friends will forever be there for them because they are a true friend. 

Finally the final image conveys the message that autistic individuals do not care what people say about them, therefore we should take a lesson from them. In the image, the focus is on the “bad” people who are talking about the others in the image. The others represent autistic people, burying them because they could care less about what the “bad” people are saying. They basically block out the negativity and mind their own business which is why they are not focused in with the image. 

Autism is something that is easy to deal with but having the right heart like the sister did, it will be worth while. Laikin is able to use a  wide variety of images to convey the message about autistic people and what having an autistic sibling has to offer; love, support, happiness, patience, understanding and numerous other things that isn't as easy to come by with a normal sibling. She successfully uses focus points, color, and emotional appeal to convey these ideas.