New book teaches children that those with disabilities are 'different by design' and loved by God

When Monica Mangiacapra's youngest child, Isaac, was born in March 2022, he came into the world full of surprises — some anticipated, some not. 

The first surprise, the one the family anticipated, was that Isaac was a boy. His parents had opted not to learn his gender before his birth and were looking forward to finding out. 

The second surprise, which nobody had anticipated, was that Isaac had Down syndrome. 

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"No doctors or nurses mentioned it" after her son's birth, Mangiacapra, a resident of North Texas, told Fox News Digital in an interview this week. 

"My husband was the one who recognized he had some Down syndrome markers while we were in recovery from my emergency C-section," she said. 

Monica Mangiacapra was inspired to write "Different by Design" after failing to find a book that was based in scripture and featured illustrations of disability. Her youngest son, Isaac, was born with Down syndrome.  (Jessica Cernat Photography)

She thinks, perhaps, that doctors and nurses during delivery assumed the family already knew their son's diagnosis. But despite "at least eight" ultrasounds during her pregnancy, nobody spotted anything that would suggest Isaac had Down syndrome, Mangiacapra said. (Prenatal screenings for Down syndrome usually include blood tests plus ultrasounds during pregnancy, according to the NIH.)

In honor of her son Isaac and all others with special needs, Mangiacapra wrote the book "Different by Design." The scripturally based picture book helps explain disabilities to children. 

"How do we explain something that we don't really even understand ourselves?"

She was inspired in part by her own experiences, she said. After their son's birth, Mangiacapra and her husband were suddenly thrust into the world of parenting a child with special needs. 

"We had no link to disabilities or special needs before his birth. I only knew of a couple of acquaintances who had children with Down syndrome, but they were more ‘friends of a friend,'" she said. 

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Uppermost in her mind was how she would discuss Isaac's diagnosis with her two older children — a four-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son.  

"The first thing I thought of was, How do we explain this? How do we explain something that we don't really even understand ourselves?" she said. 

Author Monica Mangiacapra, whose husband and two of her three children are shown here, said she was scared about how her older children would react to their brother. But "they were in complete awe" of him, she said.  (Jessica Cernat Photography)

In addition to Isaac's diagnosis, Mangiacapra was recovering from a "scary birth" in which her uterus nearly ruptured. 

During her recovery, she found solace in scripture, particularly Psalm 139: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well." 

"We knew God didn't make mistakes, so we wanted to explain that to our older kids," she said. 

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It was Psalm 139, she said, that would become the backbone of her book. 

Even before she left the hospital, Mangiacapra began to look for "a book with scripture, but also related to disability" that was not trying to push any other sort of ideological agenda, and was not focused only on physical differences. 

"We are all different, just as God designed."

Her search came up empty. 

Seeing the gap in the market, along with doing a lot of praying and receiving encouragement from her friends, Mangiacapra wrote "Different by Design."

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The message of the book is that "we are all different, just as God designed," even if those differences are a disability. 

The book features illustrations that "represent as many visible and invisible disabilities," she said, including autism and communication disorders. 

"Isaac was going to be different, but we are all different. He may just be a little more obvious," author Mangiacapra told Fox News Digital. Baby Isaac is shown between his two siblings.  (Jessica Cernat Photography)

"Regardless of how one communicates, God knows our hearts, and we don't have to verbalize a word for Him to hear us," she said. "I also wanted to show different skin, hair, eyes, heights and sizes." 

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As Isaac now prepares to celebrate his second birthday, Mangiacapra reflected on her time as a parent of a child with special needs. 

"I just want to encourage families who may receive a diagnosis that joy and grief can coexist," she said. 

The five members of the Mangiacapra family. "We are all better because of the joy we get to experience with him," the author said of her youngest child.  (Jessica Cernat Photography)

"God hates suffering," said Mangiacapra, even though "His own son, Jesus, suffered the most gruesome death. He understands suffering." 

She continued, "God has used Isaac's Down syndrome diagnosis to soften our hearts in ways that would not have happened otherwise. We are all better because of the joy we get to experience with him." 

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"Isaac was going to be different, but we are all different. He may just be a little more obvious," Mangiacapra said. 

"But regardless of how Isaac does or doesn't do things, God created him with no mistakes." 

The new book "Different by Design" is available on Amazon or at Mangiacapra's website, "A Joyful Advocate."

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