Ivan Baidak

Dear friends!  I am happy to announce that my latest book "Invisible" which describes the life of people with unusual appearance has already been published.

Invisible” is a social fiction book that addresses the social problems of people with certain appearance peculiarities. Four people, having diseases like Tourettes Syndrom, Vitiligo, Alopecia, and face hemangioma meet at the social support group and decide to rent an apartment together. They live and share their experience fighting bullying and prejudice. They speak on their feelings, attempts to integrate into society, and the way society treats them.

I wrote this book since I'm also an "invisible" person. Suffering from Tourettes Syndrom I know this life inside out. The goal of the book is to fight against harassment, bullying, inequality and raise awareness of the topic.

You can watch the book trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH-jsdOieJA

You can order a book (for now in Ukrainian only) following the link: https://vivat-book.com.ua/ne-pomitni.html

Please help me translate the book into English: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-039invisible039-people-get-noticed

And here is the book overview:

This is a story about 4 unusual people, who share the same apartment but live in a usual world, trying to make it better.

They are very friendly and open to start conversations with strangers and enjoy making someone's life easier.

In a world, they do not behave in a way the most of dived into their own world people usually do. Their aim is to make people notice more important things of life instead of endlessly being immersed in the daily routine of life.

You can't help noticing them. Marta has alopecia, Eva has vitiligo, Anne suffers from facial hemangioma, and Adam has the nervous tics.

These young people face prejudice in the community, while equality is the only thing they want to achieve. Therefore they turn their kindness into a weapon, trying to make others happier. But others just keep staring at them.

This is the story about 4 unusual people, who live in the usual world and share the same apartment. There one can hear sincere talks about things they are worried about. But these things are only for them to know. In a real-world, they have a unique mission.

My characters have their real prototypes and I'm lucky to know them. I know stories of these unperfect people who mostly live in their own inner world because sometimes they feel they are not welcomed into the perfect world of perfect people.

This is a coming-out story. There are lots of special people around us. We don't see them either because they are closed personalities or just because we reject to notice them. In the book I'm talking about people with unusual appearance, my characters differ from others and acknowledge what prejudice is and realize the specific behavior towards them.

My book is about acceptance and tolerance, about feelings and worries these characters face every day, real situations and conditions they need to be in. And also about the only thing they ask for - equality. Besides I want to share a lot of advice on how to communicate with people with such traits.

Why did I decide to write this book?

Being a 12-year old I was diagnosed a Tourette's syndrome, which mostly appeared itself by eye blinking or muscle twitching, sometimes went to vocal symptoms: coughing, nose scrunching.

Threads are nervous impulses we can not control. They were the cause for my dismissal from jobs or exclusion from the classes at University, girls would think I was winking at them. Though the last one was rather pleasant 🙂

Year after year I learned to control it, I learned my body and avoided things that could stimulate those tics. Though it's impossible to get rid of it entirely.

Yet, I do really know what the prejudiced attitude means as well as I know what those people feel. This book is not only about sharing the stories but also a way to help others understand how to treat special people.

Invisible is a book about fear and escape, the necessity of being loved and accepted. It's about a permanent struggle with your complexes and attempts in order to start loving yourself. It's about hard stories. But also about big hearts.