Difference Is a Superpower: Leslie Pitt's Road to Authorship

On the first week of summer vacation, a truck hit Leslie Pitt.  She was six years old, and her leg was crushed so severely that it was amputated. She needed to wear a prosthesis for the rest of her life. Leslie spent that entire summer in the hospital.

Now, as a nurse with a Juris Doctor degree, Leslie has done a ton of writing, but writing her children’s book was the hardest writing project she’s ever had. She knew she had to get her book, Lolo’s Superpower, exactly right. The message was near and dear to her heart: that everyone has a superpower, and that everyone has the right to just feel like a kid.

Despite living with a prosthesis (and a few bullies) Leslie had a happy  childhood. She was dedicated to school. Right after the accident, her parents got her back into  tap dance, Brownies, and taught her to ride a bike. In many ways, she was able to feel like she had before, albeit with a prosthetic leg.

But despite her successful healthcare career, Leslie knew she had to do more. Leslie served on the boards of multiple nonprofit organizations, including the Amputee Coalition, but she still felt like it wasn’t enough. She wanted to help kids living with “disabilities,” or what she calls “differing abilities.”

She began to research organizations serving kids with differing abilities when she stumbled across a report from the UN about the global perspective of people with disabilities.  When she read about all the children across the world who were negatively impacted by their disability, she got goosebumps.

She felt that if she had lived through similar circumstances as some of these children, she might not have survived. She recognized that throughout the challenges she faced, she still had access to opportunity.

Her human rights hadn’t been violated. Nobody had ever denied Leslie her right to education or the right to life because of her disability.

Leslie realized what her next move needed to be after she spent a summer abroad studying global health and human rights in Geneva. She felt compelled to launch an organization that would fight for the rights of children living with differing abilities.  She traveled to Ghana with her brother to visit a clinic that she wanted to partner with. When she came back, in 2018, she founded Project Lolo.

Project Lolo, spelled forwards, stands for “Love Ourselves, Love Others.” Backwards, it stands for “One Life, One Limb.” Through Project Lolo and her book, Lolo’s Superpower, Leslie has held fundraisers, visited schools, created lesson plans for grade school children on diversity and inclusion, and launched book partnerships with clinics so they could receive free copies of Lolo’s Superpower. 

This year, she will launch a circuit of speaking engagements to help people personally connect with their own differences as their pillars of strength while sharing the perspectives of children across the world, living with differing abilities, who are just as deserving of opportunities as any child anywhere.

Leslie’s book, Lolo’s Superpower, is intimately connected with her humanitarian work.

It shows children that their physical traits, mental traits, and experiences all contribute to their unique identities. Even when children feel they are “different” from those around them, they should know that their strength is in their difference. That’s the movement of Project Lolo and Lolo’s Superpower.

To get involved, visit Project Lolo or Love Ourselves, Love Others.