Illustration and Design Assets created for Health Union, LLC Spinal Muscular Atrophy Community “Transitioning to Adulthood with SMA”.

The tone of the SMA community is commonly hopeful as it usually centers around medical advancements and treatments, life as a disabled individual or as a caregiver of one, normalizing living with disability, and dealing with the challenges that come with a progressive disease.

In this article, the writer living with SMA shares how transitioning to adulthood meant not only that her physical needs would change, but also that she needed to learn to advocate for herself as an adult and stand up for what she needs.

For this concept, I show a female character transitioning from childhood to adulthood, her mobility device upgrading along the way as well as her confidence as she finally faces the audience in the last image. Flowers grow along with her until they are also tall and full open to further represent her internal change in confidence and self advocacy as she ages.

Below are assets designed for a few of the methods where this article was to be marketed.