Above: The Escayg family., 2016 Photograph by Rashmi Mathur
The story of the storytellers
We are Francis and Laura Escayg, a filmmaker, music producer, published author, social- entrepreneur and a singer-songwriter who decided to use our talents to create a better world for people living with disabilities by using print and video to humanise them.
Our work in Cause An Effect is driven by our love for our eldest child Isaiah, who is intellectually challenged.
Our Mission is to create an on-going conversation about the impact that the deficiencies in our system has on people living with disabilities and their families, and to address and solve some of those issues by building a social enterprise that combines media and entrepreneurship as pathways to activism, employment, sustainability and the creation of assisted-living communities.
“Man plans and God laughs”
Eighteen years ago, we were pursuing careers in the music, film and publishing business when our world was turned upside down by the birth of our son, Isaiah.
Every single plan we had was redirected by a diagnosis of Incontinentia Pigmenti that causes global developmental delays for him. As the months rolled by, it became more and more obvious that Isaiah would have challenges for the rest of his life.
A frantic quest for answers unearthed more questions in the local disability ocean, where apathy and ignorance swim freely. We realized that we too would be challenged for the rest of our lives to provide a safe and enabling environment for him.
Looming even larger was the realisation that there were thousands more parents like us, across our country, searching for a north star to provide answers to many of the questions that often accompany the arrival of a child with a disability.
In a world that doesn’t always accept and celebrate the presence and vulnerabilities of Isaiah and his peers, we are driven to wake up each day and pursue our goals with one end in mind – that when we die, our son and others like him, can live and die respected and with their dignity intact.
Our next steps
As creatives, we have been forced to dig deeper than ever to pursue the solutions that will shape the world we want to see Isaiah thrive in.
We often imagine a world where societies acknowledge that all of their citizens are important to the whole and ensure that their best efforts, beyond what is convenient, are directed to building systems that work for the greater good of all.
We believe in a world where we are mindful that our thoughts are our gardens, and ignorance and apathy are weeds that we must uproot and discard.
We are Francis and Laura Escayg and ours is a story of love and transformation, of service to others. We give for life. We cause an effect.