Issue 29: Illustration Callout for January 2026 Dystinct Magazine

Callouts for illustrations to be featured in the upcoming January 2026 issue of the Dystinct Magazine

Instructions to submit the illustrations are at the bottom. If you have any questions, please get in touch with me at hello@dystinct.org.

Theme: Hidden struggle, Cognitive Load, Language Based difficulty

• Article Topic: The Students Schools Miss: Why Capable Kids Slip Through the Cracks (And What Parents Can Do)
• Article Context: This article draws on nearly three decades as an educator, researcher, specialist, and parent to reveal why capable, compliant students with hidden language and cognitive difficulties are systematically overlooked in secondary schools, and offers parents clear insights into the coping behaviours, structural school mechanisms, and advocacy strategies needed to make these students visible before crisis hits.

Illustration Guideline:

This article requires illustrations for a few different themes:

1. Drowning While Swimming: A student swimming. He/she is smiling and waving at a teacher on shore, while underneath the water their legs are tangled in heavy books, words, or clocks capturing the hidden struggle of students with learning difficulties.
2. Running on Empty: A student with a battery icon on their chest. The icon shows the battery is nearing empty to show how students’ efforts to cope at school depletes their energy.
3. Hiding in Plain Sight: A classroom scene where one student blends into the background like a chameleon their camouflage made of desks, books, and uniforms. Other students in the class raise their hands confidently while the teacher fails to notice the camouflaged student.

INSTRUCTIONS

Instructions for creating illustrations:

• If your child can create digital drawings, that would be preferred. If not, illustrations on paper will suffice. (If your child can create a digital illustration, please let me know about the software/platform they will use to create the file).
• Please create/draw/colour on an A4 sheet of WHITE paper.
• Scan the image and send us a clear image of the illustration without shadows. Please do not take a photograph using flash on your mobile device.

Instructions for submitting your illustrations:

Please email me your submissions to hello@dystinct.org with the following info:

• Short bio- 25-50 words
• Name of Child
• Age
• Location (City/Country)
• Diagnosis/suspected diagnosis
• 1-2 high-resolution headshots/ photos of the child

Illustrations featured in previous issues of Dystinct Magazine

The below illustrations were featured in previous issues.