A teenager with autism from South Oxhey features on a new charity created by J-Rock from MOBO award winning music group Big Brovas.

‘J Rock’ (John-Paul Horsley) is a founding member of the hip-hop collective and is raising money for the charity Anna Kennedy Online.

He has been working with the charity since meeting founder Anna Kennedy OBE after his son, who communicates through signs and symbols, was diagnosed.

The song is a reproduced version of his 2003 hit Baby Boy alongside seven other artists, all of whom have autism including South Oxhey’s Ryan Wiggins, who turns 17 on Sunday, who also designed the cover.

Watford Observer:

His mother, Jo Wiggins, says: “What was so heart-warming was the friendships that were built during recording this single, it was amazing to see. The kids have felt like superstars.

“It really gave J Rock hope that his own son may one day progress and be able to speak after seeing how the performers have managed to push through certain barriers.”

Anna is a campaigner for autism and set up schools and colleges all over the country for autistic children and adults when there were once no provisions provided. She has many bows to her string but her most well-known one is annual show Autism’s Got Talent, which provides an opportunity for people with autism to showcase their skills and gives them a platform to go on to do more.

The idea to reproduce Baby Boy was born after the charity launched their first album, on February 20, by seven performers that Anna chose from past shows.

All seven performers have had daily struggles in life, whether it be through being bullied, anxieties, mental health issues, yet here they were pushing through those struggles and engaging with each other, and having lots of fun, recording and filming. They want to be accepted in society and Anna and the performers hope that by purchasing this single more opportunities like this can be created for lots more people with autism.

The single was released on March 27 to coincide with Autism Awareness Week. It can be downloaded from iTunes. For further information go to AnnaKennedyOnline.com