Christian Anhalt doesn't just read aloud.

He's panting because the protagonist in the book named Ben is panting right now, who was late for his job.

Anhalt imitates the severity of Ben's boss: "Your shift started more than an hour ago, Benjamin." Then he twists his voice to a nagging tone and mimes a colleague of Ben's who is present in the scene: "Our kind would have been fired long ago been.

But the brainy gets an extra sausage fried.”

Kim Maurus

volunteer.

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The seven people standing around Anhalt laugh.

You know the passage well.

Anhalt is standing in the courtyard of the House of People's Work in Frankfurt's Nordend, together with others from the Allenstein initiative self-help group, which supports people with disabilities.

It is not surprising that Anhalt reads from the book entitled "Kein Lockdown für die Liebe" with so much dedication.

He and everyone around him wrote the lines themselves.

In the Allenstein initiative, a project has emerged that did not exist before.

A total of nine people with different disabilities have written a book together.

One of the writers has ADD, as does the protagonist, Ben.

A few have learning disabilities, some have Asperger's Syndrome.

The Frankfurt-based author Marc Rybicki came up with the idea for the book.

Everything digital.

Because writing books also works without analogue meetings.

“We create strength from the group situation”

Not much has happened in the past two years.

Allenstein actually organizes group meetings and joint projects for people with disabilities, as they say.

"We create strength from the group situation," says Heike Rösch, who heads the initiative.

"From the feeling: We are not alone." But in the lockdowns that was no longer possible.

“Something was missing somewhere during the pandemic,” says Steffen Reiner, one of the authors.

Rybicki had previously done many voluntary projects with the "Allensteiners", such as writing a song and doing theatre, and a band was also formed with his help.

The initiative hired Rybicki as a freelancer to work on the book, says Rösch.

Any of the “Allensteiners” who wanted to could take part.

It all started in February last year.

In view of all the Corona regulations, it quickly became clear to them that the pandemic must also become part of the book.

The novel is about Benjamin Stahl, nicknamed Ben, a forty-year-old man with ADD who is looking for love.

However, the pandemic is making it difficult for him to get closer to the Portuguese Adriana, with whom he has fallen in love.

Why a book about love?

"From the gut," says co-author Norbert Schmidt.

"I thought it was right to write about love relationships," says Christian Anhalt.

That's the "main element" between people.

"It was completely new territory"

Many of the Allensteiners want a relationship, explains Heike Rösch.

"There is a great longing in the group." The others agree.

There is at least one couple in the team of authors: Lisa and Steffen Reiner have been married since June 2011.

"No other couple at Allenstein can claim to have been married by the head of the Fraport Skyliners cheerleaders," says Steffen Reiner proudly.

Co-author Daniel Winecker doesn't want to leave it that way: "I can say I'm the only one from Allenstein who has a child."

They are also proud of their book, although writing it together has sometimes been difficult.

"That was completely new territory," says Steffen Reiner, although he himself had written books before.

Based on specifications from Rybicki, the "Allenfedern", as the team of authors call themselves, was supposed to develop the two main characters before the actual writing.

That was unusual.

The content of the first four chapters was also predetermined, and they were free to think up the rest.

The authors have formed smaller teams for individual chapters.

The deadlines were a hurdle: they had about a month for each chapter.

Christian Anhalt was always the fastest, sometimes it only took him a weekend.

And, of course, not everyone always agreed.

"But we somehow pulled ourselves together," says Reiner.

Insults that are hostile to the disabled are also sometimes found in the book.

"I would never have dared to do it myself," says Rösch.

“But we talked a lot about these positions.

In the end, the consensus of the Allenfeders was to leave words such as "Spasti" as they are:

Rösch would also like to go on a reading tour

The Allenfedern finished last December, they sent the last chapters to Rybicki, who put everything together.

The book was initially self-published with a print run of 100 books.

"It was quickly sold out," says Rösch, of the second edition with 200 copies there is not much left.

Three bookstores in Frankfurt sell the book.

An audio book is planned because not everyone in the initiative can read an entire book at once.

Rösch would also like to go on a reading tour.

Meanwhile, Steffen Reiner already has a sequel in mind.

Ben's mother could play a crucial role in this - and a slap in the face for Ben's nagging co-worker.

His co-author Winecker is critical - "We don't know at all whether his ideas can be implemented, whether it fits in" - but Reiner is undeterred.

"Nope," he says when asked if he'd rather write the sequel on his own.

"If so, then I'll do it with everyone."