Meet Caitlin Bates

My name is Caitlin Bates but I sometimes go by the online name Mutantratz.

I am 31 years old. I am diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I live in Washington State. When I was around 16 years old, I received a VSA award for my picture of wolves. I got to go to Washington D.C. to be part of a big celebration of VSA (Very Special Arts) aritists all over the country. I have been drawing since I was 2 years old.

I love to draw creatures, made up and real. I also have some animation I did at Nova High School. I was sad because I left the USB drive of my animation at our old home when we ran from an abusive situation in 2013.  We lived in a homeless shelter and then we moved to transitional housing. After a long time, my mother moved us to stable housing. It was a very scary experience. I think sometimes my creatures reflect some of the scariness I experienced while running from the scary experience.

I have raised a baby squirrel, whose tree was cut down; a baby red vented bulbul bird that my cat rescued when his nest was smashed by our neighbor who cared more about his mango tree; and a baby rabbit that escaped our lawnmower, along with his four sisters and brother, whom I released back into the wild. We are all safe now.