Disability Memoir

Untether is the story of JT Mestdagh, a young man born with a death sentence and who is now an entrepreneur and adventurer on a mission to empower people to untether from limiting beliefs and to soar to their highest dreams...Untether tells a story of courage, determination, and overcoming. Young or not-so-young, you will come away with a renewed sense of hope and possibility. Learn that you are not a mistake; you are created for something amazing.

Despite a childhood affliction that left James Cabezas with the grim knowledge that he might one day go blind, he led a courageous career in law enforcement for more than four decades. With his vision intact, Jim proudly wore a police uniform, tracking drug dealers, thieves, and an armed robber in the precarious days before Baltimore cops wore bullet proof vests. He performed his duty relentlessly, despite interference from corrupt, racist and inept cops.While the world’s finest eye doctors kept him from going blind, Jim worked as a deep covert, driving a cab in Baltimore’s notorious ...

There Are No Answers Here, Only Questions is the true story of two life-altering events and the personal transformation that resulted from their unlikely collision. It's the story of an owner preparing to sell his business and retire just as he is diagnosed with cancer.

Half a world away from home in 1976, 18-year old Anne B. Thomas awakens on the side of a two-lane road paralyzed from the chest down. Fast forward through a rigorous year of physical therapy to when her doctor gives her an ominous warning: “You will live a long time and be a burden on your family for the rest of your life unless you check yourself into a nursing home”.

A puddle of water on a highway changed Dinesh Palipana's life forever. Halfway through medical school, Dinesh was involved in a catastrophic car accident that caused a cervical spinal cord injury. After his accident, his strength and determination saw him return to complete medical school—now with quadriplegia. Dinesh was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland, and the second person with quadriplegia to graduate medical school in Australia. Despite all of the pain and hardship he's faced, Dinesh now sees his accident as a turning point for the better in his life.

In Get in the Boat, Darlene Fuchs shares the powerful and poignant story of her father Richard's experience as a caregiver to his wife Gail during her decline into dementia. This memoir, based on the journals of Richard Sonnichsen, is a heart-wrenching yet inspiring exploration of the enduring power of love, faith, and resilience in the face of life's most difficult challenges.

As director of legendary Pommery Champagnes, Philippe Pozzo di Borgo was not generally someone in the habit of asking for help. Then, in 1993, an accident left him a quadriplegic. Passing his days hidden in his Paris townhouse, Philippe found himself the modern equivalent of an “untouchable.” The only person who seemed not to be bothered by Philippe’s condition was someone who had been marginalized his entire life - Abdel, the unemployed, uninhibited immigrant from the outskirts of society who would become Philippe’s caretaker.

This book explores the untold story of a war veteran's journey with transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment.

Driving on the wrong side of the road, an accident up the Alps, Force 10 storms, seasickness, being robbed of 200 euros, a brush with bats, blocked toilets and other mishaps...travelling with (or without) Don had its moments! Dawn thought her journeys abroad were over when she married Don. He flatly refused to fly. Surprisingly, plenty of opportunities to travel the globe by car, ferry, and cruise ship presented themselves. Venturing to France with Don, who has spina bifida, family friend Geoff, who’d had a stroke, and four-year-old Tim, as well as 89-year-old Harold, certainly added an ...

Backbone is a life-fulfilling message about managing chronic pain and living a life of purpose. For two decades, Karen Duffy, New York Times bestselling author, former MTV VJ, Revlon model, and actress, has managed to live an enriching life despite living in a state of constant pain. In this powerful, inspirational, funny, and important manual for surviving pain, Duffy draws on her experience as a patient advocate, trained recreational therapist, and hospice chaplain to illuminate gratifying methods people can use to cope with chronic pain.

Here is the inspiring story of a man who overcame childhood polio to live an adventure-filled life as captain of Maine's most famous windjammer, the schooner Adventure, now a national historic landmark in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Captain Jim shares his adventures afloat, his battles with bureaucracy, and even how he created one of Maine's most unusual restaurants.

Junius Wilson (1908-2001) spent 76 years at a state mental hospital in Goldsboro, North Carolina, including 6 in the criminal ward. He had never been declared insane by a medical professional or found guilty of any criminal charge. But he was deaf and Black in the Jim Crow South. Unspeakable is the story of his life.

How a mechanic rose above poverty and chronic anxiety to build a national enterprise and found peace with himself and his past in the process. Prepare to embark on a journey of emotions. This must-listen memoir explores the resilience of the human spirit. I literally could not stop reading From Turmoil to Triumph.

Blinded at age three, Mike May defied expectations by breaking world records in downhill speed skiing, joining the CIA, and becoming a successful inventor, entrepreneur, and family man. He had never yearned for vision. Then, in 1999, a chance encounter brought startling news: a revolutionary stem cell transplant surgery could restore May's vision.

Hilda’s family didn’t know she had muscular dystrophy. They just knew their preschooler was losing her ability to walk. But they were determined to find a cure. Being disabled in Cameroon meant not only obstacles to transport, but visits to diviners and evangelists, threats of sexual assault, discrimination, and a crisis of faith. Despite the hardship Hilda has faced, her family’s unwavering support and God’s unwavering grace have helped her persevere to become a national broadcaster.

Before she was two years old, a serious illness destroyed Helen Keller's sight and hearing. At seven, alone and withdrawn, she was rescued by Ann Sullivan, her teacher and friend. By the time she was 16, Helen could speak well enough to attend preparatory school. Later she went to Radcliffe, from which she graduated with honors in 1904.

Autism is the fastest growing and most common developmental disorder. Imagine the frustration and anxiety over taking your child to a team of medical specialists to be told that they have a lifelong and often debilitating developmental disorder with no cure and limited treatment options? Lauren's parents knew something was different about her from the time she was an infant but as she entered Kindergarten in the fall of 1986 her differences were very obvious to everyone around her as compared to other children her age.

Imagine if you were to lose your sight? Would it feel like the end of everything worthwhile? There is a way forward. Once you realise that blindness is a word and not a sentence, life takes on a new perspective. There are ways to thrive with vision loss. This book reveals how to turn such a life-challenge into a lifestyle you can fully manage and enjoy.

He grew up, he says, at "belt-buckle level" and stayed there until Kevan's beloved posse decided to leave his wheelchair at the Atlanta airport, board a plane for France, and have his friends carry him around Europe to accomplish their dream to see the world together! Kevan's beloved posse traveled to Paris, England, and Ireland, where, in the climax of their adventure, they scale 600 feet up to the 1,400-year-old monastic fortress of Skellig Michael.

Tiffani, the author, becomes an intimate friend as you speaks to you about her deepest thoughts, fears, and worries. Her love, strength, honesty, and determination to care for her family at all costs is inspiring.