Disability Memoir

Jeff Bauman woke up on Tuesday, April 16th, 2013, and he had no legs. Just 30 hours prior, Jeff was surrounded by revelry at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. The first bomb went off at his feet as he awaited his girlfriend's finish. When Jeff awoke days later from hours of surgery, rather than take stock of his now completely altered life, Jeff ripped out his breathing tube and tried to speak. He couldn't. Jeff asked for a pad and paper and he wrote down seven words, "Saw the guy. Looked right at me," setting off one of the biggest manhunts in the country's history....

Kevin’s life was forever changed on a random Wednesday when he was just 20 years old. An aspiring musician at the time, he was planning to attend music school and pursue his dream of becoming a composer. A stroke dismantled every plan and everything in his life. In Taken By Surprise, Kevin chronicles his battles with the stroke. After a risky brain surgery, he was in a coma for nearly a month and spent six weeks in an acute rehab facility to learn how to walk and talk all over again.

When Pepper Stetler was told that her daughter who has Down Syndrome would be regularly required to take IQ tests to secure support in school, she asked a simple question: why? In questioning the authority and relevance of the test, Stetler sets herself on a winding investigation into how the IQ test came to be the irrefutable standard for measuring intelligence. The unsettling history causes Stetler to wonder what influence this test will have over her daughter's future and whether Louisa should be taking it at all.

Riding the Rollercoaster invites listeners to embark on an emotional and enlightening journey. By sharing her story, the author gives a voice to countless individuals who grapple with this condition, offering a beacon of hope for a brighter future.

I finished my first book, Multiple Sclerosis: A Blessing in Disguise, around the end of 1998. At that time, I was going through a lot of issues that I thought were very important to me. That book told of my discovery, my eventual acceptance of the illness, and how I dealt with what was happening to me. Like anybody else who is faced with the burden of discovery, I had a lot of questions that I felt I really needed to answer, but I never sought to answer why this had happened to me.

You struggle with your disability. You're tired of being counted out of life. Are you frustrated because you feel, or have been told, you can't be 100% healthy with your disability? It's time for a change! It's time to prove everyone (including your doctors) wrong! Author and certified personal trainer Tony Jacobsen, who has Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bones Disease), has transformed his entire life and now shares the formula to empower other people with disabilities.

¿Por qué contentarnos con vivir a rastras cuando sentimos el anhelo de volar? En el maravilloso reino de la mente he de ser libre como los demás. Helen Keller nació en Alabama, Estados Unidos de América, en 1880. Por una grave enfermedad, antes de los dos años de edad, perdió la vista y el oído, lo que le impidió también aprender a hablar.

John Cotter was thirty years old when he first began to notice a ringing in his ears. Soon the ringing became a roar inside his head. Next came partial deafness, then dizziness and vertigo that rendered him unable to walk, work, sleep, or even communicate. At a stage of life when he expected to be emerging fully into adulthood, teaching, and writing books, he found himself “crippled and dependent” and in search of care.

Dr. Paul Boskind, a successful psychologist and LGBTQ+ advocate, thought he had everything under control. Diagnosed with a blinding retinal disorder at twenty-one, he defied the odds, building a fulfilling life. But years earlier than expected, his vision began to fade. The Blind Man Game is Paul’s poignant journey of self-discovery as he navigates the emotional turmoil of losing his sight and sense of self. With his future uncertain, Paul must draw on his expertise and inner strength to confront grief, fear, and a world no longer designed for him.

They were part of the Baby Boomer vanguard, three boys thrown together in a 1950s Southern California subdivision looking like most other boys of that era. Under coonskin hats they ran free all summer long inventing their own games and endless challenges, fought imaginary Indians and pirates in a nearby orange grove, and on occasion battled a neighborhood bully or two. Their greatest enemy, however, was an infectious disease called polio – a paralyzing scourge that maimed and too-often killed little kids.

In Take Me Home from the Oscars, Schwab tells for the first time her story of living an amazing life in television while suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Schwab recounts with incredible honesty how on the same day she produced and appeared in a major makeover segment for Live with Regis & Kelly in New York and then raced to Chicago to appear on Oprah!, all while balancing medications to ward off the relentless pain that plagued her on-camera and off.

A powerful journey from star athlete to sudden paralysis to creative awakening, award-winning science-fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor shows that what we think are our limitations have the potential to become our greatest strengths.

This book is based on a true story about a young lady who really never had a chance and the cycle changed in a way like no other. Her daughter grew up and did her best of making things better for the next generations to come. In this honest and stunning novel, Latoyi Jackson has given her audience a moving story of child neglect along with abuse of an adult with mental illness. Along with secrets which has damaged several individuals during the process.

For over twenty years, Dara Baldwin has often been the only person of color in the room when significant disability policy decisions are made. Disenfranchisement of people of color and multi-marginalized communities within the disability rights community is not new and has left many inside the community feeling frustrated and unheard. In Demanding Solidarity, Baldwin candidly shares her journey to becoming a disability activist and policymaker in DC while critiquing the disability rights community.

While preparing to deploy with the US Army, Marcus suffered a severe spinal injury that left him paralyzed. After dying on the operating table twice, the surgeons saved his life, but told him he'd never walk again. Having no other option, Marcus started doing some brutally honest soul-searching, looking for the lesson to be learned from his injury. Once he started seeing his adversity as a gift instead of a curse, something miraculous began to happen....

Dive headfirst into the urban symphony of "Smelling the Taste of Sound", a riveting memoir of a newly diagnosed, neurodivergent trainee lawyer. Her sensory issues are compounded by the sirens that punctuate the daily grind of a tough, inner-city law firm. Amidst encounters with eccentric characters and surreal personalities, our protagonist navigates the chaos and unorthodox office dynamics with comical observations and resilience.

At age 16, James Tate Hill was diagnosed with Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy, a condition that left him legally blind. After high school friends stopped calling and a disability counselor advised him to aim for C's in his classes, he used his remaining blurry peripheral vision to pretend he could still see. Feigning eye contact, memorizing common routes, filling shelves with paperbacks he read via tape cassettes, he organized his life around passing for sighted.

If you are feeling lost, this is the book for you. Featuring deeply personal stories from the authors and other autistic people in their thirties, forties, fifties and beyond, you will be supported to explore your autistic identity and to learn how to build a 'life hand-picked' for your unique needs. It's time to be happier, healthier, less anxious - and to find the real you.

Ambition to succeed was inborn before the days of sight-saving classes and the many provisions now available. This book is her achievement. Her ambition was to teach teachers.

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.