Disability Memoir

After 30 years as a professor in the field of communication studies, Dr. Smith reminisces about some of his experiences and how his race and differently abled intersectionality have influenced documented encounters. As a Black and totally blind individual, he muses about how this distinction has both colored and shed light on what might have been innocuous or unremarkable encounters otherwise.

In the face of a mysterious and terrifying illness, this is the story of a family trying to maintain some kind of togetherness. Torn between his commitment to keep Clarisa a part of Janir’s life and the threat she poses to that life, John acknowledges that he can care for his son in ways he never could for Clarisa. All who have experienced the wrench of mental illness in the family will recognize their own journey in this heartfelt story of fatherhood.

Condamné par la maladie, Olivier Goy partage avec la journaliste Anne Fulda son inlassable combat pour mieux faire accepter le handicap et lever des fonds pour la recherche, et, surtout, appelle à regarder et aimer la vie pleinement?! Olivier a 46 ans quand on lui diagnostique la maladie de Charcot en 2020. Une maladie neurodégénérative qui se traduit par une paralysie progressive des muscles, mais laisse au malade ses pleines capacités intellectuelles. Espérance de vie?: 3 à 5 ans.

A profoundly beautiful memoir about disability, difference, and living as a vulnerable body. Jan Grue had just become a father when he inherited a stack of his childhood medical records. Following a diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy at the age of three, the raft of doctors' notes, clinical descriptions and case histories defined his body as defective and his future as bleak and limited. They conjured a childhood nothing like the one he remembered, that failed to anticipate the life he lived now. "I Live a Life Like Yours" is Grue's beautiful, groundbreaking search for a literary language that could better tell his story.

Robert Hoge was born with a giant tumour on his forehead, severely distorted facial features and legs that were twisted and useless. His mother refused to look at her son, let alone bring him home. But home he went, to a life that, against the odds, was filled with joy, optimism and boyhood naughtiness. Home for the Hoges was a bayside suburb of Brisbane. Robert's parents, Mary and Vince, knew that his life would be difficult, but they were determined to give him a typical Australian childhood.

She's never taught a class in her life. But when the City of Chicago calls on blind writer Beth Finke to teach a memoir-writing class for older adults, she reluctantly agrees. What she learns about her students, their stories, and herself will move and inspire you. Written the way Beth hears life, you will come to know and love Minerva, Wanda, Hannelore, and the whole colorful cast of characters who build a community around Beth's classes. Generously sprinkled with excerpts in her students' own voices, Beth's book will convince you to get your own stories down on paper.

An eye-opening wife’s journal which speaks about an amazing and unbelievable traumatic brain injury adventure. Written with love, respect, and humor, this is a must-listen for anyone who wants to know about a TBI survivor’s daily routine.

Creating a force called lift, counteracting the outside energy that would otherwise pull her down, that is the way Anna Gouker spends her days. Anna understands the importance of an elevated focus. This enables her to reach higher than the outside world may say is within her grasp. Anna has a degenerative muscle weakness that persists throughout her body, requiring her to depend greatly on technology - like the ventilator that helps her breathe while she sleeps and the motorized wheelchair that moves her through the world.

"Dandelion Roots Run Deep" is the true story of three generations of tenacious Midwestern women, one in Illinois and two in Michigan. Merry is the third generation, and her mother Merrill, fought for organic agriculture and Michigan's environment from 1967 - 2009. Merrill developed Alzheimer's before finishing her book, so Merry took her story to fruition.

In this audiobook, you will catch intimate glimpses of how manic depression or bipolar disorder affects not only those diagnosed but the entire support structure around them. You'll find inspiration and hope that our fractured mental health system still holds opportunities for healing and unearthing resilience. In Hard Pill to Swallow: My Manic Memoir, Logan carries you through his struggles with his identity as a gay/bisexual man coming to terms with addiction while simultaneously battling bipolar disorder.

As a 14-year-old psych ward patient, Harry realized he had a choice: let anorexia keep ruining his life or fight back against everything his mind told him was true. Now 22 years old, Harry delicately pieces together how his mind derailed to that point, what’s happened since he made his choice, and most importantly, what it’s taught him about life and how best to live it.

In Morant's "Letters to My Son, Rōman," an authentic real-time journal, the author of the #1 release, "The Happy Has Been," shares his personal love letters to his son, Rōman, begun while still occupying Mom's belly. It was later, before Rōman's second year, that he was diagnosed with "severe autism," non-verbal in nature.

Owen-known to his family as "little buddy" or "Little B"-has a rare genetic disorder that leaves him largely confined to a wheelchair. Before being united with Haatchi, Little B was anxious and found it difficult to make friends. Haatchi-an adorable Anatolian Shepherd puppy-was abused and left for dead on railroad tracks. He was struck by an oncoming train, and although his life was saved, his leg and tail were partially severed. Haatchi was left massively disabled and totally dispirited.

The S Word is the raw and compelling true story of a girl coming of age raised by a mother with a mental illness, and who nearly suffocates in the silence she was taught to value above all else - until she finally finds the strength to break free of the secrets binding her and save herself. The S Word is a book for anyone who may be keeping secrets...for children too little to know they warrant a voice...for teenagers too confused to think they have a choice...for adults too overwhelmed to do what’s right.

In Everything Is Going to be K.O. Kaiya Stone writes about her own experiences of living with specific learning difficulties: from struggling at school to being diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia while at university, to performing her own one-woman stand up show inspired by her journey. Always funny and unfailingly honest, Kaiya outlines the frustrations of having SPLDS but also the ways in which they have fuelled her creativity.

They put a price on his head. They did everything they could to disrupt his mission. Finally, when an antitank mine tore off his right foot, the warriors of jihad in Iraq thought they had neutralized one of their most resourceful, determined foes.

Hearing Maud: A Journey for a Voice is a work of creative non-fiction that details the author’s experiences of deafness after losing most of her hearing at age four. It charts how, as she grew up, she was estranged from people and turned to reading and writing for solace, eventually establishing a career as a writer. Central to her narrative is the story of Maud Praed, the deaf daughter of 19th century Queensland expatriate novelist Rosa Praed.

Steph Hammerman has been motivating herself and others her entire life. Since defying the odds by surviving as a one-pound, fifteen-ounce baby and weeks later being diagnosed with cerebral palsy, to beating Hodgkin's lymphoma stage 3B cancer in 2016, Steph has been a living example of overcoming seemingly insurmountable objects in order to achieve the impossible.

From childhood stutterer to inspirational speaker! The Courage to Shine is a powerful and inspirational memoir by Eileen Forrestal, a former anesthesiologist who transformed her life. After a lifetime of "putting people to sleep", Eileen is now in the business of "waking people up" as a writer, speaker, and coach. In The Courage to Shine, Eileen retraces her journey. She shares her childhood trauma of an accidental overdose of junior aspirin that led to her subsequent speech impediment, the embarrassment of which caused her to hide her voice in silent shame.

Life is never easy, but there are times when it feels like everything is against you. Tyra Hodge grew up feeling the world's weight pressing down on her. A nagging feeling awakened, whispering how she would never amount to anything the older she got. Daunted by the increasing demands of education and her private struggles, Tyra turned away.