Disability Biography

Growing up in Mineral Wells, Texas during the 1950s and 60s was anything but idyllic for Walter Ashby. Due to a misdiagnosis and medical error, his sister Janie went from being a lively young girl to a shell of a person who required their parents’ attention 24 hours a day, every day. To add insult to injury, his parents received another blow: before Walter was six-years-old, he lost 98 percent of his vision, leaving him legally blind.

Sam always knew he was starting life on the back foot. When his parents split, Sam, his mother and his brother had to learn to survive in a world not built for single-parent families. Add to that Sam's diagnosis with a form of dwarfism and the odds seemed stacked against them. As surgeons kept breaking and resetting Sam's legs in attempts to keep him walking, disability and poverty collided, and it took all the family's strength not to crumple in the impact. In Broke, lawyer and disability advocate Sam Drummond weaves a poignant, stirring and deeply compassionate tale of life on the fringes.

Bonner Paddock grew up just wanting to be ordinary. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age eleven, he guarded the truth about his health, building a normal life and keeping his secret from everyone—most of all himself—for the next eighteen years. But the sudden death of a friend’s young son due to cerebral palsy forced Bonner to reevaluate who he was and spurred him to pursue one breathtaking experience after another.

This book is about the life of the author. It focuses on her faith, her hope, and her endurance during the years of her illness. In this true story, you will learn the how and why about the effects that changed her family’s life—the author’s Crohn’s disease, the 14 blood clots, toxic gut syndrome, colitis, tumors, ulcers, vertigo, weight gain and loss, pregnancies, the many surgeries, and how her body would not wake up after some of her surgeries.

A collision with a moose on a dark highway left Susan Mockler with an incomplete spinal injury, suddenly compromising her ability to walk and to care for herself. She spent months in a rehabilitation facility learning how to adjust to her new reality, and though her body partially recovered, every aspect of her life changed.

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.

What do you do when your reality slips away? If you're Sky Yardley and Jane Dwinell, you accept each new challenge, reshape your life, and write. When Sky was diagnosed with "probable early stage Alzheimer's" at age 66, he was determined to live as fully as possible. He researched dementia, talked about dementia, connected with other people with the disease, and wrote about it.

I discover a "lost" aunt, separated from our family due to racism and discrimination against the disabled. She had a mental disability due to childhood meningitis. She was taken away in 1942 when all Japanese Americans were considered the enemy and imprisoned. She then became a "ward" of the state. We believed she had died but 70 years later found her alive and living a few miles from our family farm. How did she survive? Why was she kept hidden? How did both shame and resilience empower my family to forge forward in a land that did not want them?

Jeremy Schreiber was on top of the world—athletic, newly married, successful. And then something went terribly wrong. In this moving memoir, he shares his journey after he received a terrifying diagnosis: ALS. As the devastating disease robbed him of movement and speech, he was abandoned by his wife and betrayed by a society that shuns people with disabilities. But it’s not all doom and gloom. He found love, support, and a powerful purpose. While fighting for his independence and then for his life, Jeremy gave his all to the ALS and disability communities.

Sarah’s story is one for any parent; it is not just about the highs and lows of having a child with additional needs, but also simply as a mum of three. She talks candidly about coming to terms with the decision to move Oscar to a SEN (Special Educational Needs) school, another big milestone in Oscar’s young life. Whilst Sarah may have found herself on a different path to the one she’d imagined for herself, it has not been a bad one. There is sadness, certainly; and there have been struggles along the way; but there has been so much laughter and happiness, too.

هذه هي السيرة الكاملة لحياة الطفلة المعجزة هيلين كيلر التي تحدت كل الصعوبات وفقدت بصرها وسمعها واستطاعت بمساعدة معلمها العبقري أن تتجاوز تلك العقبات وتدخل التاريخ من أوسع أبوابه وتصبح مصدر إلهام للعديد من الأشخاص ذوي الصعوبات الجسدية أو النفسية ولكل الناس بشكل عام.

Growing Up With Asperger's provides advice, stories, and anecdotes for autistic listeners both young and old, and parents of autistic children. Funny and down-to-earth with an honest look at life from an autistic perspective.

AUTISM UNLEASHED, GENIUS UNLEASHED celebrates the lives and achievements of 13 autistic visionaries, illuminating the profound contributions they have made in a variety of fields. These stories are not only a testament to their genius but also a beacon of hope and inspiration for anyone touched by autism.

At the age of sixty, and having lived with Parkinson’s disease for over ten years, Guy Deacon CBE set out on one last adventure: to drive solo from his home in the UK 18,000 miles and through twenty-five countries to Cape Town on the southern tip of Africa. This incredible journey, across Europe and down the full length of Africa, took the former British Army officer over twelve months. Along the way, he broke down five times, underwent one emergency evacuation, and took 3,650 prescription pills.

This is a love letter from son to father. Part Big Russ and Me, part ADHD Is Awesome, Leland’s book, Born Lucky, is set to take its place as one of the most inspirational stories and victories for someone with special needs.

The Umbrella Picker tells the true story of a woman who was lost for 45 years until she learned that she is Autistic. After a long and relentless journey of searching for answers, the hand of fate finally revealed to her what she had waited a lifetime for. Learning she was Autistic was life changing. She is no longer lost, and having found her own, unique way, Jane has written the (brutally honest!) book she wished was available to her years earlier.

The autobiography is told in an honest and very candid way, from the very first diagnosis in 2011 right up to the present day, showing how I was forced to crowdfund to have my leg amputated, what it took to overcome the struggles of four operations, and what it meant for me and my young family.

When you hear the word “disability”, what comes to mind? Cheryl Schiltz tells her story of being introduced to disability. She shares her journey from a silent world to one that encased her in constant anxiety. Her life as she knew it had disappeared. It became one of a continuous fight between psychological and physical change. Noise. From her childhood, you’ll find yourself traveling with her as she discovers the power to gain control. She shares her story openly and honestly, raw and sensitive.

If you're skeptical about changing society's discriminatory treatment of people with dwarfism and other disabilities, Van Etten offers hope with these words: "Advocacy makes change possible when people call out what is wrong, care enough to stand up for what is right, commit to the cause for as long as it takes, and have confidence in God's power to change hearts". Van Etten repeatedly demonstrates the power of advocacy in this audiobook.

In October of 2008, I was airlifted to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, TN, after a head-on collision with an SUV while riding a motorcycle. When I woke up, I was told I would never walk again or have full use of my hands. Seventy-eight screws, 13 plates, 25 units of blood, and more than 400 stitches and staples later, I became very familiar with physical pain and haven’t had a pain-free day since. That physical battle was harder than I could even begin to explain, but it doesn’t really come close to the one that I went through inside of myself over the years that followed.