Disability Biography

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.

Escrito quando Naoki Higashida tinha apenas 13 anos, o conjunto de ensaios reunidos neste audiolivro conta, do ponto de vista do próprio Higashida, a experiência de ser autista. Preso em seu mundo individual, muitas vezes ele exibe comportamentos vistos como estranhos, peculiares, “inadequados”. Seja repetindo palavras e frases aparentemente sem sentido ou evitando contato visual com outras pessoas, Naoki tem uma enorme dificuldade de se comunicar e de socializar.

From the author of the viral New York Times op-ed column "To Siri with Love" comes a collection of touching, hilarious, and illuminating stories about life with a 13-year-old boy with autism that hold insights and revelations for us all.

At the height of popularity for radio stations and DJs in the '70s and '80s, Curry blazed a trail for himself as “Kid” Curry. His iconic “Bed Check” segment helped propel him to star status in Miami. It followed him during his 20-year path to the dream job of Major Market program director. The perks of the job included hanging out with music legends, being invited to the White House, meeting Johnny U and a Watergate burglar, traveling around the world to find the next “number one” song and, the best part, helping listeners in need.

Meet Priscilla and Dave — two headstrong people with very different but complementary disabilities. When they met, fireworks flashed, but they soon became inseparable and each other’s "other half". Together, they attacked and overcame every obstacle in their way — and had one hell of a time doing it. Follow the story of their fiery love affair among moments of raucous laughter, fear, joy, sadness, and incredulity at people's behavior.

Lionheart is an inspiring story of love, forgiveness, and the power of music. On April 27, 2016, while riding his bicycle in Nashville, Tennessee, David was hit by a distracted driver. Doctors told him he would never walk again. His life had changed forever. Lionheart is the richly detailed and intimate account of David's crash, recovery, and return to music: From thinking he lost everything, to appearing on national television (twice), to marrying his soulmate, Kristi - to finding a life and purpose beyond his wildest imagination.

Not that anyone wishes to be paralyzed in a motorcycle accident, but tragedy set the stage for triumph and the making of a real life fairy tale. When the harsh reality of paralysis turned the dream of having a family together into a nightmare for Erik and Jennifer, they had to face their deepest fears and live courageously, because sometimes fairy tales are just stories of love's perseverance.

Jordan’s traumatic birth caused brain damage, whose limits he refused to accept. He embraced every struggle, learned to work through his weaknesses, and ultimately, redefined himself despite his learning disability label. All thanks to his dedicated cheer squad - family, friends, and God - he knows his potential has no limits, except those he puts on himself. But that doesn’t mean he’s escaped significant hiccups and challenges along the way.

Emily Owen was a highly intelligent teenager who was also athletic and a skilled musician. Tragically, in her late teens she was diagnosed as suffering from Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2). Since then, Emily has survived many complicated surgical procedures, been close to death, and seen the gradual erosion of all the abilities that defined her personality including the total loss of her hearing. Despite this, she has a remarkable sense of humor and has coped with everything she has been through due to her strong Christian faith, her supportive family, and indomitable personality.

In this inspiring memoir, Emily Falcon chronicles her lifelong journey with a congenital cardiac condition. In 1982, at seven weeks old, she had a heart attack that destroyed 40 percent of the left side of her heart. This was her entry into a world of multiple cardiac procedures, surgeries, hospitalizations, and a later diagnosis of glaucoma. Balancing these serious conditions defined her life.

«Sono Rachele e ho 29 anni. A un mese dalla nascita, è stato detto ai miei genitori che avevo la fibrosi cistica, una malattia genetica degenerativa da cui non si può guarire. La malattia non si vede perché colpisce principalmente gli organi interni; tutte le secrezioni sono alterate e molto dense, il muco ristagna ed è difficile respirare. Quando sono stata invitata a un evento della Fondazione per la Ricerca sulla Fibrosi Cistica, mi sono chiesta: come faccio a unire la mia passione per i motori con quello che mi sta più a cuore?»

Robert was a young man struggling to make it on his own when in 1990, he suffered a violent and traumatic experience when someone put a bullet through his brain. Robert tells the amazing story of survival during a time when life shriveled to dark emptiness and his future seemed hopeless.

Hiroshima was one of the great tragedies of WWII. But out of the devastation of the first atomic bomb, some survivors emerged, 25 courageous Japanese women who became part of a remarkable humanitarian epic. Victims of the atomic blast that ushered in the Nuclear Age, these women were brought to the United States in 1955, where they underwent reconstructive surgery to repair the ravages of the bomb. Schoolgirls when the bomb destroyed their futures, they began to remake their lives and re-create themselves. This is the compassionate, often bittersweet chronicle of the Hiroshima Maidens.

Graham Hale Gardner died before turning 23 and never learned to walk or speak due to severe cerebral palsy complicated by epilepsy. Yet he left a legacy of love and compassion that deeply moved scores of people from widely different backgrounds. Graham’s story, written through the eyes of his father, speaks of the enormous legacy left by a boy who never spoke. A story that raises provocative questions about the “invisible lines of connection” that make us human.

My Autistic Fight Song is a memoir that follows Rosie Weldon’s journey from a college drop out as she tries to achieve her dream of being a qualified accountant. With the odds stacked against her and the stakes high, she refuses to give up on her dream. Of two things Rosie was sure. First, she wanted to be an accountant. Second, she was destined to be alone. But when life threw at her an autism diagnosis and a mystery girl, she was left asking: Who would employ her and was she capable of falling in love?

Mit drei Jahren erlitt Ingrid Mundschin-Bohn eine Hirnhautentzündung, an der sie fast gestorben wäre. In Deutschland, wo sie als Tochter eines deutschen Vaters und einer Schweizer Mutter aufwuchs, war gerade der Krieg zu Ende gegangen, die Medikamente waren immer noch knapp, und die Ärzte wollten keine Antibiotika verschwenden an einem Kind, das in ihren Augen bereits abgeschrieben war. Aber Ingrid Mundschin ließ sich nicht abschreiben, sondern wuchs zu einer lebensfrohen und selbstbewussten Frau heran.

Is it possible to find strength in struggle and purpose in pain? Ask Dr. April Jones, a young mother who battled her two-year-old son’s cancer while getting her doctorate. Her struggle to make the heart-wrenching decisions with her family led to a discovery of God, courage, and a happiness within that helped her transform scary misfortune into a joy-filled life. In No Mess, No Message, Dr. Jones shares her real, raw journey and reveals insight into how powerful thinking and strong faith can lead to inner healing.

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.

A sudden rise in opioid addicts coinciding with a sudden drop in legally available opioids, created a desperation for prescription drugs never seen before in this country. Physicians shut down their previous practice of repeated refills, once the death toll was too high to ignore. As hospitals and rehab facilities instituted drug testing and CORI checks to ensure employees were clean, one health-care option stood alone as a place to easily obtain painkillers. That place was home health care.

Annie and Rolf Lulloff were entering an exciting stage of life in 1976 when the first signs of health issues that lie ahead for Annie began to emerge. A sudden loss of sense of smell, severe anxiety attacks, vision issues, and other neurological challenges piled up, eventually culminating in a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease on New Year’s Eve, 1989. But the Lulloffs were not about to let Parkinson’s get the best of them.