Disability Memoir

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.

See? is an inspirational autobiography that describes how God's grace and the firm, loving support from family, friends, neighbors, an exceptional teacher, and caring supervisors guided the author through life's challenges. It also debunks common myths of blindness and discusses adaptive equipment used by the author on her journey.

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.

This book is based on real-life events and is a raw and authentic account of a true fight for life and justice—a memoir of a mother’s love for her daughter, Rachel, who is diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy, a condition which makes her incapable of voluntary movement or speech. It tells of hopes and fears, and the true meaning of what it’s like to be the mother of a daughter with severe cerebral palsy. It portrays Rachel’s passion for life and her mischievous sense of fun.

Do you like sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll? Do you know what jails, institutions, and death are all about? I don't want to be controlled, but can I control myself? Who says I have to live by society's rules?

Negli ultimi decenni si è verificata una profonda rivoluzione nella cura della sclerosi multipla, una disfunzione del sistema immunitario che colpisce 122.000 italiani e 2,5 milioni di persone nel mondo. Grazie allo sviluppo di nuovi farmaci sempre più efficaci e a fondamentali scoperte, dai fattori di rischio genetici e ambientali al ruolo rigenerativo delle cellule staminali nel cervello, ora, finalmente, la vita delle persone che soffrono di questa malattia è sempre più vicina alla normalità.

They say if you want to make God smile, tell him you have a plan. Dwight’s plan was to live his dream, teach math, coach football, and build a comfortable life for himself. Fate had other things in store for him. The story of Dwight’s physical and emotional journey from life as an able-bodied young man chasing his dreams only to have his world turned upside down by the thoughtless act of a 71-year-old drunk driver.

Stoney McGurrin, in his debut book, brings us on the adventure of his lifetime. Having spent months in the hospital as a four-year-old, where he almost lost his arm, only to have it saved by a famous French surgeon Dr. Chance, he left Leitrim as a teenager on ship across the Atlantic to New York City. The stories are exciting, sad, happy, and true; from 1941 to the present, from pencil to paper.

Bill Rush lived with a significant disability of quadriplegic cerebral palsy. He did not have use of his arms, hands, or voice. Society’s prejudices proved to be a greater obstacle than his disability in attaining his first life goal of completing college. Rush chronicled his extraordinary life from childhood until graduation from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in Journey Out of Silence, first published in 1986. This second edition brings back into print Bill's original chronicle. It also contains an introduction to Our Life Our Way, the sequel.

When a tragic accident crushes her dreams, can a young woman fight to thrive once again? As a teen growing up in the '80s, Jenny Smith loved life. But, when a spinal cord injury paralyzed her from the chest down, her days of gymnastics and playing music came to an agonizing end. Completely reliant on others for her most basic needs, privacy and independence became things of the past. Refusing to give up, Jenny struggled along the exhausting, painful, and endless road to living as a quadriplegic.

In No Bad Days, JT details the incredible story of how he overcame what seemed like insurmountable odds and shares the many invaluable lessons he has learned throughout his life in the hope that others might reach their full potential. These lessons include how to: find your tribe, pull off the label, stretch yourself, listen to others, and learn to fall. JT’s improbable life story is evidence that regardless of the mental and physical challenges you might face, you can defy the odds to create the life you want and accomplish the things you’ve only dreamed about.

Essere una donna disabile in un mondo in cui l'immagine femminile appare sempre patinata e perfetta non è facile, ma Antonella Ferrari, attrice e ballerina, malata di sclerosi multipla, non si è mai arresa tanto da diventare un punto di riferimento, una fonte di ispirazione per tante persone meno fortunate. "Mi sono beccata tantissime porte in faccia, tantissime delusioni ma dovevo andare avanti anche per tutti quelli che vivono bloccati per colpa di una malattia."

You are more than your limits. Choosing to see herself as more than a person with a disability and wheelchair user, Lolo chooses to live a bold and courageous life now because representation matters. She created this intersectional guide to provide tools for people with disabilities to thrive in personal growth, independence, and community building. Add this guide to your list of inclusion books!

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.

At 90 years old and blind, Lorraine decided there was never a better time to get started as a writer. Juggling career, marriage, motherhood, and staying a vibrant senior demands constant skill upgrading. Lorraine’s early childhood development expertise, for instance, was perfected during her 81 months of pregnancy. As a first generation of Russian immigrant parents, Lorraine’s daily walk with God is a testament to her belief and love-filled life. She says, “Hope is not a plan, but it is a promise that’s given when faith and belief become action.”

Frederick Moore spent his 1950s Minneapolis childhood obsessively teaching himself guitar and writing songs. In the 1960s, his bands Skogie and the Flaming Pachucos reached local stardom. After, they put everything they had into their cars and caravanned to Los Angeles. From a garage in suburban Arleta, they evolved Skogie into a new band called The Kats. In the 1980s, The Kats sold out every major club in Los Angeles.

At the age of thirty, just as everything was falling into place for him, Lee Pesky died of brain cancer. For his father, Alan, grief came with the realization that he had lost the chance to love Lee as he was—not as he wanted him to be. Ambitious, successful, and always striving for more, Alan had a hard time relating to a son who struggled with learning disabilities at a time when there was little understanding or help for kids who had them. Their relationship was complicated, and now, Lee was gone.

No one would ever guess that simply hanging curtains could be life-changing! In the blink of an eye, Paula's world turned upside down as a broken leg morphed into life threatening events that pushed her reality into a darkness we only see in movies. Legless tells the story of Paula's fight to triumph over heartbreaking trauma while depression and suffering snapped at her desire to live. Unwilling to surrender for the sake of her family, she dug deep into the meaning of life at every setback and found herself changed, transformed and seeing herself through the eyes of a new normal.

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.

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.