Disability Memoir

Many people give up on God. It’s easy to trust in his goodness and strength when life is easy. But how do we persevere in our faith when life gets hard? Few people can show us how to do that better than Allan Schwartz.

Sent blind soon after birth, David Hume stubbornly refused to live the limited life well-meaning elders and social norms expected. To date, that encompasses years in a blind institute, two marriages, grieving for two outstanding wives, founding recruiting firms, devising marketing techniques, facing business collapse, sailing ocean races, and through much of it, being the lead singer in popular bands. If you enjoy a short biography that inspires, saddens, cheers, and sticks in your memory, then don't put aside Blind Without Barriers.

Max Toper isn't normal. His teacher segregates him at the back of the class, away from his peers. Other children make friends, yet he can't. He's told he has autism, a condition that seems to bring disaster after disaster, with no chance of achievement. But not all is hopeless. Change comes when he discovers his calling as a guild leader in the virtual world of Galactic Conquest, a place where he is respected and powerful. But can the digital world stop reality seeping in, or prevent him from addressing his demons?

When I found out I had cancer, I only knew one person who had beat it, and she did not come to mind. Finding out the president had beat it without chemo or radiation gave me hope. I feel my assistance was critical to my beating cancer. Your own research and knowledge, along with your gut feelings, will help guide you. This book is my belief, and I feel cancer is beatable because I was able to beat it. I believe thinking out of the box is sometimes the solution.

It only takes a second to change your life. At age 21, Ryan Atkins had everything going for him: A full-ride scholarship in a prestigious business program, a well-paying internship, an opportunity to pitch a business plan to venture capitalists in New York City. He was living his dreams and preparing for a future of success. But the day before leaving for New York, Ryan was in a life-altering car accident that robbed him of the use of his arms and legs. Paralyzed from the shoulders down, he found himself struggling to grasp just how fundamentally his life had changed.

From the early stages of childhood development, a child learns from adults about boundaries and self-expression. When a child is bullied in all ways, as well as sexually, their view of the world becomes distorted. At age four, those boundaries were cast aside and thus my view of relationships, women, and sex was forever altered. It set the scene for later life where I had multiple relationships, cybersex, experiences with promiscuous women.

A touching and deeply personal memoir, Our Brother Jim recounts the author’s experience growing up with a brother with disabilities. Through his parents’ constant care and his family’s loving encouragement, Jim exceeded every doctor’s expectations, learning to do those “everyday” things that proved so difficult for him—like walking, counting, and communicating with others. With a radiant smile and a delightful sense of humor, Jim left a beautiful mark on the world around him. This book is to remember him.

Rick Werry was living the good life in beautiful Monroe, Utah. He was a young, athletic man who woke up every morning doing what he loved for work, and he had been lucky enough to marry his college sweetheart. A year after their marriage, all of that suddenly halted when an onsite construction injury nearly claimed his life.

Darlene was a small-town single mother from Arkansas. Bert was a small-town preacher’s son from Oklahoma. Polio crippled both of them as teenagers. When their paths crossed at a rehab center in 1952, these young adults questioned how anything good could come from this crippling virus. Bert’s faith in the Biblical passage of Romans 8:28 gave him hope that “Polio was not good, but God would bring good out of it.” Darlene’s journey to the rehab center was “the one way for God to get me in the right place at the right time.”

Here is the inspiring story of a man who overcame childhood polio to live an adventure-filled life as captain of Maine's most famous windjammer, the schooner Adventure, now a national historic landmark in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Captain Jim shares his adventures afloat, his battles with bureaucracy, and even how he created one of Maine's most unusual restaurants.

Already facing a wretched cancer diagnosis, a young man’s prospects for survival dim as he learns his treatments have not worked. Writing against the clock, he feverishly authors a story of profound joy and sadness exploring the life he could have lived. Desperately told, his story takes you through poignant memories, intimate relationships, and fantastical triumphs in a quest to make sense of it all and leave a legacy behind.

Seeing Beyond the Shadows provides a window into the life of a blind individual. Burton addresses some of the obstacles that people with visual impairments encounter, such as the issue of transportation, the low employment problem, and the overall lack of opportunities that impede progress. She provides firsthand accounts of her own experiences navigating these obstacles and relates her faith journey as she has come to rely on God’s guidance.

The art of avoiding diabetes and its complications has been known to humankind for over 2500 years. Yet, people have not learned to live with it. Is it impossible for a person with diabetes to live healthy for his entire lifespan? Embark on an extraordinary journey with Dr. Kamal Kant Lal as he shares a deeply personal odyssey in How I Fell in Love with My Diabetes. This memoir isn't just about managing diabetes, it's an inspiring testament to resilience, self-discovery, and a radical shift in perspective towards living with this condition.

After 35 years, the author knows many of the ins and outs of living with Multiple Sclerosis. JJ Leander went from a promise of a wheelchair ride toward an early death, to a winning formula for surviving into Old Age that is anything but a quick trip to the funeral home.

Beyond Reality and Back Again: Lessons from a Lifetime is Kathy Anderson’s follow-up to her harrowing autobiography, Lilies in the Field, which details her battle with schizoaffective disorder. Drawing from her many life experiences and covering topics from religion to work to therapy and the military, Anderson shares some of the many life lessons she learned throughout her career as an Air Force captain—all while engaged in a decades-long struggle with mental illness.

Being blind, Debby has had many of those experiences, as a parent, counselor, grandparent and someone who simply loves life. Her faith in a God who loves us shifts that frightening scenario into one of confidence and peace. In this book, through stories and poetry, she describes some of those moments where she has walked by faith, not by sight, both spiritually and literally.

Desde muito cedo, Louis aprendeu a lutar. Lutou pela vida desde o nascimento. Com determinação e persistência, enfrentou e venceu, um a um, os obstáculos que o destino lhe impôs. Contra a previsão de vários especialistas, andou, falou, leu, escreveu, chegou à universidade. Aos 20 anos, nos presenteia com este audiolivro em que narra com otimismo, apesar de tudo, sua entrega ao jogo da vida, no qual cada minuto é importante para a vitória.

In this moving memoir, Joy Clausen Soto vividly brings us into her world. We see her go from her dream job to fighting for her life, and how she is able to come back from it all. You can't avoid falling in love with her quirks, indomitable spirit, and wry sense of humor. Soto takes listeners on a compelling journey as she faces cancer and the challenges she encounters while re-entering "normal" life.

Shot point-blank in the side of the neck, Michael Kiel was completely paralyzed from the neck down on April 16, 1993. As a 19-year-old sophomore at Penn State - Altoona campus, the world he knew vanished. It was turned upside down and inside out, and the next four months in the hospital and rehab center would test every fiber of his being. This memoir is about his perspective on life - his entire life - before, during, and after a life-altering spinal cord injury.

What were you doing when you were 22? Where were you in the world? What did you want to do with your life? Ben Parkinson was a six-foot-four-inch paratrooper. He was in Afghanistan fighting for his country. He wanted to always be a soldier, to be a father and to get home in one piece. But we don't always get what we want. So the question is: how do we react when that happens? Easy: you find something new to fight for.