Disability Memoir

People around the world have fallen in love with Penguin the Magpie, a global social media sensation, and her adventures with her human family. But there is far more to Penguin's story than meets the eye. It all begins when Sam, Cameron Bloom's wife, suffers a near fatal fall that leaves her paralyzed and deeply depressed. One of their three sons, reeling from the tragic accident, discovers an injured magpie chick abandoned after she had fallen from her nest. The boys name the bird Penguin, for her black-and-white plumage.

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.

James Partridge was 18 years old in 1977 when his face and body were severely burned in a car accident. Refusing to succumb to society's expectations, James chose not to hide in the shadows, but to succeed despite his distinctive face and live a happy and hugely successful life, both personally and professionally. Face It tells the story of James' recovery and the work he has done ever since to support others with physical differences to cope with the isolation and discrimination they so often face.

Randy Pierce was 22 years old, fresh out of college, and thriving at an excellent job. His promising future seemed certain. Then, in just two short and devastating weeks, an unexpected neurological disorder plunged him into blindness. Randy, believing his future had vanished in the blink of an eye, wondered, “How can my life have meaning now?” Before he could fully answer, he had further to fall. Blindness was far from the worst challenge he would face. See You at the Summit is Randy’s uplifting personal account of his journey through adversity to accomplishment.

Published in 1996, Life as We Know It introduced Jamie Bérubé to the world as a sweet, bright, gregarious little boy who loves The Beatles, pizza, and making lists. At four he is like many young people his age, but his Down syndrome leads most people to see him only in terms of his disability. Twenty years later Michael Bérubé chronicles his son's growth and his growing love of the world, writing as both a disability studies scholar and as a father.

A two-week vacation to the Florida Keys meant Mary and Jameson Sr. could share the beauty of their favorite turquoise-blue waters with their four children. On that serene day at Looe Key Reef, after they finished lunch on the boat, their oldest, ten-year-old Jameson Jr., was swimming among the marine life, capturing breathtaking footage of a sea turtle. Until a massive bull shark attacked.

During an ordinary Fall afternoon, Kimber Hanchey-Ogden was delivered devastating news: Seth, her 17-year-old son, had been hit by a car and airlifted to a hospital! Having sustained a traumatic brain injury, doctors told her that if Seth made it, he would never be able to walk or talk; he would not remember his past or understand humor. And that was just for starters.

Unexpected Joy is a book about an inspirational young man who makes friends everywhere he goes. He is not like everyone else. He has special needs. He has taken his father and others on a journey they did not choose. His father learned to embrace the journey over many years. This is a story of struggle, depression, deliverance, redemption, acceptance, and eventually joy wrapped in an adventure of a lifetime of challenges.

Born deaf and discovering encroaching blindness at the age of 16, Anthony Lawton’s future appeared to be full of locked doors. Prejudice. Delayed education. Distorted speech. Limited sight. But when benign strangers intercede and inner gifts reveal themselves the opportunity to pursue a childhood dream of speaking and participating in mainstream society become a realisable vision. He would need to do this before the consequences of dual sensory loss would again close the doors.

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.

L'inizio di questa storia è un incrocio nel bel mezzo di Tripoli, più che un incrocio, un'auto con un parabrezza rotto ferma a un incrocio dopo un incidente. A bordo della macchina un uomo e una donna, un padre e una madre, prima erano in tre, solo che la figlia poco più che neonata è stata sbalzata fuori dall'abitacolo e ha impattato contro un albero. Comincia così il racconto della vita di Nagla Augelli, bambina tunisina abbandonata dalla famiglia in un orfanotrofio della sua città, dopo che un incidente di auto l'ha resa paraplegica.

At age 54, Chris Monnette is diagnosed with neovascular macular degeneration, an incurable retinal disease that slowly robs him of his eyesight. As each cell in his macula dies and his vision diminishes, he is forced, literally and figuratively, to see the world through different eyes. Raised in the shadow of an emotionally stifled father, Chris learns early on to mirror the belief that vulnerability equals weakness. A piercingly honest meditation on the emotional legacy of stoicism, Seeing Clearly is much-needed proof that being a man and being vulnerable are one and the same.

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.

In this intimate story of relationship resilience, marine biologist Beth Mathews’s adventurous life as a professor and mother in Alaska is upended when her healthy husband is slammed by a rare type of stroke. Jim’s radical approach to recovery clashes with Beth’s instinct to keep him safe at home and sets them on a collision course as he insists on ambitious sailing expeditions with Beth and their young son in Alaska’s magnificent yet unforgiving waters.

It’s 1970, and Jerry Walker is six years old. His consciousness revolves around being a member of a church whose beliefs he finds not only confusing but terrifying. Composed of a hodgepodge of requirements and restrictions—including a prohibition against doctors and hospitals—the underpinning tenet of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God was that its members were divinely chosen and all others would soon perish in rivers of flames.

The book is an exciting true story filled with adventure and humorous anecdotes. The narrative starts by providing a background from earlier ancestors - through four generations. The author gives a unique account, beginning in Chipinge, located in Zimbabwe's eastern highlands. The villagers are confused by the ambiguous nature of how their ancestral land changed ownership.

My audiobook is about Aden and his journey and his constant battle in life, from childhood to his adult life. The story of how he struggled for years unaware of his dyslexia or his Scotopic Sensitivity \ syndrome until he was fully assessed at the age of 40. This audiobook seeks to inspire others to understand dyslexia and to help them face criticism and discrimination. Over the years, Aden had to overcome insurmountable obstacles in life. His determination to succeed came from these very rejections and insults.

One September day in 1955, Rita’s life changed forever when polio struck her family. She was five years old. Rita became totally paralyzed; her brother was partially affected, and she lost her mother to the virus. The hospital became her home, and the ward sister her mother. Hospital life was harsh in the 1950s: Crying was a punishable offence and meant solitary confinement. Rita struggled to walk again using leg callipers and a spinal brace, and later became mobile with the use of a wheelchair.

When a devastating event takes away the way of life you are accustomed to, you have two choices: Stop living, or start planning! In this memoir, Shawn Paulsen demonstrates how he has overcome his stumbling blocks and turned them into stepping stones on his journey through the misfortunes of life. Shawn’s story inspires and motivates others to overcome. He describes how he has learned to face adversity with his chin up by taking a comedic view of his malady and life.