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I'll Be OK, It's Just A Hole In My Head: A Memoir On Heartbeak And Head Trauma
By Mimi Hayes. 2018
I'll Be OK, It's Just a Hole in My Head: A Memoir on Heartbreak and Head Trauma is a humorous…
and thoughtful cross between Jill Bolte Taylor's My Stroke of Insight and Jenny Lawson's Furiously Happy. Shocking and funny, Hayes' memoir shares the true story of a sudden brain hemorrhage at the age of twenty-two - and the heartache and strength that it took to overcome it. .Life at 8 mph: How a Man with Cerebral Palsy Taught Me the Secret to Happiness
By Peter Bowling Anderson. 2019
In the spirit of Tuesdays with Morrie…“An honest, unsentimental, sometimes terribly funny and deeply poignant account of lasting friendship…” —…
Dr. Rosalie de Rosset, Moody Bible InstituteLife at 8 mph is the rare book that celebrates the friendship between two men while reminding readers that everyone has something to offer, regardless of physical limitations.When Peter Bowling Anderson began working for Richard Herrin, a man with cerebral palsy, Peter didn’t want the job. But the role as Richard’s assistant became a life-changing experience that opened Peter’s eyes to what life is really about, what joy actually looks like, and how courage is truly defined.Richard taught Peter that it was never too late to start over if only he would be willing to break through the walls he’d hidden behind for years. After five years of working with Richard, Peter had a new outlook on life, faith, and love—and a new wife he never would have met without Richard’s encouragement.Peter Bowling Anderson’s heartfelt debut inspires readers to question their assumptions, push beyond their boundaries, and view their struggles as springboards to authentic, lasting happiness.Falling for Myself
By Dorothy Ellen Palmer. 2019
In this searing and seriously funny memoir, Dorothy Ellen Palmer falls down, a lot, and spends a lifetime learning to…
appreciate her disability. Born with two very different, very tiny feet, she was adopted as a toddler by an already wounded 1950s family. From childhood surgeries to decades as a feminist teacher, mom, improv coach and unionist, she tried to hide being different. But now, standing proud with her walker, she's sharing her journey. Navigating abandonment, abuse and ableism, she finds her birth parents and a new chosen family in the disability community.Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive Outside the Lines
By Jonathan Mooney. 2019
Confessional and often hilarious, in Normal Sucks a neuro-diverse writer, advocate, and father meditates on his life, offering the radical…
message that we should stop trying to fix people and start empowering them to succeedJonathan Mooney blends anecdote, expertise, and memoir to present a new mode of thinking about how we live and learn—individually, uniquely, and with advantages and upshots to every type of brain and body. As a neuro-diverse kid diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD who didn't learn to read until he was twelve, the realization that that he wasn’t the problem—the system and the concept of normal were—saved Mooney’s life and fundamentally changed his outlook. Here he explores the toll that being not normal takes on kids and adults when they’re trapped in environments that label them, shame them, and tell them, even in subtle ways, that they are the problem. But, he argues, if we can reorient the ways in which we think about diversity, abilities, and disabilities, we can start a revolution.A highly sought after public speaker, Mooney has been inspiring audiences with his story and his message for nearly two decades. Now he’s ready to share what he’s learned from parents, educators, researchers, and kids in a book that is as much a survival guide as it is a call to action. Whip-smart, insightful, and utterly inspiring—and movingly framed as a letter to his own young sons, as they work to find their ways in the world—this book will upend what we call normal and empower us all.Life After Deaf: My Misadventures in Hearing Loss and Recovery
By Noel Holston. 2019
From a renowned media critic to a man with sudden and full hearing loss, Noel Holston ran the gauntlet of…
diagnoses, health insurance, and cochlear implant surgery. On a spring night in 2010, Noel Holston, a journalist, songwriter, and storyteller, went to bed with reasonably intact hearing. By dawn, it was gone, thus beginning a long process of hearing-restoration that included misdiagnoses, an obstinate health-insurance bureaucracy, failed cochlear-implant surgery, and a second surgery that finally worked. He negotiated the gauntlet with a wry sense of humor and the aid of his supportive wife, Marty. Life After Deaf details his experience with warmth, understanding, and candor. It&’s the story not only of his way back to the world of the hearing, but of a great marriage that weathered serious testing. Their determination and resilience serve as a source of inspiration for all.Life After Deaf is not just for the more than forty million people in the United States alone who cope with some form of hearing loss, but is also for their wide circles of friends, family, caregivers, and audiologists. This highly readable book will be an invaluable guide and source of hope for the large number of baby boomers now handling hearing loss.From the Periphery: Real-Life Stories of Disability
By Pia Justesen, Tom Harkin. 2020
From the Periphery consists of more than 30 first-person narratives of everyday people who describe what it's like to be…
treated differently by society because of their disabilities. The stories are raw and painful, but also surprisingly funny and deeply inspiring. The oral histories describe anger, independence, bigotry, solidarity and love—in the family, at school and at the workplace. Inspired by the oral historians Studs Terkel and Svetlana Alexievich, From the Periphery will become a classic oral history collection that will increase the understanding of the lived experiences of people with disabilities, their responses to oppression and their coping strategies. Readers will meet Andre, who felt different as a child because she was blind. Her father insisted that she could ride a bike, but neighborhood kids would still ask, "Can I catch what you have?" Marca Bristo acquired her disability after a diving accident and became invisible as a person. Men would only see her wheelchair and she started doubting her sexuality. Curtis Harris was treated like a piece of meat in school. He has come to accept autism as part of his personality: "You are who you are. . . . You reject normalism."Crying is for Babies: Based on a True Story
By Tricia McGill. 2019
In the 1930s medicine was still very much a hit and miss affair. The surgeons were still experimenting and learning…
about the human body. This at a period when there was little in the way of pain relief. This is one woman’s story about a childhood ruined by such surgeons, whose bad judgement confined an eight-year-old subsequently to bed for three years and left her with a disability to last a lifetime. Nowadays she would have been given bed rest and pain relief, and in no time would have been up and running again. Her strong will, and the love of a close family, saw her through the bad times, enabling her to go on and become the talented, remarkable person she was. I know because this woman was my sister.Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law
By Haben Girma. 2019
The incredible life story of Haben Girma, the first Deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School, and her amazing journey from…
isolation to the world stage. Haben grew up spending summers with her family in the enchanting Eritrean city of Asmara. There, she discovered courage as she faced off against a bull she couldn't see, and found in herself an abiding strength as she absorbed her parents' harrowing experiences during Eritrea's thirty-year war with Ethiopia. Their refugee story inspired her to embark on a quest for knowledge, traveling the world in search of the secret to belonging. She explored numerous fascinating places, including Mali, where she helped build a school under the scorching Saharan sun. Her many adventures over the years range from the hair-raising to the hilarious. Haben defines disability as an opportunity for innovation. She learned non-visual techniques for everything from dancing salsa to handling an electric saw. She developed a text-to-braille communication system that created an exciting new way to connect with people. Haben pioneered her way through obstacles, graduated from Harvard Law, and now uses her talents to advocate for people with disabilities. HABEN takes readers through a thrilling game of blind hide-and-seek in Louisiana, a treacherous climb up an iceberg in Alaska, and a magical moment with President Obama at The White House. Warm, funny, thoughtful, and uplifting, this captivating memoir is a testament to one woman's determination to find the keys to connection.Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South
By Mary Herring Wright. 2019
Originally published in 1999, Sounds Like Home adds an important dimension to the canon of deaf literature by presenting the…
perspective of an African American deaf woman who attended a segregated deaf school. Mary Herring Wright documents her life from the mid-1920s to the early 1940s, offering a rich account of her home life in rural North Carolina and her education at the North Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind, which had a separate campus for African American students. This 20th anniversary edition of Wright’s story includes a new introduction by scholars Joseph Hill and Carolyn McCaskill, who note that the historical documents and photographs of segregated Black deaf schools have mostly been lost. Sounds Like Home serves “as a permanent witness to the lives of Black Deaf people.”Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind (Ciencia Y Tecnología Ser.)
By Kitty Ferguson. 2011
Kitty Ferguson, the award-winning and international bestselling author of Stephen Hawking’s biography, presents an even deeper portrait of the legendary…
physicist’s life and scientific theories.This updated edition of Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind looks at one of the most remarkable figures of our age: the bestselling author of A Brief History of Time, celebrated theoretical physicist, and an inspiration to millions around the world. Ferguson offers fresh insights into the way Hawking thinks and works, his ever-more-imaginative adventures in science at the “flaming ramparts of the world,” the discovery of gravity waves, the blockbuster proposal for “Starshot” to explore the cosmos, and his powerful use of his celebrity on behalf of human rights and survival on earth and beyond.With rare access to Hawking, including childhood photos and in-depth research, Ferguson creates a rich and comprehensive picture of his life: his childhood; the heartbreaking ALS diagnosis when he was a first-year graduate student; his long personal battle for survival in pursuit of a scientific understanding of the universe; and his rise to international fame. She also uses her gift for translating the language of theoretical physics into the language of the rest of us to make Hawking’s scientific work accessible.This is an insightful, absorbing, and definitive account of a brilliant mind and the extraordinary life of a man who always looks towards tomorrow.We Carry Kevan: Six Friends. Three Countries. No Wheelchair.
By Kevan Chandler. 2019
Kevan is just one of the guys. It's impossible to know him and not become a little more excited about…
life. He is an inspiring man permeated by joy, unafraid of sorrow, full of vitality and life! His sense of humor is infectious and so is his story.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.In WE CARRY KEVAN the reader sits with Kevan, one head-level above everyone else for the first time in his life and enjoys camaraderie unlike anything most people ever experience. Along the way they encounter the curiosity and beauty of strangers, the human family disarmed by grace, and the constant love of God so rich and beautiful in the company of good friends. WE CARRY KEVAN displays the profound power of friendship and self-sacrifice.I'm Staying at Richard's: Raising the Exceptional Son I Never Expected
By Bernadette Agius. 2019
This inspiring, heartfelt, and powerful memoir by a mother of a child with Down syndrome explores the incredible blessings and…
challenges of raising a child with disabilities. When Bernadette Agius—an ambitious career-focused woman—became pregnant, she imagined her unborn child attending the best schools and dazzling everyone with his impressive wit, charm, and intelligence. But when the doctors placed her baby boy in her arms and told Bernadette he had Down syndrome, those dreams instantly disappeared. While her first impulse was to fight against this new reality, she soon found the strength to become the champion her son, Richard, would need and deserved. With the help of her husband and a newfound village of professionals, Bernadette forged a new life, discovering along the way that everyone has a different version of normal. Ultimately Richard, now thirty, was able to defy expectation and become an independent adult. Grounded in love, offering a message of hope, and told with humor and honesty, I’m Staying at Richard’s shines a light on the fierce, unwavering love of a mother for her son.Between Two Worlds: My Life as a Child of Deaf Adults (Gallaudet Studies In Interpret Ser. #17)
By David Sorensen. 2019
In his memoir, David Sorensen explores his identity as a coda, or a child of Deaf adults. He describes his…
experiences with the roles often placed on codas at a young age, such as interpreter, confidant, and decision-maker. His story reveals a person seeking acceptance and belonging while straddling the Deaf and hearing worlds, and shows how he found reconciliation within himself and with both worlds. Sorensen relays the dynamics of his family life; he had a strained relationship with his father, who was an active leader and role model in the Deaf community and the Mormon Church, yet struggled to bond with his own son. Sorensen rebelled as a youth and left home as a teenager, completely detaching from the Deaf community. After struggling to establish himself as an independent adult, he discovered that he wanted to return to the Deaf world and use his ASL fluency and cultural understanding as a mental health therapist and community advocate. Now he considers himself an ambassador between the Deaf and hearing worlds, as well as between the older and younger generations of Deaf people. Between Two Worlds: My Life as a Child of Deaf Adults shares the unique experiences of a coda and passes on the rich cultural past shared by the American Deaf community.Between Two Worlds: My Life as a Child of Deaf Adults
By David Sorensen. 2019
In his memoir, David Sorensen explores his identity as a coda, or a child of Deaf adults. He describes his…
experiences with the roles often placed on codas at a young age, such as interpreter, confidant, and decision-maker. His story reveals a person seeking acceptance and belonging while straddling the Deaf and hearing worlds, and shows how he found reconciliation within himself and with both worlds. Sorensen relays the dynamics of his family life; he had a strained relationship with his father, who was an active leader and role model in the Deaf community and the Mormon Church, yet struggled to bond with his own son. Sorensen rebelled as a youth and left home as a teenager, completely detaching from the Deaf community. After struggling to establish himself as an independent adult, he discovered that he wanted to return to the Deaf world and use his ASL fluency and cultural understanding as a mental health therapist and community advocate. Now he considers himself an ambassador between the Deaf and hearing worlds, as well as between the older and younger generations of Deaf people. Between Two Worlds: My Life as a Child of Deaf Adults shares the unique experiences of a coda and passes on the rich cultural past shared by the American Deaf community.Hello, Stranger: My Life on the Autism Spectrum
By Barbara Moran, Karl Williams. 2018
“…Insights from a time when a young person with autism grew up in a world where nobody understood them!” –…
Temple Grandin, author, Thinking in PicturesBarbara Moran has never known how to be good.As a child, she made strange noises, fidgeted constantly, and licked her lips until they cracked. She had “upsets” that embarrassed and frustrated her family. Worse still, she developed friendships with inanimate objects—everything from roller skates to tables to an antique refrigerator—and became obsessed with images of cathedrals.She was institutionalized, analyzed, and marginalized, cast aside as not trying hard enough to fit in.But after almost forty years, Barbara was given an answer for her inability to be like, and to connect with, other people: autism.Hello, Stranger is the story of a misunderstood life that serves as an eye-opening call for compassion. Bracingly honest, Barbara describes the profound loneliness of being abandoned and judged while also expressing her deep yearning simply to be loved and to give love.Hello, Stranger is a challenge to every reader to see the beauty and the humanity present in every individual.“An extraordinary look at autism from the inside – by turns heartbreaking, uplifting, illuminating, witty, and wise.” – Steve Silberman, author, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of NeurodiversityWhat Makes Us Stronger
By Freya Lewis. 2020
The Manchester Arena attack nearly destroyed her.Love and courage saved her.Freya Lewis was just three metres away from the terrorist…
who detonated the bomb at the Manchester arena on the night of 22nd May 2017. Her best friend Nell was tragically killed, but Freya - thrown forwards by the blast - somehow survived. She suffered 29 separate injuries, was in a coma for five days, and wheelchair-bound for three months.Yet just 12 months later, she was on her feet, running the Junior Great Manchester Run and raising £60,000 for the hospital that saved her. From her darkest moment, she found the determination to live life to the fullest, for herself, and for those who lost their lives.This is Freya's courageous story. But it is also the story of the amazing community that surrounded her, uplifted her, and ultimately saved her life.What Makes Us Stronger is a testament to the power of hope and positivity.Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist
By Judith Heumann, Kristen Joiner. 2019
One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right…
to receive an education, have a job, and just be human. A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn't built for all of us and of one woman's activism--from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington--Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann's lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society. Paralyzed from polio at eighteen months, Judy's struggle for equality began early in life. From fighting to attend grade school after being described as a "fire hazard" to later winning a lawsuit against the New York City school system for denying her a teacher's license because of her paralysis, Judy's actions set a precedent that fundamentally improved rights for disabled people. As a young woman, Judy rolled her wheelchair through the doors of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in San Francisco as a leader of the Section 504 Sit-In, the longest takeover of a governmental building in US history. Working with a community of over 150 disabled activists and allies, Judy successfully pressured the Carter administration to implement protections for disabled peoples' rights, sparking a national movement and leading to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Candid, intimate, and irreverent, Judy Heumann's memoir about resistance to exclusion invites readers to imagine and make real a world in which we all belong.Get in the Game: Nothing Missing: You Have Everything Needed to Succeed
By Kevin Atlas. 2020
Be inspired by the story of Kevin Atlas (formerly Laue), whose faith and perseverance helped him become an NCAA Division…
I basketball player, despite being born with only one arm.Even before entering the world, Kevin Atlas was a fighter. He should have died in childbirth, as the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice, but he survived because his left arm was in the middle of it, allowing blood to flow to his brain. But since circulation was cut off in that arm, he was born with his left arm ending just below his elbow. GET IN THE GAME is Kevin's story of transformation: Moving from anger to joy. From embarrassment to confidence. From the sidelines and wishing his life was different to getting in the game and showing who he is. Kevin's arduous journey to earning a scholarship to Manhattan College in New York City and becoming the first NCAA Division I basketball player missing a limb has given him keen insights to help anyone who feels trapped and defeated by less-than-perfect circumstances, whether physical, mental, or environmental. Kevin doesn't encourage readers to simply accept and live with their challenges, hurts, and losses. He spurs them on to believe any weakness can, in reality, become the one thing that propels them to achieve their greatest potential. As Kevin has learned throughout his life, you can't win if you don't get in the game!An International Bestseller, the Story behind Henry Markram&’s Breakthrough Theory about Autism, and How a Family&’s Unconditional Love Led to…
a Scientific Paradigm Shift Henry Markram is the Elon Musk of neuroscience, the man behind the billion-dollar Blue Brain Project to build a supercomputer model of the brain. He has set the goal of decoding all disturbances of the mind within a generation. This quest is personal for him. The driving force behind his grand ambition has been his son Kai, who has autism. Raising Kai made Henry Markram question all that he thought he knew about neuroscience, and then inspired his groundbreaking research that would upend the conventional wisdom about autism, expressed in his now-famous theory of Intense World Syndrome. When Kai was first diagnosed, his father consulted studies and experts. He knew as much about the human brain as almost anyone but still felt as helpless as any parent confronted with this condition in his child. What&’s more, the scientific consensus that autism was a deficit of empathy didn&’t mesh with Markram&’s experience of his son. He became convinced that the disorder, which has seen a 657 percent increase in diagnoses over the past decade, was fundamentally misunderstood. Bringing his world-class research to bear on the problem, he devised a radical new theory of the disorder: People like Kai don&’t feel too little; they feel too much. Their senses are too delicate for this world.