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Step By Step: Finding My Way Back to Me
By Linda Buchan. 2016
My name is Linda Buchan and when I was 18 years old I died... On a winter's day, Saturday June…
27, 1998 my young life ended and my new life began. A life that was to be so completely different to the one that I had envisaged, the one that I had expected... ... In the days, weeks, months and years that followed I was often stricken with pain, sadness, despair, distress and heartbreak but I never for one moment thought about giving up. I didn't know where it came from but I always had hope, I always knew that I would not only survive but that my life would get better. In Linda Buchan's raw and powerful memoir she shares her journey from the terrible night when the life and future she thought lay ahead of her was shattered. From that moment she began a new life, firstly fighting just to survive, then forging her way with incredible courage and determination to live a fulfilling and purposeful life on her own terms. She is living proof of her own mantra It's not what happens to you. It is how you deal with it. Linda's way of dealing with what happened to her has been to combine acceptance and contentment, finely mixed with determination and an undeniable drive and passion for life. Her athletic background underpinned her physical determination and mental willpower, which helped her recovery immensely. To this day she draws on all of these attributes. Linda is the embodiment of her mantra "it's not what happens to you. It's how you deal with it." She is an inspiration to us all. - Janine Shepherd AMTreehab: Tales from My Natural, Wild Life
By Bob Smith. 2016
In this bitingly funny and often surprising memoir, award-winning author and groundbreaking comedian Bob Smith offers a meditation on the…
vitality of the natural world--and an intimate portrait of his own darkly humorous and profoundly authentic response to a life-changing illness. In Treehab--named after a retreat cabin in rural Ontario--Smith muses how he has "always sought the path less traveled." He rebuffs his diagnosis of ALS as only an unflappable stand-up comic could ("Lou Gehrig's Disease? But I don't even like baseball!") and explores his complex, fulfilling experience of fatherhood, both before and after the onset of the disease. Stories of his writing and performing life--punctuated by hilariously cutting jokes that comedians tell only to each other--are interspersed with tales of Smith's enduring relationship with nature: boyhood sojourns in the woods of upstate New York and adult explorations of the remote Alaskan wilderness; snakes and turtles, rocks and minerals; open sky and forest canopy; God and friendship--all recurring touchstones that inspire him to fight for his survival and for the future of his two children. Aiming his potent, unflinching wit at global warming, equal rights, sex, dogs, Thoreau, and more, Smith demonstrates here the inimitable insight that has made him a beloved voice of a generation. He reminds us that life is perplexing, beautiful, strange, and entirely worth celebrating.My Body Politic: A Memoir
By Simi Linton. 2006
"I read My Body Politic with admiration, sometimes for the pain that all but wept on the page, again for…
sheer exuberant friendships, for self-discovery, political imagination, and pluck. . . . Wonderful! In a dark time, a gift of hope. -Daniel Berrigan, S. J. "The struggles, joys, and political awakening of a firecracker of a narrator. . . . Linton has succeeded in creating a life both rich and enviable. With her crackle, irreverence, and intelligence, it's clear that the author would never be willing to settle. . . . Wholly enjoyable. " -Kirkus Reviews "Linton is a passionate guide to a world many outsiders, and even insiders, find difficult to navigate. . . . In this volume, she recounts her personal odyssey, from flower child . . . to disability-rights/human rights activist. " -Publishers Weekly "Witty, original, and political without being politically correct, introducing us to a cast of funny, brave, remarkable characters (including the professional dancer with one leg) who have changed the way that 'walkies' understand disability. By the time Linton tells you about the first time she was dancing in her wheelchair, you will feel like dancing, too. " ---Carol Tavris, author of Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion "This astonishing book has perfect pitch. It is filled with wit and passion. Linton shows us how she learned to 'absorb disability,' and to pilot a new and interesting body. With verve and wonder, she discovers her body's pleasures, hungers, surprises, hurts, strengths, limits, and uses. " -Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, author of Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature "An extraordinarily readable account of life in the fast lane. . . a brilliant autobiography and a great read. " -Sander L. Gilman, author of Fat Boys: A Slim Book While hitchhiking from Boston to Washington, D. C. , in 1971 to protest the war in Vietnam, Simi Linton was involved in a car accident that paralyzed her legs and took the lives of her young husband and her best friend. Her memoir begins with her struggle to regain physical and emotional strength and to resume her life in the world. Then Linton takes us on the road she traveled (with stops in Berkeley, Paris, Havana) and back to her home in Manhattan, as she learns what it means to be a disabled person in America. Linton eventually completed a Ph. D. , remarried, and began teaching at Hunter College. Along the way she became deeply committed to the disability rights movement and to the people she joined forces with. The stories in My Body Politic are populated with richly drawn portraits of Linton's disabled comrades, people of conviction and lusty exuberance who dance, play-and organize--with passion and commitment. My Body Politic begins in the midst of the turmoil over Vietnam and concludes with a meditation on the U. S. involvement in the current war in Iraq and the war's wounded veterans. While a memoir of the author's gradual political awakening, My Body Politic is filled with adventure, celebration, and rock and roll-Salvador Dali, James Brown, and Jimi Hendrix all make cameo appearances. Linton weaves a tale that shows disability to be an ordinary part of the twists and turns of life and, simultaneously, a unique vantage point on the world.Cam Tait
By Jim Taylor, Cam Tait. 2015
"I have cerebral palsy much like I have blue eyes and have-or should I say had?-brown hair. It is simply…
a part of who I am. When I speak to groups about my situation I can even joke about it. 'Think of CP as Canada Post,' I tell them. 'My brain sends out signals, and God knows where they wind up.'" Long-time journalist Cam Tait has seen some interesting times on the sports beat-rolling alongside Rick Hansen in the Man in Motion tour, playing in fundraising golf tournaments, and tipping back some cold ones with Wayne Gretzky, to name a few. His personal life hasn't lacked excitement either-memorable moments include parasailing, winning a stand-up (or in his case, sit-down) comedy contest, and helping his grandson take his first steps. But he couldn't have done it without the help of his friends. Tait was born with cerebral palsy, unable to sit up, speak or move his arms and legs. But thanks to a revolutionary form of physical therapy that required a 24/7 commitment from his parents and a team of 116 volunteers, he learned to get around in a wheelchair, move his hands and talk. These turned out to be useful skills for a career of prime interviews, crazy deadlines and pranks. Tait teams up with friend and fellow journalist Jim Taylor, telling his own story with characteristic directness and humour. With a newspaperman's inveterate sense of timing, Tait moves seamlessly from one-liners and tales of debauched hijinks to candid accounts of his depression, career struggles and loss of loved ones. He speaks with eloquence about the importance of giving disabled people the chance to pursue their ambitions, and the value of all the support he's received in achieving his own dreams. In both his career and personal life, he's experienced the power of humour to break down barriers and bring people together-and have a hell of a good time doing it.I Can Feel Blue On Monday
By Marc Maurer. 2000
The title vignette involves a teacher who is determined that a young boy (who is blind) should be able to…
feel the color of the piece of paper which she gives him. When he assures her that this is not possible, the teacher badgers him until he answers: "I can feel blue on Monday." He is sent to the principal's office for punishment. The principal is a wise man, and the "punishment" is quite fun. "The present volume, I Can Feel Blue on Monday, is number nineteen in the [Kernel Book] series. Here you will meet old friends and new-the real blind men and women whose stories tell what blindness is and, perhaps equally important, what it is not. Although our problems often seem complex, they frequently result from simple matters of misunderstanding and lack of information. ... How does a blind tourist absorb the splendor of the palace of the Imperial Chinese Emperor? What about the woman with failing eyesight who can no longer see the beautiful wings of a butterfly-can she no longer hope to experience those magical moments of beauty which once moved her to tears? And, finally, if (as Thomas Edison once said) 80 percent of all we learn comes through the eye, can our hope for normal lives be anything more than a futile dream?Toothpaste and Railroad Tracks
By Kenneth Jernigan. 1995
This is the eighth book in the Kernel Books Series--a series of books in which people who are blind tell…
about life situations and how they coped with them. "What do toothpaste and railroad tracks have in common? Just about the same that axes and law books do--nothing and everything. They are the building blocks of the routine of daily existence. In a very real sense they are the essence of humanity itself. When I was younger (maybe 40 years ago), there was a popular song called "Little Things Mean a Lot." It dealt with what the title implies, but its message was much more than that. It was that each little incident (relatively unimportant in and of itself) combines with all of the other trivial events that are constantly happening to us to form the pattern of our lives. It is not the major events but the recurring details that make us what we are--that determine whether we will succeed or fail, be happy and productive or sad and miserable. Other books in this series are available from Bookshare."A Certain Loneliness: A Memoir (American Lives)
By Sandra Gail Lambert. 2018
After contracting polio as a child, Sandra Gail Lambert progressed from braces and crutches to a manual wheelchair to a…
power wheelchair—but loneliness has remained a constant, from the wild claustrophobia of a child in body casts to just yesterday, trapped at home, gasping from pain. A Certain Loneliness is a meditative and engaging memoir-in-essays that explores the intersection of disability, queerness, and female desire with frankness and humor. Lambert presents the adventures of flourishing within a world of uncertain tomorrows: kayaking alone through swamps with alligators; negotiating planes, trains, and ski lifts; scoring free drugs from dangerous men; getting trapped in a too-deep snow drift without crutches. A Certain Loneliness is literature of the body, palpable and present, in which Lambert’s lifelong struggle with isolation and independence—complete with tiresome frustrations, slapstick moments, and grand triumphs—are wound up in the long history of humanity’s relationship to the natural world.Extraordinary People with Disabilities
By Deborah Kent, Kathryn A. Quinlan. 1996
This book tells the stories of 54 historical figures with disabilities. From people who were known for their disability like…
Helen Keller, Stevie Wonder and Heather Whitestone to people who made an impact on the world and not just amongst the disabled community, like FDR, Harriet Tubman and Thomas Edison. In addition to the biographies there are short histories of legislation that changed history for Americans with Disabilities.Qué día más bueno: Tomar LSD en microdosis me cambió la vida
By Ayelet Waldman. 2017
Un mes en la vida de una mujer, escritora, esposa y madre de cuatro hijos que busca la estabilidad depositando…
sobre su lengua dos gotas de LSD. «Dos días después abrí el buzón y encontré un paquete. En el remite decía "Lewis Carroll". Dentro encontré un frasquito de color azul cobalto.» Hasta entonces, Ayelet Waldman había probado todas las terapias imaginables, de la farmacopea al mindfulness. Pero las tempestades anímicas que le provocaba su trastorno bipolar eran insoportables; marido e hijos sufrían con ella. Dos gotas del frasquito en la lengua y Ayelet se suma a la legión subterránea de ciudadanos que hacen un uso terapéutico del LSD en microdosis. Durante un mes, esta abogada, escritora y madre de adolescentes, lleva un diario sobre el tratamiento. En él también explora la historia y los mitos que rodean al LSD y otras drogas, así como la lucha bizantina que el Estado les antepone. El resultado es un testimonio revelador, tan alegre como fascinante. Críticas:«El libro más divertido que he leído últimamente.»Zadie Smith «Una mirada curiosa y exhaustiva a las posibilidades terapéuticas de las drogas ilegales. Un libro fascinante y profusamente documentado.»Nora Krug, The Washington Post «Un manifiesto lúcido y coherente sobre cómo y por qué la empresa racista e inmoral de la Guerra contra las drogas ha fracasado. Una obra apasionante y persuasiva.»Claire Vaye Watkins, The New Republic «Podría decirse que este libro es la particular guerra de Ayelet Waldman contra la propaganda que subyace a la Guerra contra las drogas, pero es también mucho más que eso y, sobre todo, mucho más divertido.»Rebeca Solnit «Un libro sincero, valiente y muy humano. Normalizando la discusión sobre el LSD, Waldman puede que un día ayude a otros a sentirse normales.»Jennifer Senior, The New York TimesThe Education Of Laura Bridgman: First Deaf And Blind Person To Learn Language
By Ernest Freeberg. 2001
In the mid-nineteenth century, Laura Bridgman, a young child from New Hampshire, became one of the most famous women in…
the world. Philosophers, theologians, and educators hailed her as a miracle, and a vast public followed the intimate details of her life with rapt attention. This girl, all but forgotten today, was the first deaf and blind person ever to learn language. Laura's dark and silent life was transformed when she became the star pupil of the educational crusader Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe. Against the backdrop of an antebellum Boston seething with debates about human nature, programs of moral and educational reform, and battles between conservative and liberal Christians, Freeberg tells this extraordinary tale of mentor and student, scientist and experiment. Under Howe's constant tutelage, Laura voraciously absorbed the world around her, learning to communicate through finger language, as well as to write with confidence. Her remarkable breakthroughs vindicated Howe's faith in the power of education to overcome the most terrible of disabilities. In Howe's hands, Laura's education became an experiment that he hoped would prove his own controversial ideas about the body, mind, and soul. Poignant and hopeful, The Education of Laura Bridgman is both a success story of how a sightless and soundless girl gained contact with an ever-widening world, and also a cautionary tale about the way moral crusades and scientific progress can compromise each other. Anticipating the life of Helen Keller a half-century later, Laura's is a pioneering story of the journey from isolation to accomplishment, as well as a window onto what it means to be human under the most trying conditions.The Fall
By Margaret Jull Costa, Diogo Mainardi. 2012
THE FALL is a memoir like no other. Its 424 short passages match the number of steps taken by Diogo…
Mainardi's son Tito as he walks, with great difficulty, alongside his father through the streets of Venice, the city where a medical mishap during Tito's birth left him with Cerebral Palsy. As they make their way toward the hospital where both their lives changed forever, Mainairdi begins to draw on his knowledge of art and history, seeking to better explain a tragedy that was entirely avoidable. From Marcel Proust to Neil Young, to Sigmund Freud to Humpty Dumpty, to Renaissance Venice and Auschwitz, he charts the trajectory of the Western world, with Tito at its center, showing how his fate has been shaped by the past. Told with disarming simplicity; by turns angry, joyful, and always generous, wise and suprising, THE FALL is an anstonishing book.Miracle in the Making: The Adam Taliaferro Story
By Scott Brown, Sam Carchidi. 2001
On September 23, 2000, Adam Taliaferro had a lot going for him. He was a promising young football player on…
a full scholarship at Perm State University who seemed to have a career in the NFL in front of him. But after a jarring hit on an Ohio State running back, he woke up flat on his back in a hospital, unable to feel anything below his neck. His doctors said he would probably never walk again. Determined to prove those doctors wrong, Adam and his family embarked on a courageous journey of determination and faith that would end with Adam walking on his own two feet once again. Miracle in the Making is the remarkable story of that courageous achievement over incredibly long odds. It's the story of a recovery called miraculous by his doctors-a story of tragedy and triumph, of hope and inspiration, and a story that will remain with the reader long after the final page is turned.Writers on the Spectrum
By Julie Brown. 2010
From Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale characters to Lewis Carroll's Wonderland and Emily Dickinson's poetic imagery, the writings and lives of…
some of the world's most celebrated authors indicate signs of autism and Asperger's Syndrome. Through analysis of biographies, autobiographies, letters and diaries, Professor Julie Brown identifies literary talents who display characteristics of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and uncovers the similarities in their writing that suggest atypical, autistic brains. Providing close readings of authors' works, Brown explores writing processes, content, theme, structure and writing style to reveal the underlying autistic traits that have influenced their writing. The book provides an overview of ASD and common threads in autistic writing followed by an illuminating exploration of how these threads are evident in the literature of both well-known and lesser known authors. This groundbreaking study of autism in literature will be of interest to anyone with a professional or personal interest in literature or the autistic mind.Daniel's Music: One Family's Journey from Tragedy to Empowerment Through Faith, Medicine, and the Healing Power of Music
By Jerome Preisler, The Trush Family. 2013
In 1997, Daniel Trush, a bright, active, outgoing twelve-year-old, collapsed on the basketball court and fell into a deep coma.…
Rushed to the hospital, he was found to have five previously undetected aneurysms in his brain. One had burst, causing a massive cerebral hemorrhage.While Daniel remained comatose, the uncontrolled pressure inside his skull caused him to suffer multiple strokes. Tests showed that his brain functions had flat-lined, and doctors would soon tell his parents his chances of survival were slim to none--or that he'd likely remain in a vegetative state if he awakened.But the doctors were wrong.Daniel's traumatic injury did not bring his life to a premature end. Thirty days after lapsing into a coma, he would return to consciousness, barely able to blink or smile. Two years later, he took his first extraordinary steps out of a wheelchair. A decade after being sped to the emergency room, Daniel Trush completed the New York Marathon.But his incredible journey into the future had just begun. With music having played a crucial role in his recovery, Danny and his family launched Daniel's Music Foundation, a groundbreaking nonprofit organization for people with disabilities. In time DMF would be honored on a Broadway stage by the New York Yankees, gaining notoriety and admiration across America.Daniel's Music is the gripping story of Daniel's recovery against odds experts said were insurmountable; of medical science, faith, and perseverance combining for a miracle; and of an average family turning their personal trials into a force that brings joy, inspiration, and a powerful sense of belonging to all those whose lives they touch.Forgiving God: A Story of Faith
By Hilary Yancey. 2018
A young mother's life is forever changed and her faith in God is broken when her son in diagnosed with…
complex physical disabilities. Restore and grow your faith as you read about Hilary Yancey's personal journey back to God. Three months into her pregnancy with her first child, Hilary Yancey received a phone call that changed everything. As she learned the diagnosis-cleft lip and palate, a missing right eye, possible breathing complications-Hilary began to pray in earnest. Even in the midst of these findings, she prayed that God would heal her son. God could do a miracle unlike anything she had seen. Only when Hilary held her baby, Jack, in her arms for the first time did she realize God had given her something drastically different than what she had demanded. Hilary struggled to talk to God as she sat for six weeks beside Jack's crib in the NICU. She consented to surgeries and learned to care for a breathing tube and gastronomy button. In her experience with motherhood Hilary had become more familiar with the sound of her son's heart monitor than the sound of his heartbeat. Later, during surgeries and emergency trips back to the hospital with her crying, breathless boy, Hilary reproached the stranger God had become. Jack was different. Hilary was not the mother she once imagined. God was not who Hilary knew before. But she could not let go of one certainty-she could see the image of Christ in Jack's face. Slowly, through long nights of wrestling and longer nights of silence, Hilary cut a path through her old, familiar faith to the God behind it. She discovered that it is by walking out onto the water, where the firm ground gives way, that we can find him. And meeting Jesus, who rises with his scars to proclaim new life, is never what you once imagined.A Special Day: A Mother?s Memoir of Love, Loss, and Acceptance After the Death of Her Daughter
By Anne-Dauphine Julliand. 2015
February 29th is a date that comes into existence just once every four years. It is also the birthday of…
Thaïs-author Anne-Dauphine Julliand’s darling daughter-who died of a genetic disease. Thaïs lived just shy of her fourth birthday. She had a short life but good one.As this special day is about to reappear on her calendar for the first time since her daughter passed away, Anne-Dauphine struggles with how to mark this momentous occasion. She wants to live fully on this special day: Thais would have been eight years old. Vivid memories of life with her daughter begin to blend with the present-every gesture, every word evokes a buried memory, arouses laughter or tears. Yet as the date of her daughter's birthday approaches, she knows she must not lose sight of the family who needs her now: her sons Gaspard and Arthur, and Azylis, her other daughter who is also sick.Anne-Dauphine's message remains simple, true, and strong: we all need to be loved and we all need to be happy despite our ordeals. This is both lesson in happiness and a wonderful love story-A Special Day is an honest, inspirational tale that has touched the hundreds of thousands of lives. It will leave the reader breathless with its beauty.Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.Soar, Adam, Soar
By Rick Prashaw. 2019
“Coming out. Coming in. Coming home.” Adam Prashaw’s life was full of surprises from the moment he was born. Assigned…
female at birth, and with parents who had been expecting a boy, he spent years living as “Rebecca Danielle Adam Prashaw” before coming to terms with being a transgender man. Adam captured hearts with his humour, compassion, and intensity. After a tragic accident cut his life short, he left a legacy of changed lives and a trove of social media posts documenting his life, relationships, transition, and struggles with epilepsy, all with remarkable transparency and directness. In Soar, Adam, Soar, his father, a former priest, retells Adam’s story alongside his son’s own words. From early childhood, through coming out first as a lesbian and then as a man, and his battles with epilepsy and refusal to give in, it chronicles Adam’s drive to define himself, his joyful spirit, and his love of life, which continues to conquer all.A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia
By Sandra Allen. 2018
Dazzlingly, daringly written, marrying the thoughtful originality of Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts with the revelatory power of Neurotribes and The…
Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, this propulsive, stunning book illuminates the experience of living with schizophrenia like never before.Sandra Allen did not know her uncle Bob very well. As a child, she had been told he was “crazy,” that he had spent time in mental hospitals while growing up in Berkeley in the 60s and 70s. But Bob had lived a hermetic life in a remote part of California for longer than she had been alive, and what little she knew of him came from rare family reunions or odd, infrequent phone calls. Then in 2009 Bob mailed her his autobiography. Typewritten in all caps, a stream of error-riddled sentences over sixty, single-spaced pages, the often incomprehensible manuscript proclaimed to be a “true story” about being “labeled a psychotic paranoid schizophrenic,” and arrived with a plea to help him get his story out to the world. In A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise, Allen translates her uncle’s autobiography, artfully creating a gripping coming-of-age story while sticking faithfully to the facts as he shared them. Lacing Bob’s narrative with chapters providing greater contextualization, Allen also shares background information about her family, the culturally explosive time and place of her uncle’s formative years, and the vitally important questions surrounding schizophrenia and mental healthcare in America more broadly. The result is a heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious portrait of a young man striving for stability in his life as well as his mind, and an utterly unique lens into an experience that, to most people, remains unimaginable.Paul's Prayers: A Mother's Account of Raising an Autistic Son
By Susan Anderson. 2018
Recipient of the Catholic Writers Guild 2018 Seal of Approval“A journey of compassion, frustration, and triumph . . . Anderson’s…
love for her son marks this beautiful portrait of family and faith.” —Publishers WeeklyPaul's Prayers is the story of a moderately autistic young man navigating life with a spiritual intelligence that runs further than most people can walk. Written by Paul's mother, this insightful memoir gives readers a unique look at the challenges and joys of raising her autistic son in a large Catholic family. The first of six children, Paul's early years were an exciting and confusing time for his parents. At the time, very little information on autism and its early signs was available, and the fact that the disorder is a spectrum ranging from mild to severe was not widely known. Unpredictable outbursts and sensitivities to light and schedule disruptions lead Paul's parents to refer to his condition as "The Marauder." The Marauder sweeps over the hospital nursery as the fluorescent lights blind Paul's eyes. The Marauder throws his black cape over the Christmas holidays, stealing four-year-old Paul's speech for three long days. In school, The Marauder keeps other students at bay, leaving Paul isolated and alone. Finally a developmental assessment gives some clarity to the exhausted family: Paul is on the autism spectrum, and they will all have to adjust their perspectives. Small victories emerge as Paul begins to reach developmental milestones in creative ways. Six years of piano lessons lead to a dramatic improvement in reading skills. A jaunt through the mountains with his father introduces Paul to his talent for running; with his brothers, he joins the high school cross country running team, which goes on to win the state championship. After high school, Paul works for the family business and attends college. Throughout this intimate memoir, every day is a challenge to be met with creative thinking, patience, and faith. Paul finds comfort in contemplative prayer and the support of his family when the world around him becomes too chaotic. As her son grows up, Susan Anderson learns how to cope with autism and embrace the importance of faith in the things unseen. Her family's experience is a beacon of light for those who find themselves on a similar path.The PDA Paradox: The Highs and Lows of My Life on a Little-Known Part of the Autism Spectrum
By Harry Thompson, Felicity Evans. 2019
Diagnosed with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) in his teenage years, Harry Thompson looks back with wit and humour at the…
ups and downs of family and romantic relationships, school, work and mental health, as well as his teenage struggle with drugs and alcohol.By embracing neurodiversity and emphasising that autistic people are not flawed human beings, Thompson demonstrates that some merely need to take the "scenic route" in order to flourish and reach their full potential. The memoir brings to life Harry's past experiences and feelings, from his torrid time at school to the peaceful and meaningful moments when he is alone with a book, writing or creating YouTube videos.Eloquent and insightful, The PDA Paradox will bring readers to shock, laughter and tears through its overwhelming honesty. It is a turbulent memoir, but it ends with hope and a positive outlook to the future.