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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.Paris in America: A Deaf Nanticoke Shoemaker and His Daughter
By Gayle Williamson, Clara Jean Hall. 2018
Clara Jean Mosley Hall has inhabited various cultural worlds in her life: Native American, African American, Deaf, and hearing. The…
hearing daughter of a Deaf Nanticoke Indian, who grew up in Dover, Delaware’s black community in the 1950s and 60s, Hall describes the intersections of these identities in Paris in America. By sharing her father’s experiences and relating her own struggles and successes, Hall honors her father’s legacy of hard work and perseverance and reveals the complexities of her own unique background. Hall was abandoned by her Deaf African-American mother at a young age and forged a close bond with her father, James Paris Mosley, who communicated with her in American Sign Language. Although his family was American Indian, they—like many other Nanticoke Indians of that region—had assimilated over time into Dover’s black community. Hall vividly recounts the social and cultural elements that shaped her, from Jim Crow to the forced integration of public schools, to JFK and Motown. As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) in a time when no accessibility or interpreting services were available, she was her father’s sole means of communication with the hearing world, a heavy responsibility for a child. After her turbulent teenage years, and with the encouragement of her future husband, she attended college and discovered that her skills as a fluent ASL user were a valuable asset in the field of education. Hall went on to become a college professor, mentor, philanthropist, and advocate for Deaf students from diverse backgrounds. Her memoir is a celebration of her family, her faith, her journey, and her heritage.Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes…
educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.Left blind, deaf, and mute after an illness in infancy, Helen Keller overcame her disabilities with the help of Anne Sullivan, her inspired teacher. Her classic autobiography, first published in 1903, covers her first twenty-two years, including the memorable moment at a water pump when she first made the connection between the word "water" and the cold liquid flowing over her hand. She also discusses her friendships with Oliver Wendell Holmes and other notables, her education at Radcliffe, her joy at learning to speak, and above all, her extraordinary relationship with her teacher. This deeply moving memoir, full of love and compassion for others, offers an unforgettable portrait of one of the twentieth century's most remarkable women. Enriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author's personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research. Read with confidence.**Missing**
By Keith Maginn. 2017
“This world needs books like these right now—the inspirational people within these pages.” - Kimberly Morand, blogger"When everything in life…
goes wrong, what keeps people going? This wonderful collection of answers tells how some conquered the near impossible." - Frank Litsky, retired editor and reporter, The New York TimesBurned on 100 percent of his body as a young boy, John O’Leary was given a 1 percent chance of survival. Thirty years later, he is a bestselling author, nationally known speaker, beloved husband, and dedicated father.Once controlled by addiction, Todd Crandell is now an addiction counselor—and a world-class Ironman triathlete.Born with no arms or legs, Nick Vujicic fought back from the brink of suicide to become a faith-driven motivational speaker admired by people around the world.These are just three of the inspiring lives featured in (Extra)Ordinary: More Inspirational Stories of Everyday People—tales of individuals who started out as “ordinary” but have proven to be anything but.Each of the people featured in (Extra)Ordinary reminds us of the depth of human potential and calls us to find our own strength to make our mark on the world around us. (Extra)Ordinary opens our eyes to the power that rests in each and every person!"I love this book. If you are looking for a book to inspire you, get yourself a copy. You will not be disappointed." - J. Bronder Book ReviewsDiary of a Beautiful Disaster
By Kristin Bartzokis. 2017
Features 8-page photo insert!“I highly recommend ‘Diary of a Beautiful Disaster’ as a journey through what it means to be…
a completely, and unflinchingly, beautiful human being.” - David Roche, humorist and author, “The Church of 80% Sincerity”She had just scored a perfect ten on her floor exercise routine, but Kristin Bartzokis stood stoically before the screaming crowd.For Kristin, this moment of perfection was something she always knew she could achieve. She’d been raised to live without limitations, and she’d adopted a determination to stay strong and unemotional, no matter what.Born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, a facial abnormality, Kristin learned at an early age the importance of strength–strength when confronted with multiple surgeries, strength when confronted with stares and questions, and strength when confronted with the constant knowledge that you will never look, or be, like everyone else.Kristin Bartzokis’ life story is one of achievement and inspiration, an example of an unbreakable spirit and unwavering fortitude. No matter what life has thrown at Kristin, she has turned challenges into triumphs and used obstacles as stepping stones.Diary of a Beautiful Disaster empowers readers to embrace their own uniqueness and boldly go forth into the world being exactly who they are. Kristin reminds us that although life can be complicated and messy, it is always, above all, beautiful.“ ‘Diary of a Beautiful Disaster’ is a moving memoir, but more than that it is an honest, sincere front-row peek into one woman’s ability to persevere, overcome, and find true acceptance.” – Erica Mossholder, executive director, Children’s Craniofacial AssociationI'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. .So Far, So Good!: The Saga of a Broken Neck, and the Good Life that Can Follow
By Lee D. Goldstein. 2013
The candid and inspiring memoir of one man&’s rewarding life spent in a chair—a story of family, spinal injury, and…
choosing happiness. Lee Goldstein was fourteen years old when an innocent day at the beach ended in a life-altering accident. Yet even in the midst of that fateful tragedy, Lee finds reasons to be grateful—after all, he was rescued from drowning by a famous singer and hobnobbed with celebrities in the hospital. Lee would spend the rest of his life as a quadriplegic, but thanks to the support of his loving family and his own unflagging determination, he lives a long and beautiful life. Lee and his wife Marilyn raise five adopted children, including Tim, who faces his own challenges when he is diagnosed with autism. Though he later loses Marilyn, Lee goes on to fall in love with and marry Ellen, who makes his later years close to divine. Lee always focuses on the positive, but he pulls no punches in his frank and honest account of what quadriplegics and their caretakers deal with every day, from the use of wheelchairs, to bathroom needs, to the sometimes life-threatening, embarrassing, or hilarious moments of life.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.Los dos hemisferios de Lucca
By Bárbara Anderson. 2019
El viaje a India de un niño mexicano para reparar su cerebro con un tratamiento futurista. Bárbara Anderson narra con…
brutal franqueza el día a día de tener un hijo con discapacidad: los retos dentro y fuera de casa, las complicaciones de salud y de vida; los cambios de prioridades; el Everest de cada día al tener un hijo con -hasta ahora- un diagnóstico irreversible como es la parálisis cerebral infantil. La autora detalla cómo emprende un viaje a India con toda su familia para que Lucca sea uno de los primeros niños en someterse a un tratamiento de 28 días, dos ocasiones durante 2017 y otra en 2019, y los asombrosos resultados que vieron en él: una neurogénesis que arranca con el Cytotron, aparato creado por el científico indio Rajah Kumar. Como buen viaje de todo héroe, la historia no termina ahí: Bárbara, a quien no le gusta aceptar un no por respuesta, se embarca en una lucha para lograr impulsar el uso del Cytotron en México. Un vistazo a las posibilidades que se abren desde ahora para pacientes con parálisis cerebral y otras condiciones neurológicas además de otro tipo de enfermedades como el cáncer desde México, el punto más lejano en el mundo a Bangalore. "Un libro estremecedor, hermoso, y últimamente esperanzador. Los dos hemisferios de Lucca es la prueba de que la perseverancia y el empeño siempre tienen su recompensa, y de que el Cytotron marcará un cambio de paradigma para millones de personas a nivel mundial que sufren problemas de salud hasta ahora intratables. Una joya de historia." -Michael Rowe, director de cine.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.