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Black bird fly away: disabled in an able-bodied world
By Hugh Gregory Gallagher, Geoffrey C Ward. 1998
The author presents journal entries, essays, and speeches. Gallagher was a college student of twenty when he almost died of…
polio. As an influential Senate aide and lobbyist in Washington, D.C., he was instrumental in passing the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968. 1998.Born on a blue day: a memoir of Asperger's and an extraordinary mind
By Daniel Tammet. 2006
This unique first-person account offers a window into the mind of a high-functioning, 27-year-old British autistic savant with Asperger's syndrome.…
Tammet's ability to think abstractly, deviate from routine, and empathize, interact and communicate with others is impaired, yet he's capable of incredible feats of memorization and mental calculation. Besides being able to effortlessly multiply and divide huge sums in his head with the speed and accuracy of a computer, he learned Icelandic in a single week and recited the number pi up to the 22,514th digit. Tammet traces his life from a frustrating, withdrawn childhood and adolescence to his adult achievements. Bestseller. 2006.Bobby: breakthrough of a special child
By Anthea Courtenay, Rachel Pinney, Mimi Schlachter. 1983
Psychiatrist Pinney, therapist to Bobby, an autistic child, undertook an unorthodox form of treatment consisting of sessions in which Bobby…
chose the activities. This led to difficult and comic situations as Bobby chose to navigate every elevator he could find. 1983.A three dog life
By Abigail Thomas. 2006
Author describes rebuilding her life after her husband was institutionalized for a traumatic brain injury he sustained when a car…
hit him in 2000. Thomas reflects on the evolution of their relationship and how she copes with help from family, friends, knitting, and her three dogs - Rosie, Harry, and Carolina. 2006.Tuesdays with Morrie: an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson
By Mitch Albom. 1997
Some twenty years after college, Mitch Albom rekindles his relationship with a former professor who is terminally ill. His weekly…
visits with his dying mentor become a colloquium on the meaning of life, and Albom gains insight into "love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, and, finally, death." Bestseller. 1997.Hand me my travelin' shoes: in search of Blind Willie McTell
By Michael Gray. 2007
Blind Willie McTell, 1903-1959, was one of the most gifted musical artists of his generation, with an exquisite voice and…
a sublime talent for the twelve-string guitar. Blind from birth, McTell never behaved as if he were handicapped by his lack of sight and he explodes every stereotype about blues musicians. In this personal and moving odyssey into a lost world of early blues music, a vulnerable black population and more, Gray peels back the many layers of a tragic, occasionally shocking but ultimately uplifting story.Mind if I sit
By Jane Fox, Neville Cohen. 2007
The narrative starts in the early 1950s when Cohen's life was dramatically altered by a car accident. His emotional transition…
after the car accident is described in detail. He neither exaggerates his strengths nor focuses on the mistreatments and discriminations done to him. He frankly reveals his frustration toward love and relationship. 2007.Spring will come
By William N Zulu. 2005
The life story of William Zulu, a linocut artist, highly acclaimed for his evocative art-works. Having contracted spinal TB as…
a baby, William underwent misplaced corrective surgery to his spine in his late teens which left him paralysed and permanently wheelchair bound. But William's story is no victim's litany; it recounts with zest and humour the events of his life, his unfolding artistic development and the world of deep rural Africa in which he is rooted. 2005.Blue above the chimneys
By Christine Marion Fraser. 1980
Christine Marion Fraser was born into a large, poor family in the Govan district of Glasgow during the 1950s. At…
the age of 10 she contracted a rare and horrifying disease which led to many months in hospital and her eventual confinement in a wheelchair. Even this, however, did not spoil her warmth and huge enjoyment of life.The man who learned to walk three times: a memoir
By Peter Kavanagh. 2015
CBC journalist Peter Kavanagh was just an infant when he was diagnosed with paralytic polio and suffered permanent paralysis in…
the lower part of his left leg. As a child, Kavanagh endured painful medical procedures to even out the length of his legs, and experimental exercise techniques. He spent his youth in a leg brace and special footwear, isolating for a boy whose classmates ran freely in sneakers. His first lesson in walking was how to move while wearing such equipment. Throughout his life, as he developed a very successful career in public broadcasting, built a family, and indulged in his love of music and travel, Kavanagh underwent various surgeries to give him "normal" mobility. 2015.The reason I jump: the inner voice of a thirteen-year-old boy with autism
By David Mitchell, Naoki Higashida, Ka Yoshida. 2013
Naoki Higashida was only a middle-schooler when he began to write this book. Autistic and with very low verbal fluency,…
Naoki used an alphabet grid to painstakingly spell out his answers to the questions he imagines others most often wonder about him: why do you talk so loud? Is it true you hate being touched? Would you like to be normal? Naoki examines issues as diverse and complex as self-harm, perceptions of time and beauty, and the challenges of communication, and in doing so, discredits the popular belief that autistic people are anti-social loners who lack empathy. Bestseller. 2013.Writing with Grace: a journey beyond Down syndrome
By Judy McFarlane. 2014
"Put her away and forget about her." This was the blunt advice Grace Chen's grandfather gave Grace's parents when she…
was born with Down Syndrome. Twenty-four years later, Grace writes, "I always dream to be a famous writer." When Judy McFarlane is asked if she will help Grace, she realizes she holds deep, unacknowledged fears - that Grace will be a dull-eyed young woman who can't read, let alone write, that she might become agitated, even lash out. But the idea that Grace wants to be a writer, a dream McFarlane gave up when she was young, captures McFarlane. McFarlane delves into what it takes to face one's own prejudice, what it means to live a full life and believe you are worthy. 2014.Wired for sound: a journey into hearing
By Beverly Biderman. 1998
Biderman follows the evolution of the cochlear implant and its use in restoring hearing to people who are deaf or…
hearing impaired. She shares her own journey from deafness to having a cochlear implant, and her research into the implant before she received it. She also discusses recent developments in the use of the implants.Welcome, silence: my triumph over schizophrenia
By Carol S North. 1987
From childhood on, the author was dogged by the strange voices and hallucinations of schizophrenia. She graphically describes her breakdowns…
and traumatic hospitalizations. She succeeded in conquering her disability and went on to become a psychiatrist. Some strong language. 1987.Under the eye of the clock: the life story of Christopher Nolan
By Christopher Nolan, John Carey. 1987
Severe birth trauma left Christopher Nolan paralyzed and lacking the power of speech, but not without a quick intelligence and…
a remarkable gift for language. A published poet at fifteen, Christopher has written his autobiography at twenty-one. His story is of a determined young man who, with the support of a loving family, persevered in his struggle to define himself and find his voice through the act of writing. 1987.The woman who changed her brain: and other inspiring stories of pioneering brain transformation
By Barbara Arrowsmith-Young. 2012
Arrowsmith-Young was born with severe learning disabilities - she read and wrote everything backward, struggled to process concepts in language,…
continually got lost, and was physically uncoordinated. By relying on her formidable memory and iron will, she made her way to graduate school, where she chanced upon research that inspired her to invent cognitive exercises to “fix” her own brain. Interweaves her personal tale with case histories from her more than thirty years of working with both children and adults. 2012.The way I see it
By Nicole Dryburgh. 2008
At the age of 11, Nicole Dryburgh was diagnosed with a malignant tumour on her spine. After an operation to…
remove the tumour, followed by an intensive course of radiotherapy, Nicole's life returned to normal and the doctors were pleased with her progress. Two years later, aged 13, Nicole suffered a brain hemorrhage. Desperately ill, blind and unable to move, she was given weeks to live. Against all odds, she came home. For Junior and Senior High readers. 2008.The two: a biography
By Amy Wallace, Irving Wallace. 1978
The story of the original Siamese twins who lived 63 years, joined at the chest. Although they had two different,…
often conflicting, personalities, the brothers became successful gentlemen farmers, courted and married two pretty sisters, and fathered 21 children. 1978.The reason I jump: the inner voice of a thirteen-year-old boy with autism
By David Mitchell, Naoki Higashida, Ka Yoshida. 2013
Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind…
memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Parents and family members who never thought they could get inside the head of their autistic loved one at last have a way to break through to the curious, subtle, and complex life within. Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences, and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. Bestseller. 2013. Uniform title: Jiheishō no boku ga tobihaneru riyū.The music of light: the extraordinary story of Hikari and Kenzaburo Oe
By Lindsley Cameron. 1998
Biography of the Japanese classical music composer Hikari Oe and his devoted father, Kenzaburo Oe, winner of the Nobel Prize…
for Literature. Discusses Hikari's physical disabilities and musical gifts and his close relationship with the father who began writing to give his son a voice. c1998.