Disability Biography

La réalité quotidienne d'un non-voyant est un pays étranger. Quel est son rapport au monde ? À la ville et à la nature, à la nécessité de se déplacer, d'utiliser des écrans tactiles, de traverser les rues, de reconnaître les gens ? Invité à donner des cours au Québec, l'historien Jacques Semelin nous propose un récit de voyage d'un genre nouveau. À la fois le sien, dans une ville dont il découvre tout, et le nôtre, dans la tête et le corps d'un non-voyant.

The word conquer has changed meaning for Bryan Anderson. As a U.S. army sergeant in Iraq, it meant taking down the enemy. After becoming Iraq’s fourth triple amputee from a roadside explosive, what he had to conquer got a bit more personal. On October 23, 2005, the moment Bryan looked down and realized he no longer had legs, he cracked a joke. It was a tragedy that could break many, but Bryan transformed it into something positive, something that propelled him forward.

Ein persönliches Plädoyer für Toleranz und Freude am Leben Menschen tätscheln ihm den Kopf oder starren ihn an - Raúl Aguayo-Krauthausen, der aufgrund seiner Glasknochen im Rollstuhl sitzt und kleinwüchsig ist, weiß, dass viele Menschen Schwierigkeiten haben, mit Behinderten unverkrampft umzugehen. Dabei ist jeder zehnte Deutsche behindert, da sollten wir uns doch eigentlich an den Umgang mit jenen gewöhnt haben, die nicht "normal" sind.

What would you have left if you awoke and were told you would be paralyzed from the eyes down for the rest of your life? After an almost fatal car crash and a botched surgery to repair nerve damage, that was Clay Byars' reality at 18 years old. Determination became the only constant in his life from that point on, and miraculously he quickly began to defy the odds. Clay discovered a life far different from that of his identical twin brother, Will.

"Jeg er autist" er Hildur Grauslund Nielsens rørende, poetiske, til tider triste, men også underholdende fortælling om at leve sit liv på kanten af samfundet. Hun ser sig selv og andre autister som katte i en verden af hunde. Mellem 1 og 2 procent af verdens befolkning har autisme, og 30 procent af alle mennesker har et eller flere autistiske træk. At forstå autistens verden er for mange mennesker det samme som at forstå sig selv bedre - eller den anderledes kollega, elev eller ens eget barn. Hildur Grauslund Nielsen har Aspergers syndrom, som er en profil på autismespektret. Som mange andre autister har hun særinteresser.

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.

Jan Grue was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at the age of three. Shifting between specific periods of his life - his youth with his parents and sister in Norway; his years of study in Berkeley, St. Petersburg, and Amsterdam; and his current life as a professor, husband, and father - he intersperses these histories with elegant, astonishingly wise reflections on the world, social structures, disability, loss, relationships, and the body: in short, on what it means to be human.

On July 4th, 2013, Connor Sparrowhawk, also known as Laughing Boy or LB, was found dead in a specialist NHS unit. Connor, who had autism and epilepsy, had a seizure while in the bath, and no member of staff was on hand to stop him from drowning. An entirely preventable death. Sara Ryan presents a frank, sometimes funny and touching account of her son's early life and preventable death and the unfolding #JusticeforLB campaign.

On paper, Coach Rob Mendez sounds like any other football coach on any other field across America: passionate, authoritative, knowledgeable. But he’s unlike any other coach you know - in fact, he’s probably unlike any other person you know. Born with an extraordinarily rare condition called tetra-Amelia syndrome, Rob has no arms or legs. He moves with the assistance of a custom-made, motorized wheelchair that he operates with his back and shoulders.

Life is never easy, but there are times when it feels like everything is against you. Tyra Hodge grew up feeling the world's weight pressing down on her. A nagging feeling awakened, whispering how she would never amount to anything the older she got. Daunted by the increasing demands of education and her private struggles, Tyra turned away.

A young man with special powers is forced to retire from a life of violent crime and escape from New York City at the age of 18. He gets his life together and becomes a respected physician. Thirty years later, he is afflicted with a mysterious illness silently sweeping across the globe. While desperately struggling to find redemption and a cure, he learns that violent associates from his past and federal law enforcement agents are still relentlessly in pursuit.

The world spun and rolled as I collapsed at Macy’s in San Francisco to the voices of Christmas carols being sung and bells ringing. Fresh out of the ICU and a week later, a beige man gave me a beige folder with a dark diagnosis that would color the rest of my life - multiple sclerosis. This set off a tidal wave, a tsunami inside of me that ravaged my body and crushed my lungs. The MS Diaries is a memoir that seeks to impart the journey inside one man’s mind struggling with a severe chronic illness through uncensored personal anecdotes and humorous situations.

In Everything Is Going to be K.O. Kaiya Stone writes about her own experiences of living with specific learning difficulties: from struggling at school to being diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia while at university, to performing her own one-woman stand up show inspired by her journey. Always funny and unfailingly honest, Kaiya outlines the frustrations of having SPLDS but also the ways in which they have fuelled her creativity.

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.

Diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child, Kyle Pease had grown up supporting his athlete brothers Brent and Evan from the sidelines. While his condition limited his ability to play sports, it didn't dampen Kyle's passion for them, nor did it stop the Pease family from including Kyle in various excursions. From rolling his wheelchair up Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite National Park to zipping down Colorado snow slopes, there was never a dull moment with the Pease brothers. Where there was a wheel, there was a way to adventure.

Emily Owen was a highly intelligent teenager who was also athletic and a skilled musician. Tragically, in her late teens she was diagnosed as suffering from Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2). Since then, Emily has survived many complicated surgical procedures, been close to death, and seen the gradual erosion of all the abilities that defined her personality including the total loss of her hearing. Despite this, she has a remarkable sense of humor and has coped with everything she has been through due to her strong Christian faith, her supportive family, and indomitable personality.

I am a woman living with cerebral palsy (CP) since birth. When I was prepping for graduation and finishing my final honors essay for school, I had a realization that based on experience, most of the world does not think or experience life the way I do. Despite my CP, the world still didn't seem to process experiences, feelings, or ideas the same way I've learned to be my normal way of functioning.

After 30 years of a healthy, rewarding, and exciting life, I wake up in a hospital bed unable to move. The neurosurgeon leans down and breaks the news: You won't regain any function in your body and you will never walk again. My medical insurance sends me home, discontinues my care, and tells me to "adapt to my new life". Little Big Steps is the story of the pivotal moments, interactions, and breakthroughs following the injury that turned my life upside down.

The Invictus Games change lives and save lives. Created and spearheaded by Prince Harry, for whom this is a very personal cause, the games are for current and former servicemen and women who have been wounded, injured or sick. Most races are about who gets to the finish line first. At the Invictus Games, even making the start line is an achievement beyond measure. Triple amputees, cancer survivors, multiple sclerosis patients, PTSD sufferers and many more all compete.

Award-winning author Mark Richard delivers a fascinating and unique memoir. Born in the South with deformed hips, Richard was tagged a “special” child. Nothing was expected of him. But as a young man, he decided to strike out and experience as much of our strange world as he possibly could.