Disability Biography

My neurologist stunned me when she said, “You have multiple sclerosis, and looking at your MRI, you are a walking time bomb. You may not have symptoms today, but it’s just a matter of time.” As the MS tightened its grip on my body, I plunged deep into a myriad of strange feelings—denial and depression for over a year.

Treatment for anxiety all too often includes medication—but at what cost to the patient? After struggling with a lifetime of clinical anxiety, author and artist Lenny Gallo was confronted with the decision to try medication to help manage his symptoms. The medication did not work as expected and caused a misunderstood and often misdiagnosed movement disorder.

Here is the inspiring story of a man who overcame childhood polio to live an adventure-filled life as captain of Maine's most famous windjammer, the schooner Adventure, now a national historic landmark in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Captain Jim shares his adventures afloat, his battles with bureaucracy, and even how he created one of Maine's most unusual restaurants.

In October of 2008, I was airlifted to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, TN, after a head-on collision with an SUV while riding a motorcycle. When I woke up, I was told I would never walk again or have full use of my hands. Seventy-eight screws, 13 plates, 25 units of blood, and more than 400 stitches and staples later, I became very familiar with physical pain and haven’t had a pain-free day since. That physical battle was harder than I could even begin to explain, but it doesn’t really come close to the one that I went through inside of myself over the years that followed.

Autism: The Fight Inside is an audiobook made to educate young men and young women of the dangers that form from gangs. It was made to help young people make better choices with their lives.

先天性疾患を持って生まれ、「生まれた時から歩けなくなることは分かっていた。」という彼が、１２歳で車いすユーザーになり、車いすバスケに出会い、銀メダルを獲るまでをまとめたヒューマンエッセイ。

Rural America deserves more than an elegy: A powerful story of hope, resilience, and political resistance where you least expect it, from Idaho’s first openly LGBTQ+ lawmaker "One doesn’t need to be queer to feel seen, heard, and empowered...A reminder that activists need to believe that the...

A través de este libro verás que jamás puedes subestimar a ninguna persona porque la vida puede tenerte reservada la más valiosa lección de tu vida para crecer y ayudar a otros. Rafael Gutiérrez, narra su experiencia en su primer trabajo en Estados Unidos, como cuidador de un joven con síndrome de Down, de nombre Kent. Además de describir su labor y vivencia, analiza su aprendizaje y con ello nos da una muestra honesta de lo que cualquier persona puede aprender si abre su corazón y su mente cuando, por alguna razón, está a cargo o convive con una persona inCAPACITADA.

See how, throughout her life, she became a believer, and even with Kerry and Kaylynn's love and support, she had to find the strength elsewhere to get up each and every day to be the best mom she could be for Austin. Listen to how still, to this day, she struggles with negative emotions and guilt and needs to be reminded often that God is in control, and he will never forsake her, even when she feels she is alone.

Love for a Deaf Rebel introduces listeners to a vivacious Canadian woman who was born into a silent world and with the foundation for schizophrenia. With pathos and nostalgia, the author recounts his roller-coaster ride with Pearl, a vivacious deaf maverick, who, unknown to him, had paranoid schizophrenia. We follow their encounters through actual notes written before Derrick learns sign language; we go on their motorcycle ride to Mexico and Guatemala; we watch as the happy couple moves to Bowen Island, a British Columbia community with just three paved roads.

Are You Two Sisters? is Susan Krieger's candid, revealing, and engrossing memoir about the intimacies of a lesbian couple. Krieger explores how she and her partner confront both the inner challenges of their relationship and the invisibility of lesbian identity in the larger world. Using a lively novelistic and autoethnographic approach that toggles back and forth in time, Krieger reflects on the evolution of her 40-year relationship. She describes building a life together, from sharing pets and travels to getting married.

Phyll Zone spent a lifetime feeling lost. Labeled “lazy,” “spacey,” and “careless,” he struggled in a world that refused to speak his language. The constant storm of ADHD and the silent sabotage of dyslexia weren't just academic challenges; they were emotional earthquakes that shattered his self-worth. Lost in Translation is more than a memoir—it’s a revelation. It’s the story of a late diagnosis that finally provided the map to a bewildering mind, transforming a lifetime of shame into a powerful new identity.

Dismantles the Woody Guthrie we have been taught—the rough-and-ready rambling’ man—to reveal an artist who discovered how intimacy is crucial for political struggle Woody Guthrie is often mythologized as the classic American “rambling’ man,” a real-life Steinbeckian folk hero who...

From two-time National Book Award nominee Melissa Fay Greene comes a profound and surprising account of dogs on the front lines of rescuing both children and adults from the trenches of grief, emotional, physical, and cognitive disability, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The Underdogs tells...

A serious illness destroyed Helen Keller's sight and hearing before she reached the age of two. At seven, she was introduced to Ann Sullivan, the beloved teacher and friend who helped Helen to make contact with her world. Through sheer determination and resolve, Helen learned to speak, read, and write, and prepared herself for entry into prep school by the age of 16. She later enrolled at Radcliffe and graduated with honors. Her motto: "There are no handicaps, only challenges."

Alex Reegan's incredible story of healing and growth is your call to look within and live as your most authentic self.As a trans man born into an evangelical Christian family that prevented his true identity from emerging, Alex spent years struggling with depression, anxiety, and addiction...

This book chronicles the journey of Eritrean-born Joseph Woldu. As a child refugee, he found himself having to adapt to changes of place, language, and customs; then as a man forced to relearn much of the same after involvement in a disastrous accident two days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What makes Joseph's story so incredible is not that he survived change and tragedy, but how he continually found the strength to improve himself and his circumstances. His story reflects the importance good relationships play in our lives.

We were walking this journey together, yet alone. Two siblings from a close-knit, boisterous family of six. There is nothing like the camaraderie of family to give you the determination to persevere in spite of any obstacle. We were overwhelmed by the disease of multiple sclerosis as well as other autoimmune diseases. Our outward appearance of healthiness was deceiving. Unbeknownst to us, the disease of multiple sclerosis would eventually consume mobility, sight, memory, fine motor skills, speech, and so much more.

This book begins with focusing on dealing with the societal ramifications/stigma of mental health disorders, the LGBTQ spectrum, and also looking at the religious stigma of the two. Finally, I will be telling my life story mainly from the years of 2012 to 2018 for the most part. Coming to terms, with my mental health disorder and identifying as a gay male.

This is a story about a mother and son on a road trip along the Pacific Coast of Southern California. Asher is a 19-year-old child/teen/man who is diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy and a visual impairment rendering him nonverbal, wheelchair bound, and visually impaired. Stacey is his devoted mother and a neuropsychologist who specializes in the assessment of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.