Disability Biography

A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most. Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early...

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...

Until sophomore year of high school, 15-year-old Allison Britz lived a comfortable life in an idyllic town. She was a dedicated student with tons of extracurricular activities, friends, and loving parents at home. But after awakening from a vivid nightmare in which she was diagnosed with brain cancer, she was convinced the dream had been a warning. Allison believed that she must do something to stop the cancer in her dream from becoming a reality.

Hannah Daly is a pediatric occupational therapist and an advanced sensory integration practitioner who is profoundly dyslexic, dyspraxic, and has sensory processing disorder. She has multiple university degrees but still cannot read or write. In Knowing No Boundaries, she gives an honest account of living with these hidden disabilities. This book is a unique coming-of-age, feel-good memoir that strikes the balance of vulnerability and humor.

Tony-award winning actress Ali Stroker reads the story of Judy Heumann—one of the most influential disability rights activists in US history A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn’t built for all of us and of one woman’s activism—from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco...

I never planned to write about my life with cerebral palsy (CP), but after years of absurd, frustrating, and hilarious experiences, I had to share them. This book is part memoir, part guide to navigating an able-bodied world when your body has its own agenda. From my mom almost being mistaken for a prostitute to a first date disaster in a movie theater, my life is full of bizarre encounters. Doctors talk over me, cops have been afraid of me, and strangers treat me like a sideshow.

With his signature acerbic wit and hilarious voice, 20-something author, blogger, and entrepreneur Shane Burcaw is back with an essay collection about living a full life in a body that many people perceive as a tragedy. From anecdotes about first introductions where people patted him on the head instead of shaking his hand, to stories of passersby mistaking his able-bodied girlfriend for a nurse, Shane tackles awkward situations and assumptions with humor and grace.

Inside My Outside: An Independent Mind in a Dependent Body provides an in-depth look into the life of a young woman with cerebral palsy who cannot walk or talk but who uses an electronic device for communication. This memoir covers three full days, from morning to night, in Sara Pyszka’s life, providing glimpses of past relationships, friendships, schooling, and outrageous stories about the challenges of hiring, firing, and working with personal care assistants.

We all face obstacles that threaten to hold us back. For Robert Paylor, his paralysis wasn’t a metaphor. In the biggest game of his life, competing for the collegiate rugby national championship, Robert suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Doctors told him he’d never walk or move his hands again. But Robert refused to accept that fate.

For fans of rags-to-riches stories, Be There When I Return is not just about overcoming epilepsy and finding success—it is also for those who are looking for a celebration of love in its purest form. When thirty-one-year-old Michael starts to act out of character, it gets the attention of his roommate and a woman he has started dating. After denying anything is wrong with him, Michael finally decides to visit a neurologist. His life takes an unexpected turn when he receives a life-altering diagnosis of epilepsy.

Total blindness had suddenly descended on her as she walked to her Christian spirituality class one morning. To make matters worse, her professor challenged the class, saying, "Why should we believe in God?"

Part one of Three Years With A Monster comes to you in real time as Dennis scribbled it down in his journal and recapped the events every few months in blog form. You will experience the heartbreaking daily struggle as it unfolds. Eating disorders are nearly impossible to understand unless you come face-to-face with them. This book brings you so close you can smell the monster’s breath. The Wilkinsons were directed to use family-based therapy and dialectical behavioural therapy. Helpful explanations and observations of these tools are contained in this section.

Barbara Anderson narrates with brutal honesty the day-to-day experience of having a child with disabilities: the challenges inside and outside the home, health and life complications, the shifting priorities, the daily Mt. Everest-sized struggle of having a child with an—until now—irreversible diagnosis such as infantile cerebral palsy.

If you are feeling lost, this is the book for you. Featuring deeply personal stories from the authors and other autistic people in their thirties, forties, fifties and beyond, you will be supported to explore your autistic identity and to learn how to build a 'life hand-picked' for your unique needs. It's time to be happier, healthier, less anxious - and to find the real you.

On June 10, 2008, Carol Decker walked through the hospital doors a healthy woman with flu-like symptoms and early labor contractions. Three months later, she returned home a blind triple-amputee struggling to bond with a daughter she would never see. Unshattered recounts Carol's fight for survival against sepsis and its life-shattering complications. From excruciating skin grafts to learning how to function in daily life without lower legs, a left hand, and her sight, Carol takes us on a personal and raw, yet inspiring journey.

After a shocking diagnosis for a rare pituitary disease, and with her eighteen-year marriage in shambles, Risa's life has fallen far from picture-perfect. Recovering from brain surgery and desperate to get back to her former self, she signs up for the bike tour of a lifetime-six weeks from Canada to Mexico on the Pacific Coast Highway. The old Risa could have done the ride in her sleep, but for the new Risa, trapped in a body that no longer feels like her own and stuck in the company of her brain tumor, Bubba, the ride becomes a challenge unlike anything she's ever faced.

At once heartbreakingly honest and strikingly witty, Holding On by Letting Go is the unforgettable true story of one woman's journey through despair to acceptance and hope. Ultimately, it is a portrayal of the light that can be found in the darkest of times.

Klim's journey to greatness began behind the Iron Curtain, in communist-era Poland. His family made a bid for freedom in the 1980s and immigrated to Australia, where swimming became his passport into a new culture and eventually led him to become one of his adopted country's great sporting heroes. His crowning moment came at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where he captured the hearts of millions with his gold medal performances and world record-breaking swims. But being a champion athlete does not come without personal challenges.

Andrea Lytle Peet was thirty-three years old—an urban planner living in D.C., newly married, and a triathlete—when she received the death sentence of an ALS diagnosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). After grappling with the fact that she will likely become paralyzed and die within two to five years, Andrea experienced an unexpected spark that changes her outlook in the most magnificent way.

Given an epilepsy diagnosis at age 49, Linda’s once solid life fell apart. Her seizures uncontrolled by medications and with no access to treatment, Linda had no choice but to seek help in another province. From 2016 to 2018, she travelled between BC and AB, spending up to four weeks in a hospital apart from family and friends.