Disability Biography

Imagine if you were to lose your sight? Would it feel like the end of everything worthwhile? There is a way forward. Once you realise that blindness is a word and not a sentence, life takes on a new perspective. There are ways to thrive with vision loss. This book reveals how to turn such a life-challenge into a lifestyle you can fully manage and enjoy.

At age 16, James Tate Hill was diagnosed with Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy, a condition that left him legally blind. After high school friends stopped calling and a disability counselor advised him to aim for C's in his classes, he used his remaining blurry peripheral vision to pretend he could still see. Feigning eye contact, memorizing common routes, filling shelves with paperbacks he read via tape cassettes, he organized his life around passing for sighted.

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.

Due to horrible physical deformities, he spent much of his life as a fairground freak. He was hounded, persecuted, and starving, until his fortune changed and he was rescued, housed, and fed by the distinguished surgeon, Frederick Treves. The subject of several books, a Broadway hit, and a film, Joseph Merrick has become part of popular mythology. Here, in this fully revised edition containing much fresh information, are the true and un-romanticized facts of his life.

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.

In 1959, the year Terry Galloway turned nine, the voices of everyone she loved began to disappear. No one yet knew that an experimental antibiotic given to her mother had wreaked havoc on her fetal nervous system, eventually causing her to go deaf. As a self-proclaimed "child freak," she acted...

A searing debut YA poetry and essay collection about a Black cancer patient who faces medical racism after being diagnosed with leukemia in their early twenties, for fans of Audre Lorde's The Cancer Journals and Laurie Halse Anderson's Shout. When Walela is diagnosed at twenty-three with...

Featured in The Advocate, New York Times, Literary Hub, Autostraddle, and New York magazine's The Cut This is a vital exploration of the ways society overlooks—and fails—young women with disabilities and chronic illnesses Miriam’s doctor didn’t believe she had breast cancer. She did...

An unflinching and luminous memoir that explores a father’s philosophical transformation when he must reconsider the questions what makes us human? and whose life is worth living? Before becoming a father, Chris Gabbard was a fast-track academic finishing his doctoral dissertation at Stanford...

Driven by the pursuit of perfection and the desire to truly be loved and accepted, Cynthia battled an eating disorder for thirteen long years. “Starving, Bingeing, Purging” is her raw, authentic story, told firsthand; a story not just of suffering, but of resilience, victory, and hope against all odds. In this book, Cynthia openly explores the complex issues of anorexia, bulimia, purging, and food addiction, and shares the intimate details of her journey to reclaim her life.

This is my inspirational true story of childhood sexual abuse that I endured. The abuse was a secret, even to me, due to the fact that all the painful images were locked up in my subconscious for close to 37 years.

Helen Adams Keller was an American author, handicap rights champ, political activist, and speaker who lived from June 27, 1880 to June 1, 1968. She was born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, and following a bout of health problem at the age of 19 months, she lost both her sight and hearing. Keller used home signals till she was seven years of age, when she met Anne Sullivan, her first instructor and long-lasting partner, who taught her language, and that includes reading and writing.

Ruth's tribe are her lively children and her filmmaker husband, Simon, who has motor neurone disease and can communicate only with his eyes. Ruth's other tribe are the friends who gather at the cove in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, and regularly throw themselves into the freezing cold water just for kicks. The Tragic Wives' Swimming Club, as they jokingly call themselves, meet to cope with the extreme challenges life puts in their way, not to mention the monster waves rolling over the horizon.

Damiano e Margherita sono due fratelli che hanno molte cose in comune: la voglia di mettersi in gioco, la caparbietà e la tenacia nel voler inseguire i propri sogni, e l'autismo. Insieme si sono esibiti in televisione e, mano nella mano sul palcoscenico, sembrano finalmente aver trovato il loro posto nel mondo. Già dalla mattina successiva, però, i due sono obbligati a tornare alla realtà. Damiano vive a Rimini e ha le idee molto chiare sul futuro: una moglie – "l'altra metà della mela" – con cui avere dai dodici ai venti figli, milioni di dischi venduti, concerti in tutto il mondo.

Helen Keller’s name is forever linked with courage, perseverance, and the power of education. In Midstream: My Later Life, she picks up where The Story of My Life left off, offering a rare look at her journey beyond her early triumphs. Here, Keller recounts the challenges and victories of adulthood—her advocacy for people with disabilities, her international travels, her friendships with world leaders and artists, and her tireless fight for social change. She writes candidly about setbacks, loneliness, and the weight of public life, but also about the deep sense of purpose that guided her.

Dietetics practitioners are food and nutrition experts who help people live healthier lives. They work in a variety of settings—from hospitals and research to sports, schools, nursing homes, and the food industry. Yet, despite the diversity of the populations they serve, the dietetics profession is predominantly female, white, and able-bodied. Only 2% of dietetics practitioners have a disability compared to 29% of US adults. There is an urgent need to diversify the field—especially by including practitioners with disabilities.

At only eight months old, identical twin sisters Ariel and Zan Henley were diagnosed with Crouzon syndrome — a rare condition where the bones in the head fuse prematurely. They were the first twins known to survive it. Growing up, Ariel and her sister endured numerous medical procedures to keep them alive. Doctors expanded the twins’ skulls and broke bones to make room for their growing organs. After each surgery, the sisters felt like strangers to each other, unable to recognize themselves in the mirror.

At the age of 30, Jake found himself hospitalized, grappling with the weight of anxiety, depression, and paranoia. Soon, he received the life-altering diagnosis of schizophrenia. In this intimate and illuminating book, you are invited into Jake's world, a world he shares with his mother, Laurette, through alternating chapters.

'Your book is the "really good book. Just one" that Roger Butler would have wanted' - Sir Ian McKellen 'Miraculous. The Light of Day reclaims a forgotten hero . . . I couldn't put it down' - Will Tosh 'Sir, we are homosexuals . . .' So began the letter penned by Roger Butler and sent to several...

Ancient Mexican spiritual practices are almost lost to the world, yet they contain powerful techniques that can heal and bring resolution to some of life's most important aspects: health, emotions, abundance, and the quest for enlightenment.Here, world-renowned Mexican healer Sergio Magana...