Disability Memoir

This isn’t your typical recovery memoir. In Not Another Recovery Success Story (Or Is It?), Mike Allen offers a raw, unfiltered look at his decades-long battle with alcoholism, mental illness, and the crushing weight of an identity crisis. With brutal honesty and dark humor, Allen explores how his addiction wasn’t just about alcohol—it was about trying to fill the void of not knowing who he really was.

Linda Olson and her husband, Dave Hodgens, were young doctors whose story had all the makings of a fairy tale. But then, while they were vacationing in Germany, a train hit their van, shattering their lives - and Linda's body. Inspiring and deeply moving, Gone asks listeners to find not only courage, but also laughter in the unexpected challenges we all face. The day of the accident, no one envied Linda and Dave. Today, many do.

The moving true story of a little girl with Asperger syndrome, controlled and abused by the one person she called her friend. Taylor had always struggled to make friends – she felt ‘different’. Taylor never knew her father and her mother wasn’t around much. She just didn’t understand...

At age 24, Janet Buttenwieser moved to Seattle with a résumé devoted to public service and fantasies of single-handedly ending poverty. But within a year she’d developed an intestinal illness so rare she wound up in a medical journal. Janet navigated misdiagnosis, multiple surgeries, and life with a permanent colostomy. Like many female patients her concerns were glossed over by doctors. She was young and insecure, major liabilities in her life as a patient. How would she advocate for low-income people when she couldn’t even advocate for herself?

When Schuyler Rummel-Hudson was 18 months old, a question about her lack of speech by her pediatrician set in motion a journey that continues today. When she was diagnosed with bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria (an extremely rare neurological disorder), her parents were given a name for the monster that had been stalking them from doctor to doctor, and from despair to hope, and back again.

After a diagnosis of a degenerative eye disease, John Samuel’s life—and his chance at success—started to vanish. In a world systemically unequipped for accessibility, disability inclusion is often left out of conversations about diversity. For people with disabilities, it can feel impossible to adapt and thrive when you’re already set up for failure.

There are 1.3 billion people around the world who identify as having a disability. When you include friends and family, the disability market touches 53 percent of all consumers. It is the world’s largest emerging market. Unleash Different reveals how companies like Google, PepsiCo, and Nordstrom are attracting people with disabilities as customers and as employees. Replacing “nice to do” with “return on investment” allows market forces to take over and the world’s leading brands to do what they do best: serve a market segment - in this case, the disability market.

Samantha Matthews was born in Texas in 1996. Not long after her birth, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. As a child living with this disability, she had to learn how to overcome many obstacles in life. As the years progress, she grew in determination and resilience to live her best life. Everyone has their struggles and challenges in life. It can be difficult to get people to see the person behind a disability.

Ben Mattlin lives a normal, independent life. Why is that interesting? Because Mattlin was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a congenital weakness from which he was expected to die in childhood. Not only did Mattlin live through childhood, he became one of the first students in a wheelchair to attend Harvard, from which he graduated and became a professional writer. His advantage?

After you're done listening to Glenna's story, you cannot help but admit she's led a hard life. She's gone through more than her fair share of trouble, in different ways. Some of it she invited; some she did not. To say that she had a troubled childhood would be an understatement. Cutting a long story short, she spent a considerable time working as a prostitute. She was a drug addict. Somewhere along the way, she caught AIDS and Hepatitis C.

Clem Bastow grew up feeling like she’d missed a key memo on human behaviour. She found the unspoken rules of social engagement confusing, arbitrary and often stressful. Friendships were hard, relationships harder and the office was a fluorescent-lit nightmare of anxiety. It wasn’t until Clem was diagnosed as autistic, at age 36, that things clicked into focus. Clem reflects as an autistic adult on her formative experiences as an undiagnosed young person, from the asphalt playground of St Joseph's Primary School in Melbourne to working as an entertainment journalist in Hollywood.

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.

Lorsqu'on rencontre Martin pour la première fois, ce qui frappe immédiatement, c'est son sourire charmeur, son enthousiasme, son oeil qui pétille, son aisance à l'oral et ses idées qui fusent dans tous les sens. Son fauteuil, on n'y pense même pas. On ne le voit pas. C'est tout juste si l'on remarque que ses doigts, qui paraissent pourtant si agiles, sont inertes, tant Martin a de choses à partager, d'anecdotes à raconter et de montagnes à déplacer. Pourtant, Martin est tétraplégique.

Meet the exhausted group of caregiving mothers who offer extraordinary care to a child with disabilities or unique needs. These unsung heroes, who walk invisibly among us, dedicate time, energy, love, and their entire lives to help their loved one who is unable to help themselves. A child with a rare degenerative disease. A sibling with autism. A teen wading through anxiety and depression. An adult child with a debilitating illness. A child with extreme ADHD.

" Bizarrement, en tant que société, nous accordons à la cécité un caractère bien plus dramatique que cette condition physique ne le mérite peut-être. Nous...

Twitch is a frank and funny memoir about picking up the pieces when personal tragedy hits. In 2021, Irish Examiner columnist, stylist, author and podcaster Annmarie O'Connor was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson's disease, an incurable neurodegenerative condition broadly affecting movement and mental health. Though she is no longer working as a stylist as part of her career due to Parkinson's complications, Twitch outlines her journey from a life-altering diagnosis to becoming an activist and agent of change.

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.

A journey through rare disease, a dream of flying, and the gratitude found in acceptance. When Jonathan first threw his parachute—in that instant—the rushing air was still, the falling stopped, and a dream of flying began to take shape: soaring, free from the burdens he carried, held in the sky by a fabric wing. But a cancer diagnosis began a cascade—surgeries, treatments, recurrences, and life-altering side effects. Learning to fly felt impossible.

Thirty-four-year-old Rebecca Alexander is a psychotherapist, a spin instructor, a volunteer, and an athlete. She is also almost completely blind, with significantly deteriorated hearing. Not Fade Away is a deeply moving exploration of the obstacles we all face-physical, psychological, and philosophical. Rebecca's story is an exquisite reminder to live each day to its fullest.

This audiobook provides insight into the life of a neurodiverse Black girl from the Midlands as she embarks on her journey through the UK school system. This book unveils and highlights the unique experiences of neurodiverse people of color and the many challenges they face. In this book, 24-year-old British-Nigerian Oluseyitan Ojedokun gives an account of her struggles through school. She shares the many dreams and goals she had, despite the feeling of constant dismay.