Disability Memoir

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.

In Voice, Adam Pottle explores the crucial role deafness has played in the growth of his imagination and in doing so presents a unique perspective on a writer's development. Born deaf in both ears, Pottle recounts what it was like growing up in a world of muted sound, and how his deafness has influenced virtually everything about his writing, from his use of language to character and plot choices.

In this powerful new history, New York Times bestselling author Max Wallace draws on groundbreaking research to reframe Helen Keller’s journey after the miracle at the water pump, vividly bringing to light her rarely discussed, lifelong fight for social justice across gender, class, race, and ability. Peeling back the curtain that obscured Keller’s political crusades in favor of her “inspirational” childhood, After the Miracle chronicles the complete legacy of one of the 20th century’s most extraordinary figures.

We think of Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the telephone, but that’s not how he saw his own career. As the son of a deaf woman and, later, husband to another, his goal in life from adolescence was to teach deaf students to speak. Even his tinkering sprang from his teaching work; the telephone had its origins as a speech reading machine. The Invention of Miracles takes a new look at an American icon, revealing the astonishing true genesis of the telephone and its connection to another, far more disturbing legacy of Bell’s.

Owen-known to his family as "little buddy" or "Little B"-has a rare genetic disorder that leaves him largely confined to a wheelchair. Before being united with Haatchi, Little B was anxious and found it difficult to make friends. Haatchi-an adorable Anatolian Shepherd puppy-was abused and left for dead on railroad tracks. He was struck by an oncoming train, and although his life was saved, his leg and tail were partially severed. Haatchi was left massively disabled and totally dispirited.

An inspiring and unforgettable memoir that provides hope to others who are experiencing depression, mania, or psychosis, RESILIENT is a deeply personal account about life with mental illness, hearing loss and resiliency. Liz's journey provides encouragement for patients, families, friends, and healthcare workers by showing that recovery is possible.

A journey from darkness to acceptance is a raw and compelling memoir chronicling one woman's harrowing personal struggle with mental illness. When a severe psychotic break abruptly derails Elisa's stable life as a wife and mother, she finds herself plunged into an unpredictable world ruled by the terrifying whims of her mind. This powerful personal account traces Elisa's odyssey through the fragmented mental health system, oscillating from psychiatric holds to outpatient programs and back again as doctors struggle to control her volatile mood cycles.

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.

If you grow up in a world where wrinkles are practically illegal, going bald is cause for a mental breakdown, and women over size zero are encouraged to shoot themselves (immediately), what the hell do you do if you're, gasp... disabled? Whatever body you’re born into, the pressure to be normal is everywhere. But have you ever met a normal person? What do they look like? Where do they live? What do they eat for breakfast? And what the **** does normal mean anyway?

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.

After starting a family and flourishing in his career, Tim Hague was struck by misfortune. The irritating tremor in his foot turned out to be early onset Parkinson's disease. He was only 46 years old. But what seemed to be an end became a new beginning. Just three years later, Hague won the inaugural The Amazing Race Canada (with his son, Tim Jr., as his teammate). His remarkable life story shows that perseverance is not just a matter of willpower: it is a skill that can be learned and honed.

Having grown up on their great-grandfather’s stories, Royd Tolkien and his brother, Mike, have always enjoyed adventures. So when Mike is diagnosed with motor neurone disease, also known as ALS, the brothers decide to use the time they have left to tick off as much as possible from Mike’s bucket list, from remote camping in Norway to travelling through Royd’s beloved New Zealand. Yet, when Royd loses Mike, he discovers his brother had been writing another kind of bucket list: 50 things he wanted Royd to do after his death.

February 29th is a date that comes into existence just once every four years. It is also the birthday of Thais - author Anne-Dauphine Julliand's darling daughter - who died of a genetic disease. Thais lived just shy of her fourth birthday. She had a short life but good one. As this special day is about to reappear on her calendar for the first time since her daughter passed away, Anne-Dauphine struggles with how to mark this momentous occasion. She wants to live fully on this special day: Thais would have been eight years old.

Ada d’Adamo est danseuse. Elle a passé sa vie à rechercher la grâce, la perfection du geste. Lorsqu’elle met au monde Daria, rien ne l’avait préparée à devenir la mère d’une enfant lourdement handicapée, qui jamais ne pourra voir ni marcher. Elle commence alors à écrire et penser cet amour hors du commun qui la lie à Daria, où tout est sans cesse à inventer. Mais une dizaine d’années plus tard, Ada découvre qu’elle-même est malade.

It’s 1970, and Jerry Walker is six years old. His consciousness revolves around being a member of a church whose beliefs he finds not only confusing but terrifying. Composed of a hodgepodge of requirements and restrictions—including a prohibition against doctors and hospitals—the underpinning tenet of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God was that its members were divinely chosen and all others would soon perish in rivers of flames.

This is my story. After a lifetime of trying to help everyone else get their lives together, I have finally figured out how to get mine together. I am now 72 years old, semi-retired from a business I created to help young adults with autism function in the world. I live in Mexico with my loving partner. I have fulfilling relationships with my adult children and grandchildren.

As a child, Matt Hay didn’t know his hearing wasn’t the way everyone else processed sound—because of the workarounds he did to fit in, even the school nurse didn’t catch his condition at the annual hearing and vision checks. But by the time he was a prospective college student and couldn’t pass the entrance requirements for West Point, Hay’s condition, generated by a tumor, was unavoidable: his hearing was going, and fast. A personal soundtrack was Hay’s determined compensation for his condition.

This is not a self-help book. This is a war cry. This Is Not a Breakdown: It’s a Bipolar Awakening is a raw, rebellious, no-apologies journey through the chaos and clarity of living with bipolar disorder. Caprice doesn’t sugarcoat the mood swings, the meds, the breakdowns, or the brilliance. He drags the truth into the light — and sets it on fire. For the ones who’ve been called too much. Who’ve disappeared when it got heavy. Who love hard, crash harder, and come back louder. No recovery clichés. No “inspirational” masks. Just real stories, hard-won wisdom, and a whole lot of fire.

Ambition to succeed was inborn before the days of sight-saving classes and the many provisions now available. This book is her achievement. Her ambition was to teach teachers.

After 35 years, the author knows many of the ins and outs of living with Multiple Sclerosis. JJ Leander went from a promise of a wheelchair ride toward an early death, to a winning formula for surviving into Old Age that is anything but a quick trip to the funeral home.