Disability Memoir

You are more than your limits. Choosing to see herself as more than a person with a disability and wheelchair user, Lolo chooses to live a bold and courageous life now because representation matters. She created this intersectional guide to provide tools for people with disabilities to thrive in personal growth, independence, and community building. Add this guide to your list of inclusion books!

When fourth grader Alex Schwartz first met his cello, his eyes lit up with wonder, and a smile appeared on his face as bright as the potential his new cello teacher saw within him. The cello positively impacted all aspects of his development, including focus, fine motor, and gross motor skills.

Dive headfirst into the urban symphony of "Smelling the Taste of Sound", a riveting memoir of a newly diagnosed, neurodivergent trainee lawyer. Her sensory issues are compounded by the sirens that punctuate the daily grind of a tough, inner-city law firm. Amidst encounters with eccentric characters and surreal personalities, our protagonist navigates the chaos and unorthodox office dynamics with comical observations and resilience.

Hilda’s family didn’t know she had muscular dystrophy. They just knew their preschooler was losing her ability to walk. But they were determined to find a cure. Being disabled in Cameroon meant not only obstacles to transport, but visits to diviners and evangelists, threats of sexual assault, discrimination, and a crisis of faith. Despite the hardship Hilda has faced, her family’s unwavering support and God’s unwavering grace have helped her persevere to become a national broadcaster.

What would your life look like if you measured success by your improvements instead of your victories? Chris Nikic, the first person with Down syndrome to ever complete an IRONMAN® triathlon, inspires others to achieve their goals by getting one percent better better every day.

Katherine and Jay Wolf were a young couple living the dream in Southern California, but all was nearly lost when Katherine suffered a shocking near-fatal brainstem stroke and struggled to find hope in a life that looked nothing like the one they had before.

In early 2011, Yolanda Hadid was struck by mysterious symptoms including brain fog, severe exhaustion, migraines, and more. Over the months and years that followed, she went from being an outspoken, multitasking, hands-on mother of three, reality TV star, and social butterfly to a woman who spent most of her time in bed. Yolanda was turned inside out by some of the country's top hospitals and doctors, but due to the lack of definitive diagnostic testing, she landed in a dark maze of conflicting medical opinions.

Lucy Edwards is a UK-based blind broadcaster, content creator, Pantene Ambassador and disability activist. At only 17 her world went to black. In an instant Lucy lost her eyesight due to a rare condition called Incontinentia Pigmenti. She had to learn how to navigate her life all over again, the beginning of an extraordinary journey to find self-acceptance and happiness. Lucy took to the internet and started to upload her experiences. Through sharing her day-to-day routine in her viral 'How does a blind girl?' video series, Lucy's story gripped the nation.

As a deafblind woman with partial vision in one eye and bilateral hearing aids, Elsa Sjunneson lives at the crossroads of blindness and sight, hearing and deafness—much to the confusion of the world around her. And she knows how wrong our one-size-fits-all definitions of disability can be. Part memoir, part cultural criticism, part history of the deafblind experience, Being Seen explores how our cultural concept of disability is more myth than fact, and the damage it does to us all.

On a hot July afternoon, Joni Eareckson Tada's life was dramatically altered in a split second. A reckless dive into shallow water took an athletic young woman from health and success to life as a quadriplegic in a wheelchair. In the 45 years since the release of this book - which has more than five million copies in print in over 40 languages - Joni's earnest struggle to find hope has resonated with millions of listeners around the world.

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.

Women's lives are shaped by sexism and expectations. Disabled people's lives are shaped by ableism and a complete lack of expectations. But what happens when you're subjected to both sets of rules? This powerful, honest, hilarious, and furious memoir from journalist and advocate Lucy Webster looks at life at the intersection; the struggles, the joys, and the unseen realities of being a disabled woman.

God's Immeasurable grace. It's the most important ingredient for the perfect love story. Tragic circumstances often stretch relationships to their breaking point. But God's grace is always more than enough. For Ken and Joni Eareckson Tada, enduring quadriplegia, chronic pain, cancer, and depression only made their love more vibrant through 30 years of marriage. Discover a bond that has seen the worst and claimed the best. Listen about Joni and Ken’s challenges firsthand. Discover God's immeasurable grace along the way, as their story inspires and enriches your own relationships.

Love Is Blind is the memoir of Ruth Vallis. Blind before the age of three, Ruth was the youngest pioneer of integration in the public school system in Canada, blazing a trail for many to follow. At every stage of her extraordinary life, Ruth defied the low expectations of others, and took on such challenges as biking from Ottawa to Toronto, completing a master’s of science degree online before technology accessibility was legislated, and more. Through it all there was her tender, tough-loving mother, Peach.

When Jade unexpectedly suffered from a rare condition which left her paralysed and in a wheelchair at the age of twelve, she never imagined that she'd one day meet her husband John and that together they would take to social media to dispel the stigma surrounding disability, one story at a time. From questions about suffering and sex to family and faith, Jade and John speak honestly and humorously about life as an inter-able couple.

Eric Davidson was a beautiful, fair-haired toddler when the Halifax Explosion struck, killing almost 2,000 people and seriously injuring thousands of others. Eric lost both eyes - a tragedy that his mother never fully recovered from. Eric, however, was positive and energetic. He also developed a fascination with cars and how they worked, and he later decided, against all likelihood, to become a mechanic. Assisted by his brothers, who read to him from manuals, he worked hard, passed examinations, and carved out a decades-long career.

" On ne saura jamais quel aurait été mon destin sans cette maladie – une méningite bactérienne foudroyante à l’âge de six ans –, mais je n’aurais sans doute pas vécu le quart de ce que j’ai eu la chance de vivre jusqu’à présent. Je suis Théo Curin, vingt-deux ans, amputé des quatre membres, bien dans ma tête, bien dans ma peau. Quand on me demande comment je réagirais si on me rendait bras et jambes, je réponds : “Non, merci, je ne saurais qu’en faire !” J’ai des choses à dire et le sentiment d’être écouté, que demander de plus ? "

When Pepper Stetler was told that her daughter who has Down Syndrome would be regularly required to take IQ tests to secure support in school, she asked a simple question: why? In questioning the authority and relevance of the test, Stetler sets herself on a winding investigation into how the IQ test came to be the irrefutable standard for measuring intelligence. The unsettling history causes Stetler to wonder what influence this test will have over her daughter's future and whether Louisa should be taking it at all.

Erik Weihenmayer is the first and only blind person to summit Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Descending carefully, he and his team picked their way across deep crevasses and through the deadly Khumbu Icefall; when the mountain was finally behind him, Erik knew he was going to live. His expedition leader slapped him on the back and said something that would affect the course of Erik’s life: “Don’t make Everest the greatest thing you ever do.” No Barriers is Erik’s response to that challenge.

There Plant Eyes probes the ways in which blindness has shaped our ocularcentric culture, challenging deeply ingrained ideas about what it means to be “blind”. For millennia, blind­ness has been used to signify such things as thoughtlessness (“blind faith”), irrationality (“blind rage”), and unconsciousness (“blind evolution”). But at the same time, blind people have been othered as the recipients of special powers as compensation for lost sight (from the poetic gifts of John Milton to the heightened senses of the comic book hero Daredevil).