Disability Memoir

Mit 15 Jahren verliert der Deutsch-Singhalese Saliya Kahawatte innerhalb von Monaten einen Großteil seines Augenlichts. Die Ärzte sagen, dass er eines Tages völlig blind sein wird. Er soll die Schule verlassen und in die Blindenwerkstatt, er aber träumt von Abitur, Studium und selbstbestimmtem Leben. 15 Jahre lang verschweigt er seine Behinderung, um in der Welt der Sehenden Karriere machen zu können. Fingerspitzen, Ohren und seine Intuition ersetzen seine Augen.

Buzz Bissinger’s twins were born three minutes—and a world—apart. Gerry, the older one, is a graduate student at Penn, preparing to become a teacher. His brother Zach has spent his life attending special schools. He’ll never drive a car, or kiss a girl, or live by himself. He is a savant, challenged by serious intellectual deficits but also blessed with rare talents: an astonishing memory, a dazzling knack for navigation, and a reflexive honesty that can make him both socially awkward and surprisingly wise.

Blind from birth, Graeme Innes was blessed with a family who refused to view his blindness as a handicap, instilling in him a belief in his own abilities; blessed with a determination to persevere. After a long and successful career as a lawyer, company director and Human Rights Commissioner, Graeme has written his story. Finding a Way shares his memories of love and support, challenges, failures and overcoming the discrimination so many people with disabilities face.

Quentin Kenihan is living proof that superheroes don't need capes, just the right attitude. When he was a kid, Quentin loved Superman. Ironic, really. Quentin didn't need kryptonite to reveal his weakness - born with a rare bone disorder, osteogenesis imperfecta, his bones broke all on their own. When Quentin was seven, Mike Willesee made a documentary about him. Australians fell in love with his wit and never-say-die attitude. Over the years he grew up before our eyes. But there was a dark side to his life. The true story was never told...until now.

Inspirational, humorous, and thought provoking, Noah Galloway's Living with No Excuses sheds light on his upbringing in rural Alabama, his military experience, and the battle he faced to overcome losing two limbs during Operation Iraqi Freedom. From reliving the early days of life to his acceptance of his "new normal" after losing his arm and leg in combat, Noah reveals his ambition to succeed against all odds.

In the mid-1970s, brothers Buddy and Jimmy Miley were close, both on the verge of impressive athletic careers. A promising high school quarterback, Buddy's potential was cut short by an injury that left him quadriplegic. Immobile and imprisoned in his body for decades, Buddy would watch life pass by from his wheelchair, living at home under his mother's and brother's care and wondering what his life could have been.

Hearing Maud: A Journey for a Voice is a work of creative non-fiction that details the author’s experiences of deafness after losing most of her hearing at age four. It charts how, as she grew up, she was estranged from people and turned to reading and writing for solace, eventually establishing a career as a writer. Central to her narrative is the story of Maud Praed, the deaf daughter of 19th century Queensland expatriate novelist Rosa Praed.

I discover a "lost" aunt, separated from our family due to racism and discrimination against the disabled. She had a mental disability due to childhood meningitis. She was taken away in 1942 when all Japanese Americans were considered the enemy and imprisoned. She then became a "ward" of the state. We believed she had died but 70 years later found her alive and living a few miles from our family farm. How did she survive? Why was she kept hidden? How did both shame and resilience empower my family to forge forward in a land that did not want them?

See? is an inspirational autobiography that describes how God's grace and the firm, loving support from family, friends, neighbors, an exceptional teacher, and caring supervisors guided the author through life's challenges. It also debunks common myths of blindness and discusses adaptive equipment used by the author on her journey.

Inizia con un formicolio nella parte destra del corpo. E una strana stanchezza. L’equilibrio che si fa precario. Quando, mesi dopo i primi sintomi, arriva la diagnosi di sclerosi multipla, Marco ha trent’anni e una carriera da tenore appena avviata. Come gestire i concerti e le audizioni in giro per il mondo senza sapere come ci si sveglierà domani? Marco mantiene segreta la sua nuova, scomoda compagna di viaggio. Almeno fino al 2013, quando, nella prima apparizione di Sintomi di felicità, decide di rivelarla al mondo.

Steph Hammerman has been motivating herself and others her entire life. Since defying the odds by surviving as a one-pound, fifteen-ounce baby and weeks later being diagnosed with cerebral palsy, to beating Hodgkin's lymphoma stage 3B cancer in 2016, Steph has been a living example of overcoming seemingly insurmountable objects in order to achieve the impossible.

I know this sounds a bit cliche, but life truly is a journey. It evidences as a unique sojourn for every individual person. This is the story of a child born seventy years ago. It is a story of triumph and setbacks, of joy and sorrow, of weakness and strength. But most of all, it is a story of courage. Brian J. Woznicki was born with cerebral palsy. He was dealt a very difficult hand in life.

Don entered the workforce as a young man barely out of high school, full of enthusiasm and idealism. He soon received a reality check about corporate America. Raised in the middle class, he believed in the value system of an honest day's work for an honest wage. That by doing what was "right" and working hard, he would succeed. The Company Store, however, had other plans for him and his coworkers - the American working class.

Is it possible to find strength in struggle and purpose in pain? Ask Dr. April Jones, a young mother who battled her two-year-old son’s cancer while getting her doctorate. Her struggle to make the heart-wrenching decisions with her family led to a discovery of God, courage, and a happiness within that helped her transform scary misfortune into a joy-filled life. In No Mess, No Message, Dr. Jones shares her real, raw journey and reveals insight into how powerful thinking and strong faith can lead to inner healing.

They put a price on his head. They did everything they could to disrupt his mission. Finally, when an antitank mine tore off his right foot, the warriors of jihad in Iraq thought they had neutralized one of their most resourceful, determined foes.

The word conquer has changed meaning for Bryan Anderson. As a U.S. army sergeant in Iraq, it meant taking down the enemy. After becoming Iraq’s fourth triple amputee from a roadside explosive, what he had to conquer got a bit more personal. On October 23, 2005, the moment Bryan looked down and realized he no longer had legs, he cracked a joke. It was a tragedy that could break many, but Bryan transformed it into something positive, something that propelled him forward.

Dr. Paul Boskind, a successful psychologist and LGBTQ+ advocate, thought he had everything under control. Diagnosed with a blinding retinal disorder at twenty-one, he defied the odds, building a fulfilling life. But years earlier than expected, his vision began to fade. The Blind Man Game is Paul’s poignant journey of self-discovery as he navigates the emotional turmoil of losing his sight and sense of self. With his future uncertain, Paul must draw on his expertise and inner strength to confront grief, fear, and a world no longer designed for him.

Just before Christmas in 2012, at age 53, John LeMieux lost his left leg to a recurrence of sarcoma. The unique 20-hour rotationplasty surgery - never done on a man his age - was followed by six months of bed rest. It was only the beginning of years of physical, spiritual, and emotional growth. In this memoir, John recounts the lows and highs of a life forever altered.

An eight-year-old boy survives triple-limb amputation by freight train. One of America’s famous yet untold stories of overcoming the stigma of disability and responding with inspirational resilience. To change your perspective on life, listen now! Boy Interrupted takes the listener on Ricky’s remarkable journey of miraculous survival, the power of kindness, humor, mistakes, post-traumatic growth, and other surprises.

The world spun and rolled as I collapsed at Macy’s in San Francisco to the voices of Christmas carols being sung and bells ringing. Fresh out of the ICU and a week later, a beige man gave me a beige folder with a dark diagnosis that would color the rest of my life - multiple sclerosis. This set off a tidal wave, a tsunami inside of me that ravaged my body and crushed my lungs. The MS Diaries is a memoir that seeks to impart the journey inside one man’s mind struggling with a severe chronic illness through uncensored personal anecdotes and humorous situations.