Showing titles in People with Disabilities

At the age of thirty-one, Dave Kelly lost his eyesight to a rare disease called retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Up until then, he had lived a life like any other young man, albeit one blessed to be growing up in Liverpool during the heyday of The Beatles and Liverpool FCs win against Leeds in the 1965 FA Cup. But then, one day everything changed. Dave was faced with a choice. He could either let blindness defeat him or he could face it head-on and live as fulfilling a life as he possibly could.

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.

All I ever wanted was to be normal. But when I was diagnosed with a horrible disease, my life became filled with insurmountable challenges far from normal. Terrified I wouldn’t have a life worth living, I went to an academy where everything changed for me. I was exhilarated to discover my life was just beginning. Living without my parents and dealing with my disease alone scared me. But after making friends, my temporary home was better than I could have imagined

In the summer of 2019, journalist Melissa Blake penned an op-ed for CNN Opinion. A conservative pundit caught wind of it, mentioning Blake’s work in a YouTube video. What happened next is equal parts a searing view into society, how we collectively view and treat disabled people, and the making of an advocate. After a troll said that Blake should be banned from posting pictures of herself, she took to Twitter and defiantly posted three smiling selfies, all taken during a lovely vacation in the Big Apple. Now, in her manifesto, Beautiful People, Blake shares her truths about disability.

Before becoming the actor, producer, advocate, and model that people know today, Nyle DiMarco was half of a pair of Deaf twins born to a multi-generational Deaf family in Queens, New York. At the hospital one day after he was born, Nyle “failed” his first test—a hearing test—to the joy and excitement of his parents.

Lissa Bachner was born with a passion for horses and won her first blue ribbon at age five. Other awards would follow as a young rider, and for years Lissa trained with jumpers, tackling more difficult leaps, and working to perfect her ride. When blindness struck in her teens, it appeared her passion for riding would come to an end. How could she jump hurdles when she could barely navigate through her own home? But success, trust, and love came to Lissa when her trainer convinced her to buy a "diamond in the rough" from Germany.

Born with a rare, incurable genetic disorder that doctors misdiagnosed until her 30s, Amy’s right leg swelled until it was 200 percent bigger than her left leg. Her peers bullied her for having an “elephant leg,” and she learned to hide her disability by wearing skirts. In an attempt to recreate her identity as a teenager, she competed in the Miss Junior American Coed Pageant, and—to her shock—she won, only to become known as “the beauty queen with the big leg”.

The author describes in detail all the insanity, disturbing behaviors, oppressive symptoms, and various feeling associated with the mental battles within her own mind. The author suffers from clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and borderline personality disorder. She struggles with suicidal thoughts and attempts, self-mutilating behaviors, mania, paranoia, anxiety, and psychosis with intense hallucinations of all five of her senses, and multiple delusions, including the belief that she is the "second-coming of Christ".

Sabrina Greenlee was born to teenage parents in the shadow of South Carolina’s Clemson University, and her story unfolds against the backdrop of her challenging upbringing in a family that lacked the means—financial and emotional—to offer her and her two brothers the safety, comfort, and love every child deserves. When she was a teenager, her beloved younger brother, Dilly, died in a drunk driving accident. In her early twenties, Sabrina faced the tragic loss of her fiancé and one true love. A decade later, she was brutally and publicly assaulted, resulting in the loss of her vision.

Hiroshima was one of the great tragedies of WWII. But out of the devastation of the first atomic bomb, some survivors emerged, 25 courageous Japanese women who became part of a remarkable humanitarian epic. Victims of the atomic blast that ushered in the Nuclear Age, these women were brought to the United States in 1955, where they underwent reconstructive surgery to repair the ravages of the bomb. Schoolgirls when the bomb destroyed their futures, they began to remake their lives and re-create themselves. This is the compassionate, often bittersweet chronicle of the Hiroshima Maidens.

In 1972, at the age of 21, John Callahan was involved in a car crash that severed his spine and made him a quadriplegic. A heavy drinker since the age of 12, the accident could have been the beginning of a downward spiral. Instead, it sparked a personal transformation. After extensive physical therapy, he was eventually able to grasp a pen in his right hand and make rudimentary drawings. By 1978, Callahan had sworn off drinking for good and begun to draw cartoons. Over the next three decades, Callahan would become one of the nation's most beloved cartoonists.

In a series of beautifully textured stories, the author takes the listener on a fascinating journey as she travels with Teela, her lively "golden dog", through airports, city streets, and southwest desert landscapes, exploring these surroundings with changed sight. This unusual account of travel will inspire the sighted as well as the blind, offering pointed observations on processes of learning to work with a service animal and on coming to terms with a disability.

Robert Hoge was born with a giant tumour on his forehead, severely distorted facial features and legs that were twisted and useless. His mother refused to look at her son, let alone bring him home. But home he went, to a life that, against the odds, was filled with joy, optimism and boyhood naughtiness. Home for the Hoges was a bayside suburb of Brisbane. Robert's parents, Mary and Vince, knew that his life would be difficult, but they were determined to give him a typical Australian childhood.

In 2011, three years after leaving the NFL, Steve Gleason was diagnosed with ALS, a terminal disease that paralyzes the entire body. Doctors gave him three years to live. He was thirty-four years old. As Steve says, he is now ten years past his expiration date. His memoir is the chronicle of a remarkable life, one filled with optimism and joy, despite the trauma and pain and despair he has experienced.

Bonner Paddock grew up just wanting to be ordinary. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age eleven, he guarded the truth about his health, building a normal life and keeping his secret from everyone—most of all himself—for the next eighteen years. But the sudden death of a friend’s young son due to cerebral palsy forced Bonner to reevaluate who he was and spurred him to pursue one breathtaking experience after another.

When I was six years old, I started wearing glasses. My view of my low vision quickly changed when I was twenty years old and found out that my brother had suddenly gone blind. He was told that he was suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a disorder that slowly destroys the pigment cells in the eyes. So far, there are no known cures. At the tender age of twenty-one, I was also diagnosed with RP. Since then, I have been slowly going blind, not knowing when my world would finally fade away forever. Battling against such a crippling disease led me through a labyrinth of challenges.

Just when life seemed rosy and the sun was shining, Dr. Bhaskar Bora sustained a severe spinal cord injury in July 2019 following an operation, which left him with paralysis of both legs, a nonfunctioning right hand, and a long stay in the hospital, eventually leading to a forced medical retirement from his medical career and a wheelchair in place of a sports car. Poorer financially but richer in experiences of life, he is now a voice for the disabled and has written the book The Second Chance in Life as an honest reflection of his life experiences.

Uncommon Vision by Matt Hendrick is a deeply moving memoir that captures the essence of human resilience. After a devastating accident leaves him paralyzed, Matt embarks on a life-changing journey that challenges both his physical limits and his perceptions of the world. From the depths of despair in a hospital bed to his adventures in the digital and supernatural realms, Matt's story is a riveting exploration of recovery, self-discovery, and the relentless pursuit of one's dreams despite the odds.

This inspiring autobiography by Helen Keller is an account of her life from her family history up to her last years of college, supplemented by her personal letters from age 7 to 21. This edition includes letters and reports contributed by her teacher, Anne Sullivan, and the editor, John Albert Macy.

Drawing insights from the hard-won wisdom of disabled folks who've forged difference into fierce and luminous cultural dissent, Belser offers fresh and unexpected interpretations of familiar biblical stories, showing how disability wisdom can guide us all toward a powerful reckoning with the complexities of the flesh. She talks back to biblical commentators who traffic in disability stigma and shame, challenging interpretations that demean disabled people and diminish the vitality of disabled lives.