People with Disabilities

When Abraham Verghese, a physician whose marriage is unraveling, relocates to El Paso, Texas, he hopes to make a fresh start as a staff member at the county hospital....

Paige Layle was normal. She lived in the countryside with her mom, dad, and brother Graham. She went to school, hung out with friends, and all the while everything seemed so much harder than it needed to be. A break in routine threw off the whole day....

A moving account of resilience, hope, fear, and mortality and how these things resonate in our lives, by actor and advocate Michael J. Fox....

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....

We meet Andrew Leland as he’s suspended in the liminal state of the soon-to-be blind: he’s midway through his life with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that ushers those who live with it from sightedness to blindness over years, even decades....

From the author of the groundbreaking anthology Disability Visibility comes another revolutionary collection of first-person writing on the joys and challenges of the modern disability experience, and intimacy in all its myriad forms....

One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent - but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture....

This intimate memoir reveals the woman inside one of autism’s most prominent figures, Jennifer O'Toole. At the age of 35, Jennifer was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and for the first time in her life, things made sense....

In a memoir that is as wildly funny as it is emotionally shattering, Selma Blair tells the captivating story of growing up and finding her truth....

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....

Ido in Autismland opens a window into non-verbal autism through dozens of short, autobiographical essays each offering new insights into autism symptoms, effective and ineffective treatments, and the inner emotional life of a severely autistic boy....

The incredible life story of Haben Girma, the first Deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School, and her amazing journey from isolation to the world stage....

Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits had earned him the label "social deviant"....

A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn't built for all of us and of one woman's activism - from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington - Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann's lifelong battle to achieve respect....

The Christian classic detailing the remarkable events surrounding the 1967 diving accident that left Joni Eareckson Tada paralyzed. This special 45th anniversary edition of Joni commemorates the worldwide impact of her life story to people living with disabilities....

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....

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....

In this revelatory memoir, Anna Gazmarian tells the story of how her evangelical upbringing in North Carolina failed to help her understand the mental health diagnosis she received, and the work she had to do to find proper medical treatment while also maintaining her faith....

This groundbreaking memoir offers a glimpse into an activist's journey to finding and cultivating community and the continued fight for disability justice, from the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project....

Break through the isolation and helplessness that caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients experience with this intimate story that offers practical advice, support, and hope....

In this hilarious and poignant memoir, Greg Marshall grapples with family, disability, and coming of age in two closets—as a gay man and as a man living with cerebral palsy....

A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most....

A neuro-diverse writer, advocate, and father meditates on his life, offering the radical message that we should stop trying to fix people and start empowering them to succeed....

Follow Michael and his guide dog, Roselle, as their lives are changed forever by two explosions and 1,463 stairs. In this harrowing story of trust and courage, discover how blindness and a bond between dog and man saved lives and brought hope during one of America’s darkest days....

My name is Joseph A. Peragine. I am a paranoid schizophrenic. On October 22, 2000, I tried to kill myself in a severely hallucinogenic state due to undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia.

Carly-Jay Metcalfe was born with cystic fibrosis, survived a double-lung transplant at the age of 21 and faced a rare cancer at the age of 30. What she has endured should have killed her, but her humour, courage and optimism became her best survival skills. From her hospitalised childhood to her many friendships, loves and losses, Metcalfe shares the fickle nature of life with candour and warmth. She writes with compelling insight about organ donation, opioid addiction and survivor's guilt, while still managing to find joy amongst the wreckage.

"Dandelion Roots Run Deep" is the true story of three generations of tenacious Midwestern women, one in Illinois and two in Michigan. Merry is the third generation, and her mother Merrill, fought for organic agriculture and Michigan's environment from 1967 - 2009. Merrill developed Alzheimer's before finishing her book, so Merry took her story to fruition.

Elaine, What Happened? A History follows the thirty year life of Elaine who was born without eyes and had other deformities. Besides trying to find out what caused her defects, it is a history of the changes that took place in the medical field, in public education and most notably in society's customs and attitudes regarding people with disabilities.

Sugar Mamas is a book of personal stories of women who have a condition called lipedema, which affects 11% of women in the world and results in often debilitating fat deposits in the legs, thighs, hips, arms and other areas. While lipedema is primarily a woman's disease, the research on the condition has only in the last five years really taken off, so the causes and treatments are still in early research stages.

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.

This book is written by the husband of a stroke victim. The husband is the caregiver of 25 years to his wife in helping her in her battle to recovery from a massive stroke. It describes some of her challenges over the years and the tools that she has used to meet these challenges to make her life easier in the world that she knows of it today.

Pascuala Herrera, a Mexican immigrant woman with a physical disability resulting from childhood polio, had the odds against her, yet she conquered simply by working hard, having unfailing faith, and finding her own life purpose. Although her mother always told her that life was a valley of tears, Pascuala learned that although there were many difficult moments in her life, there were also beautiful miracles that happened every day.

But You Look So Normal is the inspiring story of a life affected, but not defined, by an invisible disability. It is a journey through family, loss, shame, identity, love, and healing as Claudia finally, joyfully, finds her place in the world.

What would you do if it happened to you? If you awoke one day when you were twelve years old to be informed that your life was suddenly over? Well . . . Here is what I did. If you became the wealthiest person you would ever know just three and a half years later? What would that be like? Well, this is what it was like when it happened to me.

In this raw, intimate and honest memoir, Greenlee shares the surprising lessons and adventures she encountered after the devastation of her sudden and profound loss of vision. She takes the reader past the gates of Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California, and into the 28 days of intensive training required to graduate with a guide dog. Surrounded by supportive community of staff and students, Greenlee faces the bondage of her Confucian upbringing and finds freedom far beyond mobility with a guide dog.

Friends and family expected Ken Cruickshank to continue playing sports, traveling, engaging in mischief, and raising an active brood after marrying his soulmate, Karen. Indeed, all proceeded to plan until an invisible enemy strengthened its grip on his body and mind. Goals, abilities, and many dreams grew forever affected by progressive disease. After an accident crumpled his weakened body, the author dug deep to rediscover the optimism and hope he'd once considered his essence. Ken realized that the illness he blamed for stealing his identity was also the path to wisdom and a life of ...

Born deaf and discovering encroaching blindness at the age of 16, Anthony Lawton’s future appeared to be full of locked doors. Prejudice. Delayed education. Distorted speech. Limited sight. But when benign strangers intercede and inner gifts reveal themselves the opportunity to pursue a childhood dream of speaking and participating in mainstream society become a realisable vision. He would need to do this before the consequences of dual sensory loss would again close the doors.

UNDER THE SECOND RIDICULE: A Philosophical Fable of Perseverance and Creativity is a thought-provoking exploration of the challenges faced by artists and creators in their quest for self-expression and originality. This philosophical fable delves into the idea that creativity often comes with a price - the price of being ridiculed and criticized for one's work. The title refers to the notion that it is not enough to withstand ridicule once, but that one must be prepared to endure it again and again to truly persevere in their artistic pursuits. Through a series of vivid and imaginative ...

Splendid Agony is an informative, illuminating, and encouraging book that offers valuable insights for people with dyslexia, parents and teachers of people with dyslexia, and anyone who wants to know more about what it's like to go through the American educational system with dyslexia.

In "How I Survived and Thrived with ADHD," author Anais Fournier offers a heartfelt and insightful journey through her life as a 19-year-old college student with ADHD. With a refreshing and empathetic approach, Anais shares her experiences, thoughts, and reflections about living with ADHD, aiming to redefine how we perceive neurological disorders and, ultimately, ourselves.