Showing results for "life" in People with Disabilities

In this honest and open account of life with her PDA daughter, Sasha, Steph Curtis reveals the everyday struggles and explores the milestones of raising a child diagnosed with Pathological Demand Avoidance. This book guides you through the Curtis family's 'lightbulb moment' of recognising Sasha's PDA profile following her autism diagnosis at the age of two, their experiences of various education settings and attempts to access support, everyday life at home and relationships with family and friends.

Sixteen-year-old Alex Noble was a high school rugby star with a promising sporting career ahead of him when an on-field injury left him fighting for his life in the ICU. Following a four-day coma and a diagnosis of C4 quadriplegia, Alex’s first words to his brother Zac were, ‘If I fight, you fight.’ These words became a war cry as Alex’s friends, family and community rallied around him, watching in awe as he fought to regain control over his body and defy his diagnosis.

Diagnosed with pathological demand avoidance (PDA) in his teenage years, Harry Thompson looks back with wit and humour at the ups and downs of family and romantic relationships, school, work and mental health, as well as his teenage struggle with drugs and alcohol. By embracing neurodiversity and emphasising that autistic people are not flawed human beings, Thompson demonstrates that some merely need to take the 'scenic route' in order to flourish and reach their full potential.

Twenty-three-year-old Ardra Shephard is sleeping with the wrong guy, living in a crappy apartment, and spending money she doesn't have on designer shoes, boozy brunches, and weekends in NYC. Making mistakes while you figure stuff out is what your twenties are all about. Then a doctor tells Ardra she has MS, and those two letters split her life into a Before and After.

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is a gifted animal scientist who has designed one third of all the livestock-handling facilities in the United States. She also lectures widely on autism - because Temple Grandin is autistic, a woman who thinks, feels, and experiences the world in ways that are incomprehensible to the rest of us.

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.

In this poignant and uplifting memoir, Dancing with the Stars sensation Amy Purdy reveals the story of how losing her legs led her to find a spiritual path. When the Las Vegas native was just nineteen, she came down with bacterial meningitis and was given less than a two percent chance of survival. In a near-death experience, she saw three figures who told her: “You can come with us, or you can stay. No matter what happens in your life, it's all going to make sense in the end." In that moment, Amy chose to live.

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.

It all started out pretty normal: Paige lived in the countryside with her parents 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. If her teacher couldn't answer 'why?' in class, she dissolved into tears, unable to articulate her own confusion or explain her lack of control. But Paige was normal. She was popular and well-liked. And until she had a full mental breakdown, no one believed her when she claimed that she was not okay.

How Being a Nomad Saved My Life is the true story of Debra Dickinson and her journey through navigating a grim traumatic brain injury diagnosis, where she was told she wouldn’t make it to 2016, to thriving and living life on her own terms while being on the road as a full-time nomad. She gives you glimpses into her life: the ups and downs, the hardships and scary moments on the path she has taken to live authentically in every way possible while on the road. As you listen to her experiences, you’ll be inspired to find your own truth and to never give up, no matter what.

Living in the Belgian Congo with her husband in the 1960s, Fran’s mother became pregnant with a daughter. However, right after she gave birth in the hospital, she felt strange. Unbeknownst to anyone, another daughter was on the way, but before anybody responded, an hour had passed. Because of the delay, Fran was born with cerebral palsy. Growing up with her siblings in Africa, Fran always felt different. When everyone else was playing and having fun, she would watch and wish she could join in.

Type 1 diabetic, fitness fanatic, dancing queen, Canasta champion; only some of the tags used to describe Colleen Ashby. Daughter, sister to five brothers, wife, and mother of three sons further define Colleen. Add to that, she is a heart transplant recipient who is now visually impaired, and you realize there is much more to learn.

Who Wants Normal? lifts the lid off a subject that is too often shrouded in awkwardness and silence. It offers support, inspiration and a sense of solidarity to the many, many women with disabilities and long-term health issues – as well as opening the eyes of anyone wanting to better understand the many facets of living with a disability.

My life has been nothing short of a miracle. A true triumph, even in the midst of adversity. In Deaf Blind Champion, I give you a front-row seat into how my life changed when I heard my diagnosis, and what I did to get through the depression that engulfed me to become an accomplished sportsman, a dad, life partner, son, brother, teammate, and activist.

On Halloween day 1990, Sterling Krysler—husband, father, pilot, newly arrived in Hawai'i—suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury while body surfing at a local beach. Ever the optimist, Sterling accepted the life-changing injury becoming advocate and inspiration to many in the "disability community." This is a family-centered story brimming with love, joy, and humor. This is his story—before and after.

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.

Barbara Anderson narrates with brutal honesty the day-to-day experience of having a child with disabilities: the challenges inside and outside the home, health and life complications, the shifting priorities, the daily Mt. Everest-sized struggle of having a child with an—until now—irreversible diagnosis such as infantile cerebral palsy.

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.

Andrea Lytle Peet was thirty-three years old—an urban planner living in D.C., newly married, and a triathlete—when she received the death sentence of an ALS diagnosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). After grappling with the fact that she will likely become paralyzed and die within two to five years, Andrea experienced an unexpected spark that changes her outlook in the most magnificent way.

Weeks after giving birth, Holly Frances went from being a healthy 26-year-old new mom to paralyzed and on life support—in less than 72 hours. Diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Holly was trapped in her body, unable to move, speak, or hold her newborn daughter. Life Support tells the story of how Holly struggled to overcome the despair, hopelessness and physical pain, to regain her health and get back to being a mother to her daughter.