A congenital amputee, shares his remarkable and inspirational story of overcoming physical and mental barriers to become an athlete and an inspirational speaker who has appeared on the Larry King and Howard Stern shows.

The popular film and television actor evaluates the personal philosophy that has enabled his positive outlook in spite of his battle with degenerative Parkinson's disease, in an uplifting account that considers how he has become a happier and more satisfied person by recognizing the gifts of everyday life.

When Irene was born, her parents were advised to institutionalize her. They refused and instead became trailblazers in advocating for the rights of people with mental disabilities.

Labeled "dyslexic and profoundly learning disabled with attention and behavior problems," Jonathan Mooney was a short bus rider--a derogatory term used for kids in special education and a distinction that told the world he wasn't "normal." Along with other kids with special challenges, he grew up hearing himself denigrated daily. Ultimately, Mooney surprised skeptics by graduating with honors from Brown University.

The authoritative statement on the deaf, their education, and their struggle against prejudice. (Subject notes biography, check to see if it is.)

This perceptive, uplifting chronicle shows how much Simon, a creative writing professor at Bryn Mawr College, had to learn from her mentally retarded sister, Beth, about life, love and happiness.

Morton Kondracke chronicles his wife's 13-year battle against Parkinson's disease with the same attention to nitty-gritty details and shrewd understanding of how power works that distinguish his political commentary. Kondracke doesn't airbrush how horrible it is to have Parkinson's (the squeamish should avoid the passages about Milly Kondracke's two rounds of deep-brain surgery), or how difficult it is to live with someone who does (the mere recitation of his caretaking activities will exhaust most readers)

Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's is a New York Times bestseller by John Elder Robison, chronicling the author's life with Asperger syndrome and tough times growing up

A searing memoir of recovery and triumph by one of America's finest patriots, Max Cleland, disabled veteran. The book details his remarkable journey from smalltown Georgia to Vietnam to a U.S. Senate seat, his trajectory serving as scaffolding for a withering critique of the Bush administration's handling of September 11.

In 1976 Hirotada Ototake is born without arms and legs due to a genetic disorder called tetra-amelia syndrome. His parents determined that, as much as possible, he would live a "normal" life.

Biography about Helen Keller, a blind-deaf student and her teacher. Follows their relationship from 1860s-1968.

Author, Donald Lyman, a dyslexic who overcame his problems with letters and words, has devoted his professional life to teaching learning disabled children. Through an ecdotes from his own school days and quotations from and descriptions of his students, he paints a touching picture of the world of the learning disabled, filled with frustration, discouragement, and lowered self-esteem.

Remedial, illiterate, intellectually deficient—these are the stigmas that define America’s educationally underprepared. Having grown up poor and been labeled this way, nationally acclaimed educator and author Mike Rose takes us into classrooms and communities to reveal what really lies behind the labels and test scores.

This biography covers Australian Donna Williams' life from as far back as she can remember (three years old). At times she was thought to be deaf, psychotic, disturbed or retarded, but only as an adult did she discover that her difficulty interfacing with the world around her was caused by her autism.

This is the compelling and unique story of the Barrons' long and often painful fight to "reach" their autistic son and help him live a normal life.

Somebody Somewhere is a book written by the autistic author, songwriter, screenwriter and artist Donna Williams. Somebody Somewhere takes up Williams' story after her diagnosis with autism at the age of 26 after a childhood often thought deaf, labelled psychotic, then disturbed.

Biography about Thomas Greene Wiggins, a blind black pianist born into slavery in 1849.

Born with cerebral palsy, Geri Jewell became the first person with a disability to appear in a recurring role on prime-time television, with her groundbreaking character, Cousin Geri, on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life.

Collection of personal narratives by people with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

This is the amazing story of a woman who lived with 16 different personalities. Here is the unbelievable yet true story of Sybil Dorsett, a survivor of terrible childhood abuse who as an adult was a victim of sudden and mysterious blackouts. What happened during those blackouts has made Sybil's experience one of the most famous psychological cases in the world

The author describes her life with autism and how she has used her strong visual sensibility to cope with it.

Born with a congenital neuromuscular disease, Johnson has never been able to walk, dress, or bathe without assistance. With assistance, she passionately celebrates her life's richness and pleasures and pursues a formidable career as an attorney and activist

Writer George Estreich describes how raising a child with Down syndrome impacted everything else in his life, including his approach to writing and the way he now perceives other events in his own life and in the lives of his family members.

Since their initial shock at their daughter's disability, Karina's parents have experienced the challenges and joys of raising a child with special needs. Gun Dolva and Rodney Potter have taken advantage of available services and programmes - and their own imaginations - to devise stimulating activities to assist her to develop to her full potential. They aim to provide her with every opportunity to fully participate in the community. This is the account of Karina's first six years, as told by Cheryl Rogers. It aims to be a valuable resource for the families of Down Syndrome children, teachers and disability service workers.

When Allen Shawn and his twin sister, Mary, were two, she began exhibiting signs of what would be diagnosed many years later as autism. At the age of eight, with almost no warning, her parents sent Mary to a residential treatment center, to never live at home again. Fifty years later, Shawn realized that his fate was inextricably linked to his sister's, and that their natures were far from being different.

Several decades after her death in 1968, Helen Keller remains one of the most widely recognized women of the twentieth century. But the fascinating story of her vivid political life—particularly her interest in radicalism and anti-capitalist activism—has been largely overwhelmed by the sentimentalized story of her as a young deaf-blind girl.

Part memoir, part educational self-help tool, this book lives up to the double entendre embodied in the title. Kant tells of his life as an uptight junior high student who found that his obsessions were beyond the realm of the ordinary and placed him in the approximately one percent of the population with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Blessed with loving, affluent parents, he was sent to the best doctors, therapists, and even a boarding school where he received the support and therapy he needed

"In airports and train stations it is not unusual for waiting passenger to be approached by a person who will hand out a brochure or trinket, then indicate that he or she is deaf and ask for payment, anything they can afford. In many instances, the travelers feel pity for the poor unfortunate and dole out a dollar or two, yet most are utterly unaware that these pitiful beggars earn hundreds of dollars this way in a matter of a few hours. Dennis Buck knows this unique form of panhandling intimately because, despite holding a degree in computer science and receiving monthly government benefits, he was a deaf peddler for 11 years." "In Deaf Peddler: Confessions of an Inside Man, Buck unveils all of the ins and outs of exploiting his "disabilities" to earn easy money

Millions watched in awe as Marla Runyan ran the 1500 meter event in Sydney. But few know the real story of the woman who was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease at nine years old—and became compelled to achieve what was thought beyond her reach, in the world of athletics as well as in life.
With endearing self-deprecation and surprising wit, Marla Runyan reveals what it’s like to see the world through her eyes, and what it means to compete at the world-class level, despite the fact that—quite literally for her—there is no finish line.

Franklin Roosevelt took great care to hide his polio-induced lameness. This book is an analysis of the silences surrounding Roosevelt's disability, the words he used to portray himself and his policies as powerful and health-giving, and the methods he used to maximise the appearance of strength.