Disability Awareness Month

Lambda Literary Award winning poet and essayist and long-time disability justice advocate Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha writes passionately and personally about disability justice in her latest book of essays. Discussing subjects such as the creation of care webs, collective access, and radically accessible spaces, she also imparts her own survivor skills and wisdom based on her years of activist work, empowering the disabled - in particular, those in queer and/or BIPOC communities - and granting them the necessary tools by which they can imagine a future where no one is left behind.

"An important antidote to the dogmatic 'kale and vitamins' tone of most 'self-help' literature." --Alexa Tsoulis-Reay, senior writer, New York magazine Popular blogger Ilana Jacqueline offers smart and savvy advice, humor, and practical tips for living with an invisible chronic illness. Do you live with a chronic, debilitating, yet invisible condition? You may feel isolated, out of step, judged, lonely, or misunderstood--and that's on top of dealing with the symptoms of your actual illness. Take heart. You are not alone, although sometimes it can feel that way. Written by a blogger who suffers from an invisible chronic illness, Surviving and Thriving with an Invisible Chronic Illness offers peer-to-peer support to help you stay sane, be your own advocate, and get back to living your life. This compelling guide is written for anyone suffering with an illness no one can see--such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), Lyme disease, lupus, dysautonomia, or even multiple sclerosis (MP).  This book will tell you everything you need to know about living with a complicated, invisible condition--from how to balance sex, dating, and relationships to handling work and school with unavoidable absences. You'll also learn to navigate judg-y or skeptical relatives and strangers and--most importantly--manage your medical care. Suffering from a chronic illness doesn't mean you can't live an active, engaged life. This book will show you how.

The stories of fathers caring for non-verbal children and how these experiences alter their understandings of care, masculinity, and living a full life. Vulnerable narratives of fatherhood are few and far between; rarer still is an ethnography that delves into the practical and emotional realities of intensive caregiving. Grounded in the intimate everyday lives of men caring for children with major physical and intellectual disabilities, Worlds of Care undertakes an exploration of how men shape their identities in the context of caregiving. Anthropologist Aaron J. Jackson fuses ethnographic research and creative nonfiction to offer an evocative account of what is required for men to create habitable worlds and find some kind of "normal" when their circumstances are anything but. Combining stories from his fieldwork in North America with reflections on his own experience caring for his severely disabled son, Jackson argues that care has the potential to transform our understanding of who we are and how we relate to others.

`The book describes a potted history of Phillip's journey, and mainly focuses on the practical aspects of brain injury, rehabilitation, returning home and to work. If you have little or no knowledge of brain injury then this book is a good starting point, both for the brain injured person or their family/friends.' - Encephalitis Information Resource `This is an excellent book for both patients and staff to read and the message of hope is "whilst life will change after brain injury I need not necessarily be the end of quality life. There really is life after brain surgery.' - Stroke Newsletter `Fairclough's frank discussion of sexual problems following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and his feelings about the loss of his role as the family breadwinner will resonate with many male readers...Fairclough does not overtly seek to inspire or impress the reader, yet he communicates that not only can one's life continue after head injury, but also it can be a good and meaningful life at that.' -Brain Injury Journal `The book is clearly set out, easy to read, good value and has some useful references. This is a book therapists could suggest to families to provide information from a patient's perspective as it provides more practical help than most, but I would recommend that they read it first.' -Physiotherapy Journal On November 7th 1994, Philip Fairclough fell fifteen feet from a ladder onto a concrete patio. The impact caused massive trauma to his head and the subsequent brain damage he suffered has radically changed his life. At first unable to dress himself, cross roads on his own or tell the time, Philip underwent an intensive course of rehabilitation and occupational therapy, which slowly restored many of the lost skills that he had once taken for granted. His account tells of the hurdles he faced and overcame while in residence at a rehabilitation centre, the difficulties of readapting to family life, and finally the emergence of his new vocation as a writer. Like most of us, Philip never expected that severe injury would happen to him - but from the first he decided not to give up. His courage, determination and the support of his family characterize this account, which interweaves his own story with practical information about brain injury. Members of the medical profession, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and counsellors will all find this account helpful and revealing - as will people affected personally by brain injury, and their families and friends.