When soldiers breaking up a protest kill a deaf boy, Petya, the gunshot becomes the last thing the citizens hear--they all have gone deaf, and their dissent becomes coordinated by sign language. The story follows the private lives of townspeople encircled by public violence: a newly married couple, Alfonso and Sonya, expecting a child; the brash Momma Galya, instigating the insurgency from her puppet theater; and Galya's girls, heroically teaching signing by day and by night luring soldiers one by one to their deaths behind the curtain. At once a love story, an elegy, and an urgent plea, Ilya Kaminsky's long-awaited Deaf Republic confronts our time's vicious atrocities and our collective silence in the face of them.Finalist for the T. S. Eliot PrizeFinalist for the Forward Prize for Best Collection

    But in the same way that different types of plants and flowers make a garden more beautiful and enjoyable, different types of people make our world more vibrant and wonderful.In Just Ask, United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor celebrates the different abilities kids (and people of all ages) have. Using her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes, Justice Sotomayor writes about children with all sorts of challenges—and looks at the special powers those kids have as well. As the kids work together to build a community garden, asking questions of each other along the way, this book encourages readers to do the same: When we come across someone who is different from us but we're not sure why, all we have to do is Just Ask.

    Nova and her big sister, Bridget, share a love of astronomy and the space program. They planned to watch the launch together. But Bridget has disappeared, and Nova is in a new foster home. While foster families and teachers dismiss Nova as severely autistic and nonverbal, Bridget understands how intelligent and special Nova is, and all that she can't express. As the liftoff draws closer, Nova's new foster family and teachers begin to see her potential, and for the first time, she is making friends without Bridget. But every day, she's counting down to the launch, and to the moment when she'll see Bridget again. Because Bridget said, "No matter what, I'll be there. I promise."

    Despite the daily challenges of endless medical treatments and a deep understanding that she'd never lead a normal life, Mallory was determined to "live happy," a mantra she followed until her death. Mallory worked hard to make the most out of the limited time she had, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, becoming a cystic fibrosis advocate well-known in the CF community, and embarking on a career as a professional writer. Along the way, she cultivated countless intimate friendships and ultimately found love.An eloquent writer, Mallory recorded her thoughts and observations for more than ten years about struggles and feelings too personal to share during her life, leaving instructions for her mother to publish her work posthumously. She hoped that her writing would offer insight to those living with, or loving someone with, chronic illness.What emerges is a powerful and inspiring portrait of a brave young woman who did not allow herself to be defined by disease. Her words offer comfort and hope to readers, even as she herself was facing death. Salt in My Soul is a beautifully crafted, intimate, and poignant tribute to a short life well lived--and a call for all of us to embrace our own lives as fully as possible.

    J. Palacio's Wonder!"This glimpse into the world of a young autistic girl is astonishingly insightful and honest. Tally's struggles to 'fit in' are heart-wrenching, and her victories are glorious." -- Ann M. Martin, Newbery Honor and New York Times bestselling author of Rain ReignThings Tally is dreading about sixth grade:-- Being in classes without her best friends-- New (scratchy) uniforms-- Hiding her autismTally isn't ashamed of being autistic -- even if it complicates life sometimes, it's part of who she is. But this is her first year at Kingswood Academy, and her best friend, Layla, is the only one who knows. And while a lot of other people are uncomfortable around Tally, Layla has never been one of them . . . until now.Something is different about sixth grade, and Tally now feels like she has to act "normal." But as Tally hides her true self, she starts to wonder what "normal" means after all and whether fitting in is really what matters most.Inspired by young coauthor Libby Scott's own experiences with autism, this is an honest and moving middle-school story of friends, family, and finding one's place.

    Life on the streets of the teeming city of Chennai is harsh for girls considered outcasts, but the sisters manage to find shelter on an abandoned bridge. There they befriend Muthi and Arul, two boys in a similar predicament, and the four children bond together and form a family of sorts. Viji starts working with the boys scavenging in trash heaps while Rukku makes bead necklaces, and they buy food with what little money they earn. They are often hungry and scared but they have each other--and Kutti, the best dog ever. When the kids are forced from their safe haven on the bridge, they take shelter in a graveyard. But it is now the rainy season and they are plagued by mosquitos, and Rukku and Muthu fall ill. As their symptoms worsen, Viji and Arul must decide whether to risk going for help--when most adults in their lives have proven themselves untrustworthy--or to continue holding on to their fragile, hard-fought freedom.

    Now Sam's trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he's caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing - each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie. But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him.

    From anecdotes about first introductions where people patted him on the head instead of shaking his hand, to stories of passersby mistaking his able-bodied girlfriend for a nurse, Shane tackles awkward situations and assumptions with humor and grace.On the surface, these essays are about day-to-day life as a wheelchair user with a degenerative disease, but they are actually about family, love, and coming of age.

    But she's the only deaf person in her school, so people often treat her like she's not very smart. If you've ever felt like no one was listening to you, then you know how hard that can be.When she learns about Blue 55, a real whale who is unable to speak to other whales, Iris understands how he must feel. Then she has an idea: she should invent a way to "sing" to him! But he's three thousand miles away. How will she play her song for him?

    He was locked inside his own mind, aware of the outside world but unable to fully communicate with it until he found a way by using his eyes to laboriously choose individual letters, and through this make his thoughts known. In Eye Can Write, we read of his intense passion for life, his mischievous sense of fun, his hopes, his fears, and what it's like to be him. This is a powerful book from an incredible young writer whose writing ability defies age or physical disability—a truly inspirational figure.

    He created the Ark as a sanctuary for animals and people alike, and it’s not surprising that when I’m at my lowest ebb, he’s the one who rides in on his white horse and rescues me. But now I’m in a terrible dilemma. Since his wife died giving birth to their baby – who also died – Noah’s been a recluse. The last thing he needs in his life is a woman who’s eight months pregnant, alone, and homeless. Of course he’s going to want to help me. I know I mustn’t mistake kindness and friendship for real love. And I really don’t want to be one of life’s victims. I want to get myself back on my feet and create a good life for the baby. I don’t want to cause Noah pain by stirring up old memories. And I don’t want him to feel pity for me. I know I should walk away. But it’s strange how it’s only when someone shows you kindness that you realize how empty your life has been. Oh God. I’m desperately in love with him. And now the baby is days away from coming, and I’ve literally nowhere to go. What am I going to do?

    After her husband suffered a traumatic brain injury, the couple worked together as he recovered--and they learned to love again. When Abby Maslin's husband, TC, didn't make it home on August 18, 2012, she knew something was terribly wrong. Her fears were confirmed when she learned that her husband had been beaten by three men and left for dead mere blocks from home, all for his cell phone and debit card.The days and months that followed were a grueling test of faith. As TC recovered from a severe traumatic brain injury that left him unable to speak and walk, Abby faced the challenge of caring for--and loving--a husband who now resembled a stranger.Love You Hard is the raw, unflinchingly honest story of a young love left broken, and the resilience required to mend a life and remake a marriage. Told from the caregiver's perspective, this book is a daring exploration of true love: what it means to love beyond language, beyond abilities, and into the place that reveals who we really are.At the heart of Abby and TC's unique and captivating story are the universal truths that bind us all. This is a tale of living and loving wholeheartedly, learning to heal after profound grief, and choosing joy in the wake of tragedy.

    Terrified that her vision might never return, Tessa feels like she has nothing left to be happy about. But when her grandparents place an ad in the local newspaper looking for a typist to help Tessa continue writing and blogging, an unlikely answer knocks at their door: Weston Ludovico, a boy her age with bright eyes, an optimistic smile…and no legs.Knowing how angry and afraid Tessa is feeling, Weston thinks he can help her. But he has one condition — no one can tell Tessa about his disability. And because she can’t see him, she treats him with contempt: screaming at him to get out of her house and never come back. But for Weston, it’s the most amazing feeling: to be treated like a normal person, not just a sob story. So he comes back. Again and again and again.Tessa spurns Weston’s “obnoxious optimism”, convinced that he has no idea what she’s going through. But Weston knows exactly how she feels and reaches into her darkness to show her that there is more than one way to experience the world. As Tessa grows closer to Weston, she finds it harder and harder to imagine life without him — and Weston can’t imagine life without her. But he still hasn’t told her the truth, and when Tessa’s sight returns he’ll have to make the hardest decision of his life: vanish from Tessa’s world…or overcome his fear of being seen.100 Days of Sunlight is a poignant and heartfelt novel by author Abbie Emmons. If you like sweet contemporary romance and strong family themes then you’ll love this touching story of hope, healing, and getting back up when life knocks you down.

    It's cheaper than our current model, and most Americans (and their doctors) already want it. So what's the deal with our current healthcare system, and why don’t we have something better?In Health Justice Now, Timothy Faust explains what single payer is, why we don't yet have it, and how it can be won. He identifies the actors that have misled us for profit and political gain, dispels the myth that healthcare needs to be personally expensive, shows how we can smoothly transition to a new model, and reveals the slate of humane and progressive reforms that we can only achieve with single payer as the springboard.In this impassioned playbook, Faust inspires us to believe in a world where we could leave our job without losing healthcare for ourselves and our kids; where affordable housing is healthcare; and where social justice links arm-in-arm with health justice for us all. Single payer is the tool—health justice is the goal!

    Her braces and crutches restrict her, define her, but they also give her independence. Almost. She hates that she has become increasingly reliant on a series of live-in companions to help her. For some reason, the companions never seem to want to stay very long. So Henrietta retreats further and further into her art, where her physical limitations don’t matter.Into her life sails Meryn Fleming: out, outspoken, and fiercely political. She’s young, enthusiastically diving into her first job as a history professor at the local college. When she falls, almost literally, into Henrietta’s path, she seems like a godsend.Little does Henrietta know that this young woman is about to upend her carefully structured existence. Ryn challenges everything, barging right through the walls Henrietta has built to keep others at a distance.To Ryn, Henrietta is an enigma: prickly and easily insulted at the slightest suggestion that she can’t do things for herself; a brilliant artist capable of producing the most beautiful paintings; and sometimes, when Henrietta doesn’t realize she’s letting her guard down, a tender and sensitive woman.With Meryn’s youthful optimism pitted against Henrietta’s jaded acceptance of the world as it is, life will never be the same for either of them.Words: 114,100

    But one day, he noticed a troubling weakness in his hand. At first, he brushed it off as carpal tunnel syndrome, but after a week of neurological exams and two MRIs, he learned the cause of the problem: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. At age thirty-two, Ady was given just three to four years to live. Yet despite the devastating diagnosis, he refused to let his remaining days go to waste. Eyes to the Wind is a rousing memoir featuring intertwining storylines about determination, perseverance, and how to live a life filled with purpose and intention. The first traces Ady’s battle with ALS: how he turned the initial shock and panic from his diagnosis into a renewed commitment to social justice—not despite his disability but because of it. The second, told in flashbacks, illustrates Ady’s journey from a goofy political nerd to a prominent figure in the enduring fight for equity and justice whose “selfless activism fighting to make health care a right should be an inspiration to us all” (Senator Bernie Sanders). From one of today’s most vocal advocates for social justice, Eyes to the Wind’s “primary question is existential: how to live when you are dying? Barkan’s answer is to share, open up, act, and capital-R Resist, and his memoir, clearly and candidly written, establishes a legacy” (Booklist).

    However, she had difficulty reading facial features or distinguishing people in group conversations. Relying on her own problem-solving skills, Girma overcame roadblocks while simultaneously obtaining her undergraduate and then law degree. In the process, she developed new methods of communication and found her calling in advocating for the deaf and blind communities in more accessible communication, education, and employment opportunities. As a lawyer and advocate, Girma shares a collection of vignettes illustrating the defining points in her life. She peppers her writing with a witty sense of humor and showcases her strength in facing obstacles, along with challenging antiquated societal beliefs about people with disabilities, whether describing her experience climbing Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier or helping a drunk friend get to his dorm by using her seeing-eye dog that he adores as a lure

    In the age of austerity, it's disabled people who are hardest hit, affecting over 3.7 million people. This is in addition to a situation in which half of those in poverty are either disabled or living with a disabled person.In Crippled, leading commentator Frances Ryan tells the story of those most affected by this devastating regime, people who have been too often been silenced. This includes the tetraplegic living in a first floor flat forced to crawl down flights of stairs because the council doesn't provide accessible housing; the young girl forced to sleep in her wheelchair and admitted to hospital with malnutrition because cuts mean she no longer had a carer to help her get to bed or cook; or the Londoner with schizophrenia found 'fit for work', and with nothing to live on was found dead at home three months later.Through these personal stories the book shows the scale of the crisis, while also showing how the disabled community is fighting back. It is a passionate demand for the recognition of disability rights and a call for an end to austerity policies that disproportionately affect those most in need.

    She was 52.Paralysed from the top of her chest down, she was to spend almost a full year in hospital, determinedly working towards gaining as much movement in her limbs as possible, and learning to navigate her way through a world that had previously been invisible to her.As a journalist Melanie had always turned to words and now, on a spinal ward peopled by an extraordinary array of individuals who were similarly at sea, she decided that writing would be her life-line. The World I Fell Out Of is an account of that year, and of those that followed. It is the untold ‘back story’ behind Melanie’s award-winning ‘Spinal Column’ in The Times Magazine and a testament to ‘the art of getting on with it’.Unflinchingly honest and beautifully observed, this is a memoir about the joy – and the risks – of riding horses, the complicated nature of heroism, the bonds of family and the comfort of strangers. Above all, The World I Fell Out Of is a reminder that at any moment the life we know can be turned upside down – and a plea to start appreciating what we have while we have it.

    Once she filled concert halls across the world, until the pressure got too much and forced her retreat. When her boss hands her a temporary assignment, Lily has to leave the safety of working from home to work with people at an office. She keeps her head down and stays focused, but one night on her way to the train station, she hears music wafting from The Leading Note and the life and feelings she suppressed for over a decade bubble up to the surface. Lily is inexplicably drawn to Hope D’Marco, Leading Note’s gorgeous and brilliant founder. But falling for Hope and re-exploring her passion for music force Lily to face her past. Will she go back into hiding, or have the courage to confront the consequences of her past and present colliding?

    She knows she has to do her homework . . . but she gets distracted. She knows she can't just say whatever thought comes into her head . . . but sometimes she can't help herself. She know she needs to focus . . . but how can she do that when the people around her are always chewing gum loudly or making other annoying noises?It's starting to be a problem—not just in school, but when Clea's playing chess or just hanging out with her best friend. Other kids are starting to notice. When Clea fails one too many tests, her parents take her to be tested, and she finds out that she has ADHD, which means her attention is all over the place instead of where it needs to be.Clea knows life can't continue the way it's been going. She's just not sure how you can fix a problem that's all in your head. But that's what she's going to have to do, to find a way to focus.

    She was losing hope that she'd ever feel whole again. This is their miraculous true story of defying the impossible."In my very first impression of Chris, I was blown away by his determination to stay positive, do the work, and trust that God had a bigger story in mind . . . this book is a master class in the power of perseverance." -Tim TebowQuadriplegics simply do not walk again - yet millions watched as Chris Norton defied incredible odds and took step by impossible step across his graduation stage. With his fiancée Emily by his side, those unbelievable steps became the start of an extraordinary journey for them both. Told from both of their unique perspectives, this moving story invites you to find, as Chris and Emily have, that God can transform our lowest points into life's greatest gifts.In a moment, Chris went from a talented college football player with a promising future to a quadriplegic with a 3 percent chance of ever moving or feeling anything below his neck, much less walking again. Determined to prove the doctors wrong, he pushed himself through grueling, daily workouts to achieve his goal four years later: walking the stage to receive his college diploma with Emily's help, and to the world's astonished applause.                  Meanwhile, Emily faced her own challenges as she sunk into a deep battle against anxiety and depression, despite her life's outward blessings. Day by day, decision by decision, Chris and Emily committed themselves to taking the extra step, trusting God, and leaning on the help of others. In a story of courageous faith and grit, this extraordinary couple's journey ultimately led them to tackle the seven longest yards - down the wedding aisle and into a new life together.And what a new life it is: Chris and Emily have adopted five beautiful girls and welcomed foster children - seventeen and counting! - into their home and hearts. Let this book be your inspiration for defying your own impossible, and finding joy on the other side.

    Speaking not only to those with disabilities, but also to their families, coworkers and support networks, the authors in About Us offer intimate stories of how they navigate a world not built for them.Since its 2016 debut, the popular New York Times’ “Disability” column has transformed the national dialogue around disability. Now, echoing the refrain of the disability rights movement, “Nothing about us without us,” this landmark collection gathers the most powerful essays from the series that speak to the fullness of human experience—stories about first romance, childhood shame and isolation, segregation, professional ambition, child-bearing and parenting, aging and beyond.Reflecting on the fraught conversations around disability—from the friend who says “I don’t think of you as disabled,” to the father who scolds his child with attention differences, “Stop it stop it stop it what is wrong with you?”—the stories here reveal the range of responses, and the variety of consequences, to being labeled as “disabled” by the broader public.Here, a writer recounts her path through medical school as a wheelchair user—forging a unique bridge between patients with disabilities and their physicians. An acclaimed artist with spina bifida discusses her art practice as one that invites us to “stretch ourselves toward a world where all bodies are exquisite.” With these notes of triumph, these stories also offer honest portrayals of frustration over access to medical care, the burden of social stigma and the nearly constant need to self-advocate in the public realm.In its final sections, About Us turns to the questions of love, family and joy to show how it is possible to revel in life as a person with disabilities. Subverting the pervasive belief that disability results in relentless suffering and isolation, a quadriplegic writer reveals how she rediscovered intimacy without touch, and a mother with a chronic illness shares what her condition has taught her young children.With a foreword by Andrew Solomon and introductory comments by co-editors Peter Catapano and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, About Us is a landmark publication of the disability movement for readers of all backgrounds, forms and abilities.Topics Include: Becoming Disabled • Mental Illness is not a Horror Show • Disability and the Right to Choose • Brain Injury and the Civil Right We Don’t Think • The Deaf Body in Public Space • The Everyday Anxiety of the Stutterer • I Use a Wheelchair. And Yes, I’m Your Doctor • A Symbol for “Nobody” That’s Really for Everybody • Flying While Blind • My $1,000 Anxiety Attack • A Girlfriend of My Own • The Three-Legged Dog Who Carried Me • Passing My Disability On to My Children • I Have Diabetes. Am I to Blame? • Learning to Sing Again • A Disabled Life is a Life Worth Living

    She's got secrets. She's got rheumatoid arthritis.But then she meets another sick kid.He's got a chronic illness Isabel's never heard of, something she can't even pronounce. He understands what it means to be sick. He understands her more than her healthy friends. He understands her more than her own father who's a doctor.He's gorgeous, fun, and foul-mouthed. And totally into her.Isabel has one rule: no dating.It's complicated--It's dangerous--It's never felt better----to consider breaking that rule for him.

    Amid all the matchups discussed on ESPN that day, it was a special video featuring the harrowing story of Tyler Trent - along with his bold, yet accurate, prediction that Purdue would upset Ohio State - that captured the hearts of millions. The Upset chronicles so much more than just an inspiring battle against the seemingly impossible opponent of osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. A brilliant young statistician and sportswriter, Tyler faced his own mortality, and his life reflects the remarkable eternal upset only experienced in faith, family, and authentic community.

    Alexander, A Finn Factor/Finn’s Pub Holiday Romance! Tanisha Chahal is a successful businesswoman, a lip balm and reality show aficionado, and filthy rich. She doesn’t need a man. So why is she proposing to Emerson Wayne? Emerson is a family man and the father of two wonderful boys he’ll do anything to keep. But that isn’t why he’ll say yes. It’s more than an arrangement from the start, and the chemistry between them is hot enough to melt the ice. But with a meddling brother and a resentful ex tossed into the mix, it’ll take some special Wayne know-how and the magic of the season to get what they both want for Christmas. Warning: Like your favorite tropes with a holiday twist? This is the book for you. Except for the explicit dirty talk and sex, this romance is actually pretty sweet. Extra Warning: Tanisha's story begins in Third Time Lucky, Book 3 of the Finn's Pub Romance series. And Emerson Wayne's entire family is heavily featured in both the Finn Factor and Finn's Pub series. In case you wanted to catch up.

    Being the heir to one of the largest business dynasties in the US made Charles a target for the narcissistic and cunning cult leader O'Brien. Now, I'm flying to Dublin to get him out. "With degrees in both anthropology and psychology, twenty-seven-year-old Liv is convinced that she can resist being sucked into Conor O'Brien's cult. But it's been years since she and Charles last met; will he even remember her and will he trust her?Charles and Liv are about to learn just how dangerous it is to go up against a possessive psychopath like Conor O'Brien.Charlie is the first installment in Elin Peer's contemporary romance series Cultivated, which offers suspense and drama. Like all her books, this one has a fast pace, lots of great dialogue, and it leaves you wanting more.Pre-order this book today and be among the first to read it when it goes LIVE.

    Jackson . . . Evan Bryant wasn't your typical hero.But he was mine.Broken by the worlds' standards, he was still the strongest boy I would ever know.My best friend. The boy I'd given everything to. My heart, my body, and the promise of forever.The day I'd needed him most, he walked away.He left me shattered and questioning the love I'd thought we'd shared.Three years later, I wasn't prepared for him to return to Gingham Lakes.It wouldn't have mattered if he wasn't the most beautiful man I'd ever seen.My fingers still would have ached to caress his skin.My body still would have begged to get lost in his touch.And my heart . . . it would have always sung his name.But time changes things. With it, secrets that could ruin everything.Can we find a way to love again, or have the fears of our past stolen the hope of our forever . . .

    Perfect for fans of Gary Paulsen. McKenna Barney is trying to hide her worsening eyesight and has been isolating herself for the last year. But at the request of her little sister, she signs up for a commemorative mail run race in the Canadian wilderness—a race she doesn’t know if she can even see to run.    Winning would mean getting her disease—and her sister’s—national media coverage, but it would also pit McKenna and her team of eight sled dogs against racers from across the globe for three days of shifting lake ice, sudden owl attacks, snow squalls, and bitterly cold nights. A page-turning adventure about living with disability and surviving the wilderness, Dog Driven is the story of one girl’s self-determination and the courage it takes to trust in others.

    That surprises some people, who see a kid in a wheelchair and think she’s going to be all sunshine and cuddles. The thing is, Ellie has big dreams: She might be eating Stouffer’s for dinner, but one day she’s going to be a professional baker. If she’s not writing fan letters to her favorite celebrity chefs, she’s practicing recipes on her well-meaning, if overworked, mother. But when Ellie and her mom move so they can help take care of her ailing grandpa, Ellie has to start all over again in a new town at a new school. Except she’s not just the new kid—she’s the new kid in the wheelchair who lives in the trailer park on the wrong side of town. It all feels like one challenge too many, until Ellie starts to make her first-ever friends. Now she just has to convince her mom that this town might just be the best thing that ever happened to them!

    In this volume, Russell’s various essays are brought together in one place in order to provide a useful and expansive resource to those interested in better understanding the ways in which the modern phenomenon of disability is shaped by capitalist economic and social relations. The essays range in analysis from the theoretical to the topical, including but not limited to: the emergence of disability as a “human category” rooted in the rise of industrial capitalism and the transformation of the conditions of work, family, and society corresponding thereto; a critique of the shortcomings of a purely “civil rights approach” to addressing the persistence of disability oppression in the economic sphere, with a particular focus on the legacy of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; an examination of the changing position of disabled people within the overall system of capitalist production utilizing the Marxist economic concepts of the reserve army of the unemployed, the labor theory of value, and the exploitation of wage-labor; the effects of neoliberal capitalist policies on the living conditions and social position of disabled people as it pertains to welfare, income assistance, health care, and other social security programs; imperialism and war as a factor in the further oppression and immiseration of disabled people within the United States and globally; and the need to build unity against the divisive tendencies which hide the common economic interest shared between disabled people and the often highly-exploited direct care workers who provide services to the former.

    Tonguebreaker is about surviving the unsurvivable: living through hate crimes, the suicides of queer kin, and the rise of fascism while falling in love and walking through your beloved’s Queens neighborhood. Building on her groundbreaking work in Bodymap, Tonguebreaker is an unmitigated force of disabled queer-of-color nature, narrating disabled femme-of-color moments on the pulloff of the 80 in West Oakland, the street, and the bed. Tonguebreaker dreams unafraid femme futures where we live—a ritual for our collective continued survival.

    This former popular girl is lost. Her parents uproot everything after her younger sister’s suicide, moving states away to escape the lingering pain of loss. She doesn’t fit in anywhere, but finds herself strangely drawn to the boy she watches view the world through a telescope. Finnley Crawford isn’t your typical boy next door. Being autistic has always set him apart from kids his age. None of them quite knows how to approach him or interact, leaving him only one friend in the form of his support dog. His lack of friendships lead him to a unique love of space and aspirations of one day reaching the stars. For in the stars, he sees a peace and beauty he can’t find on Earth. The more time these two seemingly opposite teenagers spend together, the more they learn it isn’t what’s on the outside that counts. So much can be found on the inside if you only care to look.

    A former cop with a wounded heart. An unusual roommate arrangement…Comedian Stephanie Renshaw hopes to finally get her big break in LA. A chance encounter lands her the perfect apartment close to the comedy clubs, but it comes with a catch: she needs a roommate to afford the rent.Enter Rae Coleman, a former police officer working the door at one of the top comedy clubs. After getting injured in the line of duty and losing her job with the LAPD, Rae guards her wounded soul behind a tough exterior.At first, the two clash horribly before a tentative friendship develops. Bit by bit, Steph manages to break through the walls Rae has built around her.But Steph has never been in a relationship, preferring casual flings, and Rae isn’t sure she’s ready to be happy again. Will they find the courage to open themselves up to love?Falling in love is not a laughing matter in this opposites-attract lesbian romance with a bit of a fake relationship thrown in.

    Their lives are content—as complete as they’re ever going to be. Basil’s still running his florist shop, and Derek’s still putting his mark on people through ink and art. Together, they offer what support they can to the teens living at the Ted House shelter that Derek and his brother, Sage, have worked hard to get up and running.And then, like a last minute-walk in, Derek and Basil get a request that changes the quiet routine of their life. A young, pregnant teen at the shelter has asked Derek and Basil to adopt her baby. Although the idea terrifies Derek, leaving him afraid he’ll turn out to be the worthless mess his father always accused him of being, he knows one thing—he wants a family with the man he’s going to marry.However, nothing’s ever that easy. Stress and outside forces threaten to come between the two men, and both of them start to question whether or not they’re ready for this. Will Derek and Basil ever get the family they want? And more importantly, will their relationship survive the storm?Last Minute Walk-In is the first in a short series of novellas featuring the couples from the Irons and Works series. These books are best understood after reading the full novels of Irons and Works. Last Minute Walk-In has a guaranteed HEA.

    Her body hurts constantly, her family’s a mess and the boy she’s crushing on seems completely clueless. The best coping mechanisms she can come up with are cursing and cutting school. But when her truancy is discovered she must struggle to catch up in school to avoid a far worse horror: repeating ninth grade.

    Mama to three adopted kids--two with Down Syndrome--Heather encourages us all to take a breath, whisper a prayer, laugh a little, and make room for the wildflowers.In a world of divisions and margins, those who act, look, and grow a little differently are all too often shoved aside. Scoot Over and Make Some Room is part inspiring narrative and part encouraging challenge for us all to listen and learn from those we're prone to ignore.Heather tells hilarious stories of her growing kids, spontaneous dance parties, forgotten pants, and navigating the challenges and joys of parenthood. She shares heartbreaking moments when her kids were denied a place at the table and when she had to fight for their voices to be heard. With beautiful wisdom and profound convictions, this manifesto will empower you to notice who's missing in the spaces you live in, to make room for your own kids and for those others who need you and your open heart.This is your invitation to a table where space is unlimited and every voice can be heard. Because when you open your life to the wild beauty of every unique individual, you'll discover your own colorful soul and the extraordinary, abundant heart of God.

    --Kirkus ReviewsA beautiful and uplifting book. --School Library JournalLou spends every Saturday with Grandad and Pops. They walk to the library hand in hand, like a chain of paper dolls. Grandad reads books about science and design, Pops listens to rock and roll, and Lou bounces from lap to lap. But everything changes one Saturday. Pops has a fall. That night there is terrible news: Pops will need to use a wheelchair, not just for now, but for always. Unable to cope with his new circumstances, he becomes withdrawn and shuts himself in his room. Hearing Grandad trying to cheer up Pops inspires Lou to make a plan. Using skills learned from Grandad, and with a little help from their neighbors, Lou comes up with a plan for Pops.

    I lived alone and worked from home. I’d disappear into my safe space for days, maybe even weeks, at which point my cousin always showed up to drag me out of my house to interact with the world whether I wanted to or not. On one of our outings, I met the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen in my life; Finn Becker. So what if he was trying to stab his cheating ex at the time? Finn was everything I wasn’t – sassy, feisty, hilarious, full of life – and everything I needed. To my amazement, Finn was interested in me too. Could I move beyond my insecurities and accept his love? Could I ever make such an amazing man happy? *This M/M romance is for readers 18 and up! It has no cliffhangers or cheating and a very happy HEA. It contains a feisty, grade A sass factory who would do anything for his love, a man who needs love more than anything else in this crazy world, and lots of steamy sexual healing. **My stories tend to be low on angst because it hurts my heart. They are, however, packed with sexy scenes, heartwarming moments and a healthy dose of humor. Author’s Note Thank you for your interest in my book! My stories tend to be low angst because it hurts my heart; I like getting to the good stuff and live for fluff. If “instalove” isn’t your thing, my books may not be for you. I want my readers to finish my books with a smile on their face and a fierce case of the warm and fuzzies. Laughter is guaranteed, and each read delivers its own type of drama. Thanks again for taking a look and happy reading!

    But when his mother’s popularity declines and she falls into a depression, he offers himself up as the next bachelor on a reality show, hoping to reignite interest in her career while creating a way for them to finally connect.After her fiancé dumps her for her best friend, aspiring photographer Harlow Tucker is done with romance—until her beloved, disabled sister requests her aid to start a nonprofit. Harlow agrees to do whatever is needed to raise funds, even reluctantly costarring on a dating show with a notorious womanizer who distrusts anyone behind a lens.As Blake and Harlow navigate the superficiality of a reality show, their preconceived notions of love are challenged. Deciding to trust each other feels like the ultimate risk, but taking that chance could lead to a love truly picture-perfect, worth both of their hearts.

    Adrift and still grieving, he tries to find meaning in an unsatisfying job. Work takes him to the remote seaside villa of an old friend, where, among an odd assortment of guests, he meets the eunuch sword-dancer Varazda. Enigmatic and beautiful but distinctly prickly, Varazda is the antithesis of the straightforward and serious Damiskos. Yet as they keep getting in each other’s way at the villa, their mutual dislike is complicated by a spark of undeniable attraction. Then the villa’s guests begin to reveal their true characters and motives—no one here is what they seem—and Damiskos finds himself at the centre of a bizarre web of espionage, theft, and assassination. Varazda may need Damiskos’s help, but not as much as Damiskos, finally awakening to a new sense of life and purpose, needs Varazda. Sword Dance is the first book in the Sword Dance trilogy, an m/nb romance set in an imaginary ancient world, with murderous philosophy students, sex acts named after fruit, and love blossoming in the midst of mayhem.

    Spanning over nearly three years this book is a testament to my time being housebound and proof that despite all the suffering, there is always happiness to be created, peace to be unearthed, and a life to be lived.A journey of self-discovery and personal growth, I hope this book may offer you comfort, inspiration, and wisdom, whatever path you find yourself on. And I hope by sharing my story and imparting my thoughts, it may help you in some small way too.”You’ll find this book is a collection of “pieces”: some longer, some shorter, some reading like letters, others like journal entries, some like poems, and some continuous and broken prose. The book is split into three parts: The Storm, The Aftermath, and The Calm, as well as a bonus chapter called 'A Conversation with Wisdom'. This book will take you on a transformative journey from the bad moments, to the good moments, and everything in between.

    And in the last 48 hours I have: 1) Fired two of my trusted employees. 2) Defaced the office Christmas tree. 3) Completely blown it with the first man I’ve really liked in the last ten years. But it’s worth it, because I’m about to earn the promotion of a lifetime. Unfortunately, my former boss and mentor, Marley Jacobs, is determined to show me the error of my ways before midnight. Except I’m not about to let anyone get in my way—even Marley. Especially since Marley is dead.

    But after he and Emma start talking, he learns that different isn't bad, sad, or strange--different is just different, and different is great!This delightful book will help kids think about disability, kindness, and how to behave when they meet someone who is different from them.

    A college track star and budding entomologist, Nnedi’s lifelong battle with scoliosis was just a bump in her plan—something a simple operation would easily correct. But when Nnedi wakes from the surgery to find she can’t move her legs, her entire sense of self begins to waver. Confined to a hospital bed for months, unusual things begin to happen. Psychedelic bugs crawl her hospital walls; strange dreams visit her nightly. Nnedi begins to put these experiences into writing, conjuring up strange, fantastical stories. What Nnedi discovers during her confinement would prove to be the key to her life as a successful science fiction author: In science fiction, when something breaks, something greater often emerges from the cracks.In Broken Places & Outer Spaces, Nnedi takes the reader on a journey from her hospital bed deep into her memories, from her painful first experiences with racism as a child in Chicago to her powerful visits to her parents’ hometown in Nigeria. From Frida Kahlo to Mary Shelly, she examines great artists and writers who have pushed through their limitations, using hardship to fuel their work. Through these compelling stories and her own, Nnedi reveals a universal truth: What we perceive as limitations have the potential to become our greatest strengths—far greater than when we were unbroken.A guidebook for anyone eager to understand how their limitations might actually be used as a creative springboard, Broken Places & Outer Spaces is an inspiring look at how to open up new windows in your mind.

    All that’s missing is a child. When Janie, an abandoned six-year-old, turns up at their hospital, Christopher forms an instant connection with her, and he convinces Hannah they should take her home as their own.But Janie is no ordinary child, and her damaged psyche proves to be more than her new parents were expecting. Janie is fiercely devoted to Christopher, but she acts out in increasingly disturbing ways, directing all her rage at Hannah. Unable to bond with Janie, Hannah is drowning under the pressure, and Christopher refuses to see Janie’s true nature.Hannah knows that Janie is manipulating Christopher and isolating him from her, despite Hannah’s attempts to bring them all together. But as Janie’s behavior threatens to tear Christopher and Hannah apart, the truth behind Janie’s past may be enough to push them all over the edge.When She Returned:One woman’s reappearance throws her family into turmoil, exposing dark secrets and the hidden, often devastating truth of family relationships.Kate Bennett vanished from a parking lot eleven years ago, leaving behind her husband and young daughter. When she shows up at a Montana gas station, clutching an infant and screaming for help, investigators believe she may have been abducted by a cult.Kate’s return flips her family’s world upside down—her husband is remarried, and her daughter barely remembers her. Kate herself doesn’t look or act like she did before.While the family tries to help Kate reintegrate into society, they discover truths they’ve been hiding from each other about their own relationships. But they aren’t the only ones with secrets. As the family unravels what happened to Kate, a series of shocking revelations shows that Kate’s return is more sinister than any of them could have imagined.

    She's finally taking her pop culture-centered media enterprise, Girls with Glasses, to the next level, but the stress is forcing her to face a familiar supervillain: insomnia. The only thing that helps her sleep when things get this bad is the deep, soothing voice of puzzle-obsessed live streamer Gustave Nguyen. The problem? His archive has been deleted.Gus has been tasked with creating an escape room themed around a romance anime…except he knows nothing about romance or anime. Then mega-nerd and anime expert Reggie comes calling, and they make a trade: his voice for her knowledge. But when their online friendship has IRL chemistry, will they be able to escape love?

    Play means moving in a way that is fun, exploratory, variable, and personally meaningful. Kids, animals, and most successful athletes develop skill and fitness through play, not “working out.” But the mainstream approach to sport training and physical therapy is all work no play. It is focused on movements that are boring, repetitive, planned, stressful, and intrinsically meaningless. This stems from a reductive mindset that views the body as a machine to be “fixed,” instead of an organic system that can evolve, grow, and learn. The arguments in this book are not based in romantic feel-good reasoning, but substantial evidence drawn from diverse fields of study, including the sciences of play, complex systems, pain, motor control, exercise physiology, and psychology. They show that the best pathway to movement health is found not by tracking huge amounts of data or following algorithms, but through curious exploration of the physical world. If you want to take control of your movement health in a way that is fun, meaningful, and empowering, and learn some fascinating science on the way, this book is for you.

    He works alone, and lives alone, and it doesn’t occur to him to want anything else until a life-changing accident lands him in hospital. Then a glimpse of the beautiful boy in the opposite bed changes everything. Ludo Giordano is trapped on the ward with a bunch of old men. His mind plays tricks on him, keeping him awake. Then late one night, a new face brings a welcome distraction. Their unlikely friendship is addictive. And, like most things in Ludo’s life, temporary. Back in the real world, Aidan’s monochrome existence is no longer enough. He craves the colour Ludo brought him, and when a chance meeting brings them back together, before long, they’re inseparable again. But bliss comes with complications. Aidan is on the road to recovery, but Ludo has been unwell his entire life, and that’s not going to change. Aidan can kiss him as much as he likes, but if he can’t help Ludo when he needs him most, they don’t stand a chance.

    As a neuro-diverse kid diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD who didn't learn to read until he was twelve, the realization that that he wasn't the problem--the system and the concept of normal were--saved Mooney's life and fundamentally changed his outlook. Here he explores the toll that being not normal takes on kids and adults when they're trapped in environments that label them, shame them, and tell them, even in subtle ways, that they are the problem. But, he argues, if we can reorient the ways in which we think about diversity, abilities, and disabilities, we can start a revolution.A highly sought after public speaker, Mooney has been inspiring audiences with his story and his message for nearly two decades. Now he's ready to share what he's learned from parents, educators, researchers, and kids in a book that is as much a survival guide as it is a call to action. Whip-smart, insightful, and utterly inspiring--and movingly framed as a letter to his own young sons, as they work to find their ways in the world--this book will upend what we call normal and empower us all.

    

    When the surf’s up, she pops out her hearing aid, hops on her board, and paddles into the waves. Joss is stoked to enter a surfing video contest with her surf sister Sofia and Murph the surfing bulldog. If she can master a killer aerial like the frontside air and get her brother Dylan to catch it on video, maybe she’d even have a shot at winning. But Dylan throws her a curve: he dares her to try out for the cheer team. No way—Joss can’t see herself as a cheerleader. (What’s with those ginormous hairbows, anyway?) She’s 100% surfer girl, and Dylan knows it! Still, if she takes him up on his dare, then maybe he’ll help her with her video—it’s worth a try, right?

    Jordan Cameron is not like most nineteen year olds. He’s never been on a date, he’s never left New England, and he’s never fallen in love. He lives in his own world, or so that's what it seems to the average person. No one, not even his thirty-one year old brother, Tim, has ever given him the chance to break free. With a schizophrenic mother in a group home and a career-obsessed absent father, Tim does the best he can raising someone with Jordan’s challenging behaviors. Despite Jordan’s diagnosis, Tim refuses to label him because “labels make us less than human.” Thirty year old Jamie Perron has a history of bad relationships. After his girlfriend kicks him out this last time, his friend, Tim, lets him move in for the summer. Music is the driving force that draws Jordan and Jamie together. With a similar taste in music, Jamie understands Jordan when no one else does. Never did Jamie think he would develop such an intense, romantic relationship with a strange, quiet, and sullen (yet cute) nineteen year old boy through the course of one interesting summer. Jamie changes everything Jordan has ever known. This is the summer of Jordan’s sexual awakening. On acres and acres of land in the beautiful countryside of Northeastern Massachusetts, Jordan learns to love, Jamie learns how to be loved, and Tim learns how to let go. This revised Second Edition of A Not So Typical Love contains a brand new ending. Do Jordan and Jamie live happily ever after? Read to find out!

    An agoraphobic game collector. A romantic comedy about finding love and self-acceptance in the strangest places. The little details have never interested Libby. From her eclectic style to her carefree attitude about her adult toy shop, she’s all about the big picture. But when her business partner retires, Libby’s safety net disappears and it’s up to her to sink or swim. For old-school card game nerd Theo, the details are everything. Her anxiety demands to know the rules, the players and the goal in any situation, and it can be hard to even leave her apartment unless she knows exactly what’s coming her way. When Theo’s sister gets engaged, she’s forced out of her comfort zone and into Libby’s shop on the hunt for bachelorette party supplies. Opposites attract and Theo is drawn into Libby’s chaotic world. She wants to help Libby save the shop and together they come up with a plan, but will they be brave enough to play the game of love?

     Alice Baker was born Indian, but she was abandoned as an infant. She was raised by a white family but could never disguise her Indian heritage. Never fitting in has taken its toll. When an opportunity arises that might finally bring her the answers she’s been searching for, she takes it. There’s just one catch. She has to become a mail order bride. Ed Little lost his arm in a mining accident a year ago. He needs help, but he’ll never admit it. He agrees to take a bride but only so people will quit worrying about him. He wants nothing to do with her. It will be a marriage in name only. When Alice shows up though, he can’t help falling for her. Too bad the rest of the town can’t say the same. They distrust outsiders as much as Indians, and Alice is both. They’ll go to any lengths necessary to get rid of her, but will they finally go too far? Can Ed and Alice accept each other before someone gets hurt?

       What is your response when your life turns upside down? When you lose your job? When you receive a difficult diagnosis?   Do you blame God or beg Him for a way out of your suffering? In more than a decade of misdiagnoses and debilitating treatments, Stephanie Tait admits she did plenty of both before hearing the two words that had drastically altered her life: Lyme disease. Yet she has discovered it’s in her pain that Jesus is most present. Through personal stories and biblical examples, you will learn that suffering connects you to God as He meets you in your moment of pain strengthens your community when you allow others to comfort you in your sorrow gives you greater appreciation for life’s goodness as you gain an eternal perspective Even if the healing never comes, there is something sacred in the suffering. It’s from holy rubble that God makes all things new.

    Long documents her coming of age as an ambitious young writer plagued by chronic headache and entangled with a boyfriend’s opioid addiction. The essays that result explore the complexities of care, hurt, and hope with elegance and precision. Long exposes her every nerve, crafting a story both intimate and deeply relevant. An essential book for the opioid era.Praise for Codependence: This gutsy memoirist of opioid addiction and pain management has not prevailed over her predicament. The electric prose of this book is not written from that vantage. Nor, as she persuasively demonstrates, is there necessarily a triumphant position to which to aspire, when a case is as precarious and enveloping as hers. The art of the essay and the practice of life writing benefit from Amy Long's decisions on every page to present a narrator who is as self-excusing, furtive, and volatile as she is candid, searching, and bracingly expert in our country’s labyrinthine industry of relief and the hurt of protracted hope. Codependence gives you the room key and invites you to inspect the parameters of Purgatory. —Brian BlanchfieldAgainst all the easy recovery narratives, against all the Opioid Crisis Hand-Wringing, stands this heart-stopping book—ferociously felt, powerfully written, absolutely persuasive in its extraordinary nakedness, bravery, and gallows humor. Brilliant. —David ShieldsVividly drawn, disarmingly forthright, and darkly seductive, Amy Long’s Codependence redefines what it means to take drugs, fall in love, and belong to a family. Exhibiting a mastery of narrative form and structure while documenting one woman’s attempt to articulate her pain—as well as the lengths she will go to eradicate it—this book represents a stunning and singular debut. —Matthew VollmerAmy Long holds an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Tech and a master’s degree in women’s studies from the University of Florida. She serves as a contributing editor at the drug history blog Points.

    Madison is a talented but struggling artist who can never seem to live up to anyone’s expectations. On the evening of an exceptionally bad heartbreak, she does something reckless, and now she is haunted by the events of that fateful night. Unable to forgive herself for fleeing the scene of an accident, Madison is convinced that she’s unworthy of love.Spencer’s epilepsy makes her a prisoner in her own body. After surviving a seizure-induced car crash, she’s determined to make the most of her new lease on life. With some encouragement, she enters the dating scene, but rules out finding love, believing that no one will be able to see beyond her limitations. Madison has a dark secret. Spencer carries a burden. When they happen to meet, their connection is instant but oddly familiar. As these two women begin to discover that their demons tie them together, will the truth bring them closer, or stop a romance before it even starts?

    It is the journey to find one's place in an ableist world—a world not made for disabled people, where disability is only seen in negative terms. La Spina refutes all stereotypical narratives of disability. Through the telling of her life’s story, without editorializing, she shows the harm that the overwhelming focus on pity and on a cure that remains elusive has done to disabled people. Her story exposes the disability prejudice ingrained in our sociopolitical system and denounces the oppressive standards of normalcy in a society that devalues those who are different and denies them basic rights. Written as continuous narrative and in a subtle and intimate voice, Such a Pretty Girl is a memoir as captivating as a novel. It is one of the few disability memoirs to focus on activism, and one of the first by an immigrant.

    The funniest book I've read in years.' DAVID WALLIAMSLee Ridley won the hearts and minds of the nation on Britain's Got Talent. Now the much-loved comedian opens up about what it's like to be him.I'm Only In It for the Parking is a wonderful romp through Lee's extraordinary life, by way of the people who like to pray for him, the comparisons with Stephen Hawking, some perilous falls, some epic fails and more information about Lee's private life than you probably need.This is the wickedly funny story of the stand-up who struggles to stand up, but who learns to finds his feet. The Geordie without the accent. The entertainer who really can't speak at all, but who has something important to say.- 'Hilarious.' The Sun- 'A unique and brilliant comic voice.' Ross Noble

    From struggling with sensory processing, managing socially demanding situations and learning social cues and feminine presentation, through to coming out as trans during an autistic meltdown, Laura draws on her personal experiences from life prior to transition and diagnosis, and moving on to the years of self-discovery, to give a unique insight into the nuances of sexuality, gender and autism, and how they intersect.Charting the ups and downs of being autistic and on the LGBT spectrum with searing honesty and humour, this is an empowering, life-affirming read for anyone who's felt they don't fit in.

    That's the core belief behind this teacher-friendly handbook, your practical guide to providing comprehensive, high-quality literacy instruction to students with significant disabilities. Drawing on decades of classroom experience, the authors present their own innovative model for teaching students with a wide range of significant disabilities to read and write print in grades preK–12 and beyond. Foundational teaching principles blend with concrete strategies, step-by-step guidance, and specific activities, making this book a complete blueprint for helping students acquire critical literacy skills they'll use inside and outside the classroom. An essential resource for educators, speech-language pathologist, and parents—and an ideal text for courses that cover literacy and significant disabilities—this book will help you ensure that all students have the reading and writing skills they need to unlock new opportunities and reach their potential.READERS WILL:Discover 10 success factors for helping students with significant disabilities become literateTeach emergent readers and writers skillfully, with evidence-based strategies for shared and independent reading, early writing instruction, and alphabetic and phonological awarenessHelp students acquire conventional literacy skills, with adaptable strategies for teaching reading comprehension, vocabulary, writing, decoding, and spellingOrganize and deliver comprehensive literacy instruction in a variety of settings, both inside and outside of schoolUse assistive technology effectively to support reading, writing, and communicationEngage and motivate students and make literacy instruction meaningful to their everyday livesPRACTICAL MATERIALS: Sample teaching scenarios and dialogues, how-to strategies, and downloadable resources, including sample lessons, a quick-guide to key literacy terms, lesson sequences, and flowcharts to guide instruction.

    A disciple of Enlightenment thinkers, he was a devotee of reason, believed in the reliability of science, and lived by the dictum that an unexamined life is not worth living. That is, until his son August was born.Despite his faith that modern medicine would not fail him, August was born with a severe traumatic brain injury as a likely result of medical error and lived as a spastic quadriplegic who was cortically blind, profoundly cognitively impaired, and nonverbal. While Gabbard tried to uncover what went wrong during the birth and adjusted to his new role raising a child with multiple disabilities, he began to rethink his commitment to Enlightenment thinkers--who would have concluded that his son was doomed to a life of suffering. But August was a happy child who brought joy to just about everyone he met in his 14 years of life--and opened up Gabbard's capacity to love. Ultimately, he comes to understand that his son is undeniably a person deserving of life.A Life Beyond Reason will challenge readers to reexamine their beliefs about who is deserving of humanity.

    Or rather, certain ways. Navigating Kimberly Dark’s experience of being fat since childhood—as well as queer, white-privileged, a gender-confirming “girl with a pretty face,” active then disabled, and inevitably aging—each piece blends storytelling and social analysis to deftly coax readers into a deeper understanding of how appearance privilege (and stigma) function in everyday life and how the architecture of this social world constrains us. At the same time, she provides a blueprint for how each of us can build a more just social world, one interaction at a time. Includes an afterword by Health at Every Size expert, Linda Bacon.

    This time he’s imagining a circus, and the ringmaster is his teacher! Vivid illustrations, this exciting fun-to-read story offers a fantastic lesson about inclusion, acceptance and friendship!Ben dreams what EVERY child dreams, and this time he’s dreaming about being in a circus. An inspiring little boy, who happens to be in a wheelchair, continues to show that all kids can play & learn & dream.When we talk about empathy and inclusion with young children, they learn to understand and accept others. It's okay to be nervous around disability and special needs, but let's work to break that barrier.Visit Bens-Adventures.com for a FREE downloadable Activity Fun Guide.

    It is dedicated to finding working alternatives to the “Mental Health Industrial Complex” and shifting the conversation from mental illness to mental health.

    graduates” (Kirkus Reviews). Join Meena as she navigates the triumphs and challenges of family, friendship, and personal secrets in this charming middle grade debut.Meena’s life is full of color. She wears vibrant clothes, eats every shade of the rainbow, and plucks eye-catching trash from the neighborhood recycling bins. But when Meena’s best friend, Sofía, stops playing with her at recess and she experiences an unexpected and scary incident at breakfast, nothing can fight off the gray. That’s when Meena comes up with a plan to create the BEST and most COLORFUL Valentine’s Day Box in the class. With the help of her cousin, Eli, and her stuffed zebra, Raymond, Meena discovers that the best way to break through the blah is to let her true colors shine.

    Calling for a politics of integrity that recognizes the complicated wholeness of individual and collective lives, Levins Morales delves among the interwoven roots of multiple oppressions, exposing connections, crafting strategies, and uncovering the wellsprings of resilience and joy. Throughout these twenty-eight essays—twenty-one of which are new or extensively revised—she exposes the structures and mechanisms that silence voices and divide movements. The result is a medicine bag full of techniques and perspectives to build a universal solidarity that is flexible, nuanced, and strong enough to fundamentally shift our world toward justice. Intimately personal and globally relevant, Medicine Stories brings clarity and hope to tangled, emotionally charged social issues in beautiful and accessible language.

    But even as churches today seek to follow the way of Jesus, people with disabilities all too often experience the very opposite of healing and life-giving community: exclusion, judgment, barriers. Misinterpretation and misapplication of biblical healing narratives can do great damage, yet those who take the Bible as authoritative mustn't avoid these passages either. Bethany McKinney Fox believes that Christian communities are better off when people with disabilities are an integral part of our common life. In Disability and the Way of Jesus, she considers how the stories of Jesus' healings can guide us toward mutual thriving. How did Jesus' original audience understand his works of healing, and how should we relate to these texts today? After examining the healing narratives in their biblical and cultural contexts, Fox considers perspectives from medical doctors, disability scholars, and pastors to more fully understand what Jesus does as he heals and how he points the way for relationships with people with disabilities. Personal reflections from Christians with disabilities are featured throughout the book, which concludes with suggestions for concrete practices adaptable to a variety of church settings. Bridging biblical studies, ethics, and disability studies with the work of practitioners, Fox provides a unique resource that is both theologically grounded and winsomely practical. Disability and the Way of Jesus provides new lenses on holistic healing for scholars, laypeople, and church and parachurch leaders who care about welcoming all people as Jesus would.

    He spends all season creating magic for others, and for himself, he’s resigned to another lonely winter. There’s a reason he’s known as the Devil in Fairfield Resort’s high-end kitchen, and he has no plans to change that. What most people don’t realize, however, is that Chef Garcia has a soft spot for one man—a half-blind, Russian dishwasher who is the first person in years to make Mario feel. Viktor Popov's life is full of secrets and lies. He showed up in Fairfield with a handful of suspicious papers, no past, and secured a job in the bowels of a resort kitchen. He spends his waking hours washing dishes and trying his best to manage his failing eyesight without anyone taking notice. Once upon a time, he was a man of wealth and reputation, and now he’s living day-to-day, hoping no one will ever take notice. It's been forever since Vitya believed in anything, and these long years of loneliness only proved to him that miracles didn’t exist. At least, until the night when warm hands pulled him out of the cold, and a soft voice whispered in his ear that he mattered. Life isn’t easy, and both men have never expected any different. But maybe, by the soft light of the menorah, both men will finally be able to see that for each other, they’re exactly what they need. To Touch the Light is a 43,000 word holiday novel set in the Irons and Works Universe. This book contains no cheating and an HEA.

    The human system for processing sound is a biological marvel, an intricate assembly of delicate membranes, bones, receptor cells, and neurons. Yet many people take their ears for granted, abusing them with loud restaurants, rock concerts, and Q-tips. And then, eventually, most of us start to go deaf.Millions of Americans suffer from hearing loss. Faced with the cost and stigma of hearing aids, the natural human tendency is to do nothing and hope for the best, usually while pretending that nothing is wrong. In Volume Control, David Owen argues this inaction comes with a huge social cost. He demystifies the science of hearing while encouraging readers to get the treatment they need for hearing loss and protect the hearing they still have.Hearing aids are rapidly improving and becoming more versatile. Inexpensive high-tech substitutes are increasingly available, making it possible for more of us to boost our weakening ears without bankrupting ourselves. Relatively soon, physicians may be able to reverse losses that have always been considered irreversible. Even the insistent buzz of tinnitus may soon yield to relatively simple treatments and techniques. With wit and clarity, Owen explores the incredible possibilities of technologically assisted hearing. And he proves that ears, whether they're working or not, are endlessly interesting.

    Yet, the work doesn't always stray far from home, with a quintet of astro-poems that weave together myth and memory.Here is a poet small in stature, unwilling to abandon to silence small histories, small life forms, and the small courages and beauties of the ordinary hour. In these rigorous, intimate, and luminous poems, the spirit of the everyday and the spirit of witness bind fiercely to one another. heft is a ledger of tenderness, survival, and risk.

    Full of humor and reflection, it's a heroic journey of a man driven to reframe the language of disease through action and service.As you travel with Kyle during two cross-country bike rides through the American West, Texas, the Southern States, and finally to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, the grueling rides become a compelling backdrop for a series of lessons and ruminations which embrace an alternative worldview and provide practical solutions to everyday problems. A thrilling adventure story, yes, Shifting Into High Gear is also ultimately about helping readers reinterpret the conditions of their lives and learning how positive thinking, purposeful connection, and deliberate actions can help anyone reach beyond their limits and live a bolder and bigger life no matter what the circumstance. Deeply passionate and compassionate, Kyle uses his amazing story to teach readers how to replace the handicapping language of "disability" with the agency to build a thriving and hopeful life. He bravely exposes the shadow-side of using disabling language and asks us to commit to a collective goal of understanding disease and its emotional impact and embrace the disabled population as equal individuals. In telling his story, Kyle's desire is that instead of viewing disease as a deficit, we would see it as another state of being--simply as a life which strikes out on a different path.

    It offers a fresh, visceral, and idiosyncratic perspective on creativity, spirituality, illness, and the limits of fiction itself. At its heart is a story of a disastrously traumatic childbirth, its long aftermath, and the out-of-time roots of both trauma and creativity in an extraordinary childhood. Moving from fairgrounds to Agatha Christie, from literary festivals to neuroscience and the Bible, from Chernobyl to King Lear, Ashworth takes us on a fantastic journey through familiar landscapes transformed through unexpected encounters and comic combinations. The everyday provides the ground for the macabre and the absurd, as the narration twists and stretches time. Hovering on the edge of madness, writing, it seems, might keep us sane—or might just allow us to keep on living. In Notes Made While Falling, Ashworth calls for a redefinition of the creative work of thinking, writing, teaching, and being, and she underlines the necessity of a fearlessly compassionate and empathic attention to vulnerability and fragility.

    Part comparative cultural study, part mother-and-daughter travel memoir, multi-cultural and multi-lingual (Japanese, English, French, and Sign Language) adventures with her teen — a dual-citizenship artist, who happens to be deaf, with cerebral palsy — through subterranean Tennessee, to the islands of Japan, to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and ultimately to independence.

    Perfect for non-readers, early readers and children of all ages. What kind of world would we be living in if everyone looked the same and did the same things? —- a boring one!Full of excitement and colorful illustrations!The idea of this book is to help children understand that there is nothing wrong with being different. Whether they have red hair or brown hair, green eyes or blue eyes, long legs or short legs, light skin or dark skin, glasses, uses a wheelchair or anything else, it’s absolutely OKAY! Our differences are what makes us unique and if we truly think about it, would you want to be the exact same as someone else? What if we all looked the same or all and had only the same skills of Bill Gates? How boring would it be to have millions of techies walking around? Who would have created music? art? food? clothes? and so much more!

     The girl who has everything is reduced to an empty black hole of nothing they call Safe Haven Academy. It’s where bad souls go for reform, but end up getting worse until they’re shipped out to another “sheltered place” with an equally uninspired name. It doesn’t matter what they dress it up as, Macie knows places like this are for people like her—people everyone wants to forget. The screwed up part? Macie’s not bad. Torn with grief and living in a fantasy world? Yes. A psychopath? Not likely. Worse yet, she can’t forget. Not even a little. Not even trying with all her might, she’ll never forget the consequences of the night the sky turned dark. Then, they force themselves into her life. A shining light in the bleakness around her, three boys irrevocably change her fate. Can she allow the sun to shine through? Or will Macie give up before giving them a chance?

    

    Born deaf in both ears, Pottle recounts what it was like growing up in a world of muted sound, and how his deafness has influenced virtually everything about his writing, from his use of language to character and plot choices. Salty, bold, and relentlessly honest, Voice makes us think about writing in entirely new ways and expands our understanding of deafness and the gifts that it can offer."Pottle's book is an important contribution to the growing roster of writing supplied by deaf academics, artists, writers, actors and theatre directors and professionals. I felt a 'coming home' experience in reading this book. As a deaf writer, I enthusiastically say 'yes' to his linkages between deafness and writing." --Joanne Weber, author of The Deaf House

    

    These are varied and diverse, spanning different continents, genders, sexualities and ethnicities, yet the author highlights the common themes that unite them and skilfully draws out these threads.Each chapter is based on accounts from one age group and includes accounts from people of that age, giving an insight into the history of autism and signifying how gaining a diagnosis (or not) has changed people's lives over time. The book is about ageing with an autistic mind, and helping the reader find connections between neurotypical and neurodiverse people by acknowledging the challenges we all face in our past, present and futures.

    It isn't a problem; it isn't even a novelty; it's just part of how we roll. My blindness has changed a few practical logistics. But in the end, kids are kids and moms are moms, and the dents and delights of parenthood are universal. As I told my daughter when she was very small, putting an only slightly different spin on the words my mom had said to me thirty years before, "The eyes in my face are broken, but the ones in the back of my head work just fine."“Daddy Won’t Let Mom Drive the Car: True Tales of Parenting in the Dark” is a book of short vignettes—most of them lighthearted, a few more serious—about my life as the blind mother of a sighted daughter. Welcome to my journey!

    Something weird is happening on Green Turtle Island. Marine creatures have been dying, and now her friends are disappearing. Rosie travels through a time portal to unlock a secret. Can Song Bird rescue the Great Barrier Reef before it's too late?Valuable resource to empower children to become eco warriors and reef defenders caring for the Great Barrier Reef and marine creatures. Three protagonists, one bullied, one with a disability, one nerdy use STEM science to solve problems.Great Barrier Reef Rescue supported by Australian Marine Conservation Society and Brisbane City Libraries. Kid's activities at www.karentyrrell.com. Kid's activities. Aligned with Kids Matter & STEM science. In consideration for NSW Premier's Reading Challenge 2019 term 4 and other awards.Received a personal letter of support from Sir David Attenborough.

    Attractive, wildly unconventional, and happy in an open relationship with his partner Annie, Zak seems to embody everything missing from Jeremy’s life, but when the arrest and death of a marginalized student at the Brooklyn high school where they both teach trigger Zak’s mental breakdown and slow descent, Jeremy and Annie are compelled to cross boundaries, both external and internal, in a desperate attempt to save him.

    But he was also hoping they’d hold more satisfaction. Because it turns out his arch enemy has died as she lived—sowing chaos and destruction—and when a mysterious package arrives on his doorstep, he realizes she’s sent him one last puzzle from beyond the grave. As Jaantzen and his crew are plunged back into a game he thought they’d left far behind, one thing becomes painfully clear: Solving Coeur’s puzzle could be key to preventing the city from crumbling back into another civil war—or it could be the thing that destroys them all. Because this secret isn’t just worth killing for. It’s worth coming back from the dead for.The Bulari Saga series is part of Jessie Kwak’s Durga System universe, a fast-paced series of gangster sci-fi stories set in a far-future world where humans may have left their home planet to populate the stars, but they haven’t managed to leave behind their vices. And that’s very good for business.

    In her latest poetry collection, Jillian Weise investigates and challenges the ways that nondisabled writers represent disability in their work. From an acerbic letter calling out William Carlos Williams’s medical conviction that “poetry heals” to a reverse-perspective biohack of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” to a stark chronicle of violence against “disabled women” in international headlines, no metaphor for “blind moon” or “deaf skies” goes unquestioned. Part invective, part love poem, Cyborg Detective holds a magnifying glass to the fetishization and marginalization of disabled people, in particular women, while claiming space and pride for the people who already use technology and cybernetic implants to survive.

    A Lot. Born with congenital anomalies, then called birth defects, in both feet, she was adopted as a toddler by a traditional 1950s family that had no idea how to handle the interwoven complexities of adoption and disability. From repeated childhood surgeries to an activist awakening at university to decades as a feminist teacher, improv coach and unionist, she spent much of her life denying her disability. But now, in this book written with the timing of a comedian, she’s sharing her journey. Palmer takes on adoption, ableism, ageism and childhood sexual abuse as she reckons with her past and with everyone’s future. In Falling for Myself, she allows herself to fall and get up and fall again, knees and hands bloody, but determined to seek disability justice, to insist we all be heard, seen, included and valued for who we are.

    A routine that keeps him functioning, a job as a tattoo artist that keeps his rent paid and food in his belly, and if he’s alone through it well, there are worse things to be. With his complicated past, Derek is sure no one would ever want to deal with the struggle that comes along with loving someone who has severe PTSD. Especially since the man who spent years abusing him is now in hospice, and Derek has taken over his end-of-life care. Derek’s resigned himself to living and dying alone, and maybe that’s okay. Then one night, during a raging storm, Derek finds himself stuck in an ATM vestibule with a quiet stranger, and it’s in that moment his world begins to change. Basil Shevach is new to Fairfield, taking over his dead aunt’s florist shop. He’s also Deaf in a small town, where he and his sister are the only ones not hearing. It’s not to say he hates it there, but he’s not sure Fairfield is the place for him. At least, not until one night, when a storm leaves him trapped inside the bank with a man quietly panicking against the glass door. He’s immediately intrigued by this unbelievably attractive stranger with bright tattoos covering his arms and haunted eyes, but he’s also bitter because he’s dated a hearing man before and it ended as badly as it could go for him. He had resolved years ago to never make that mistake again, but somehow, the frightened man trapped with him in that little room, crawls under his skin and no matter what he tries, he can’t seem to shake him. Will the two of them be able to find their way together, or will their pasts prevent them from being able to find happiness and contentment when they need it most? Free Hand is the first book in the Irons and Works series. Each book contains an individual storyline with no cheating and HEA.

    

    She has a job she hates, an ex that ran her out of her hometown, and the highlight of her week is Monday breakfast with her best friend. That changes when Aurora starts dreaming of a woman who can’t remember her own name. A woman who Aurora falls head over heels for. She knows the romance that develops between them isn’t real, but the dreams make life so much better that she hurries to bed every night…until she discovers that her dream woman isn’t imaginary. Her name is Leela and she is in a coma.Aurora must risk everything—her job, apartment, friends, and her sanity—to save Leela, a woman she’s only ever met in her mind. But in order to help, Aurora must convince Leela’s neurologist and parents that she and Leela have a bond that transcends the physical plane.Can Aurora fight through a progressively nightmarish landscape to wake Leela? And if Leela wakes, will she recognize Aurora as the one who saved her? As the one Leela said she loved? Their dream-relationship might not be real, but if there is any possibility of making her dreams come true, Aurora has to try.Dreams is a sweet lesfic romance about a love that defies the laws of physics.

    A tough topic to discuss? Not anymore. In this groundbreaking book, readers will see blindness in a whole new light. In fact, the compelling and entertaining stories will not only change perceptions of blindness, they’ll make readers forget the people featured are actually blind. Author Kristin Smedley’s journey began with devastation and tears after her two sons were diagnosed as blind when they were each just four months old. Eventually, she met a few people would who change her perception of what is possible for those navigating the world without sight. Those role models were the tipping point for Kristin and her sons to move from surviving blindness, to thriving. Thriving Blind introduces the reader to thirteen of those pivotal people--including a reality tv star, YouTube sensation and Teacher of the Year! While the stories in Thriving Blind demonstrate how blind people used creativity and determination to live the life of their dreams, the lessons they convey about facing fears and crashing through society’s barriers are transformative for all who experience struggles. Kristin herself applied these lessons to her own journey. She has testified at the FDA for the first ever treatment for vision loss, coordinated the first legislation in US history to be submitted in Braille, and is a highly influential voice around the world for those living with rare eye diseases. Thriving Blind will transform your idea of what is possible for people who encounter a devastating disability or life challenge and will catapult your motivation to set extraordinary expectations for your own life. From the Foreword by Erik Weihenmayer (blind Author, Filmmaker, International Speaker): “In Thriving Blind, Kristin beautifully presents how her beliefs and fears, her perspective and mindset could become either her boys’ biggest barrier or the boys’ most powerful catalyst. My mom believed in me. She saw strength, opportunity, and promise, while others saw only problems, obstacles, and limits. My dad taught me a lot about what I now call ‘a No Barriers Mindset.’ With the right support, encouragement, and belief, your child will survive (blindness). In fact, as Kristin so poignantly describes, ‘They’ll do better than survive. They will thrive.’”

    Having seen patients for more than 40 years, Dr Thomas Bird, a pioneerneurogeneticist, adds a human touch to this genetic brain disease that devastates persons during mid-life when they can least afford it.With a brief history of Huntington Disease and the occasional scientific detail, the true heart of the book is the human experience of the disorder: - The man who cannot stay out of prison because he is addicted to being a burglar. - Another man shoots and kills his roommate while watching television and cannot explain why he did it. - The woman with Huntington Disease copes with her depression by using Texas line dancing. - A twelve year old girl with juvenile Huntington Disease who can barely walk and talk, but her classmates rally around with touching and heartfelt support. - And the 72 year old man with late onset Huntington Disease and severe depression is made worse by ECT, but improved (for a while) with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.These are just some of the compelling stories of people of all ages and in all walks of life who feel trapped by a progressive degenerative brain disease from which there is no escape.

    Escaping into the military from a rigid and controlling family had been his way of staying out of the limelight, once he had come out to his family. He remembers what happened, the disaster that had met his best friend when people in their circle discovered that he was gay. Even now, after two years out of the Navy, Tad is as cagey and mistrustful as he had been in all his time inside. Then he wakes up one morning confused and moody. After that, all he knows for certain is that the big, honey-colored dude hired to take care of him is the most interesting man he’s ever met in his life. Tad wants him. Can he have him, though? Only time will tell. Melchizedek “Zeke” Taylor believes there is someone for everyone. He doesn’t think the way to find his someone is to troll the gay bars or use dating apps online. He also believes everything in life happens for a reason. So when he loses his job at the Twilight Senior Care facility, right when his grandmother is discharged after falling and breaking her hip, he sees it as a blessing. He can be home with her, except she sends him off to tend to some rich guy who needs a companion to temporarily watch over him until his body heals after an accident. When he meets his new charge and their eyes meet, Zeke cannot deny his immediate attraction. He knows trouble when he sees it, and Tad Meredith is that, with a capital "T." Because Zeke is very much afraid that Tad is "The One." "Afraid" being the operative word. Please Note: This book contains adult language & steamy adult activities, it is intended for 18+ Adults Only. Novel, approximately 66,000 words in length. HEA (happy ever after ending). Does not end with a "cliffhanger." Themes include: Mixed race, age gap, inter-racial, wealth, hurt/comfort, faith, amnesia, closeted, virgin

     Harrison is a beloved musician, known for his heart-wrenching lyrics and his beautiful voice. But when tragedy strikes on stage, the doctors say he may never speak again. Left with little else, he finds comfort in the eyes of one of his nurses. Luke has never known a song, having been born deaf . He struggles against the institution to prove himself as a grad student working toward his registered nursing certification. He’s seen the man in the hospital bed before, plastered around his sister’s room. Still, he’s no different than any other patient until Luke realizes he’s holding his breath every time their hands touch. Follow their journey as they discover that speaking through the heart is louder than any words can be. Love and Silence is a gay romance novel, intended for adults only. Get this book and 5 other fantastic books in the Love and Silence bundle!

    But if you’re one of the millions of teens who suffer from chronic pain, you should know that there are real tools you can use now to help you feel better. Blending cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), this workbook provides proven-effective solutions to help you take control of your pain and get back to being you!With this powerful and easy-to-use workbook, you’ll learn how pain affects both your mind and body, how negative emotions can make pain worse, and strategies to help you turn the volume down on your pain, so you can go back to enjoying activities that you love. You’ll also learn mindfulness and relaxation exercises, including belly breathing and body scan to help manage pain in the moment.The exercises and strategies in this book are rooted in research, fun to learn, and easy to practice. And the best part? You can carry them with you wherever you go. Take them out into the world and take charge of your pain—and your life!

    Guess ensnares her reader in a terrifying drama of intimacy’s invasions—incest, abuse, institutionalization, suicide, illness—that the reader, like the speaker, cannot escape. And yet, all the while, here too is the grace and salvation only the natural world offers us; here too is the guardian strength of ginkgo trees, thunderstorms, the Everglades, the ocean, the Miami sun. Here too is a whole woman’s body, which, once she discovers she is never separate from the loving silence on which this good earth turns, becomes something so much greater than what she endures. And so do we. —Rebecca Gayle Howell, author of American Purgatory and Render: An ApocalypsePerhaps you think you have a sense of what it is to be a survivor. Or perhaps, like me, you are one. But let me tell you: no familiarity with trauma will prepare you for the singular world of Avery M. Guess’ book, steeped as it is in a Florida childhood of Spanish moss and sea cucumbers, armadillos and bats, the whole place hurricane-wrecked, reeking of marine debris, the flooded carpet replaced by a bright red shag in which a father creeps across to his daughter’s bed at night. Here you have not a story of recovery but the day-by-day blast of fire it takes to choose life, or more accurately, to reclaim a body that’s been heisted, so much so that to feel anything a return to the body’s animal self is the only thing that works—sometimes by cutting but also by slipping into the skin of an alligator or growing antlers where her mother’s nails broke off in her scalp. Reader, I swear to you—no book, not since I first found Sharon Olds or Linda McCarriston or Rachel McKibbens—has scorched my heart with such furious beauty. —Nickole Brown, Author of Fanny Says & SisterThe Truth Is— an astonishingly powerful debut collection by Avery M. Guess—holds the multiple facets of trauma up to the light with a piercing, rainbowed clarity. These are poems that sensitively unfold legacies of childhood sexual abuse and mental illness with fierce candor, while simultaneously performing the magical alchemies of transforming pain into riveting art. Linguistically taut, and imagistically deft, these lovely and harrowing poems linger and haunt. If you are a survivor, this is a book that will make you feel seen. If you are not a survivor, this is a book that will help you to see. Avery M. Guess is a stunning poet with a gorgeous talent, and a generously capacious heart. —Lee Ann Roripaugh, Author of DandariansAvery Guess's debut collection of poems The Truth Is is a brave document of survivorhood. The poems bear witness to childhood domestic & sexual violence, and ask the reader to listen with compassion, love, and tenderness. Formally varied, at turns, spare, narrative, and fantastical, the poems move with agility through possibility while refusing easy answers. Guess's book offers a necessary testimony for our times. —Cathy Linh Che, Author of SplitIt is impossible to read the poems in this collection without taking a breath after each one, calculating everything at stake. The Truth Is dismantles our tidy narratives—its poems thrash with honesty, renouncing shame while demanding we, as readers, help carry the load. It challenges us to put more effort into the terms: witness, survivor, risk, and reckoning. —Rachel McKibbens, Author of blud, Into the Dark & Emptying Field, and Pink Elephant

    (As if she never thought about slowing down and breathing in her over thirty years of stuttering!) When Nina started comedy nearly ten years ago, she was the only woman in the world of stand-up who stuttered―not a surprise, since men outnumber women four to one amongst those who stutter and comedy is a male-dominated profession. Nina’s brand of comedy reflects the experience of many people with disabilities in that the problem with disability isn’t in the person with it but in a society that isn’t always accessible or inclusive.

    It takes a look through illustration at why people like me are overly sensitive to noise, or have issues paying attention, or respond negatively to touch, or get upset when a routine is disrupted. I am in my 50s, so I am looking at this as an individual who has had many experiences and train wrecks. I have spent many years of self introspection, trying to understanding how my filtering system affects my ability to function and my relationship with my environment. In the last 1930s, Autism was first being diagnosed as a specific psychological process. But up until the 1960s, it was accepted as a dimension of other psychological profiles.Once it was understood as a unique neurological characteristic, studies branched out to understand exactly what it saw, because we really did not know. What about it led individuals to have a broad range of “peculiar” and atypical methodologies in experience and expression?How do these individuals acquisition knowledge and apply it to every day life?This is my understanding of how I process information. I stress that it is mine, because I realize each autistic person is unique and may have very different processing outcomes.

    It is suitable both for those who are struggling with mental illness and those who have no idea what words like "Schizoaffective Depression" means. For more information on the author she can be found on www.kerenzaryan.com.

    But moving to NYC during the holidays sends grief crashing through her, and Jordan realizes that when she isn’t solely focused on caring for others, her own feelings are unavoidable. Including her feelings for Leah.51 year old queer femme Leah, an experienced submissive kink educator who owns a sex shop, has recently come to terms with being gray ace and is trying to rework her life and relationships to honor that.Leah has a brainstorm to help them both: she offers Jordan eight kink lessons, one for each night of Chanukah, to help Jordan find her feet as a novice dominant, and to create a structured space where Leah can work on more deeply honoring her own consent, now that she knows she’s gray ace.She’d planned to keep it casual, but instead the experience opens cracks in the armor Leah’s been using to keep people at a distance and keep herself safe. Now she needs to grapple with the trauma that’s been impacting her life for years.Can these two autistic queers find ways to cope with the changes they are making in their lives and support each other, as they build something new they hadn’t thought was possible?This kinky polyamorous Chanukah f/f romance includes a friends to lovers, roommates to lovers, kink lessons, seasoned romance and getting your groove back tropes, and polyamorous, gray ace, pansexual, Jewish, fat, autistic, disabled, arthritis, PTSD and depression representation.