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Favorite Books & Authors

My thinking about disability issues has been shaped by many influences: people with disabilities and their families, dedicated activists in the field, my own son and our family's experiences, as well as some great authors who are listed below. I routinely discover "great lessons" from non-disability sources—many of the dilemmas we experience are actually not related to people's disabilities, but to our thinking, the words we use and how we use those words, and other things going on inside our heads! I hope you'll find some valuable lessons in these books, too.

Of course, at the top of my list are my own books, shown in the column on the right. They include many of the lessons I've learned from others, and are being used by parents, educators and other professionals in the field, colleges and universities, and many others. Click here, or on the images of the book covers, to learn more about my books!

On Living a Better Life

By Wendell Johnson:
Living with Change
People in Quandries: The Semantics of Personal Adjustment

Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness by Epictetus (translation by Lebell)

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson

Tao Te Ching: An Illustrated Journey by Stephen Mitchell (English version)

Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

A Guide through the Theory of Knowledge by Adam Morton

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book by Don Miguel Ruiz

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

Tales of Good and Evil, Help and Harm by Philip Hallie

Clear Thinking: A Practical Introduction by Hy Ruchlis

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin E. P. Seligman

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Head First: The Biology of Hope and the Healing Power of the Human Spirit by Norman Cousins

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker

The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama

On Caring by Milton Mayeroff

A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech

The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz

Disability and/or Medical Issues

How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman, MD

By Paul J. Castellani:
From Snake Pits to Cash Cows: Politics and Public Institutions in New York
The Political Economy of Developmental Disabilities

Disabling Professions (compiled) by Ivan Illich (and read anything else by Illich)

Plato, Not Prozac! Applying Eternal Wisdom to Everyday Problems by Lou Marinoff

By Erving Goffman:
Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

No More Job Interviews: Self-Employment Strategies for People with Disabilities by Alice Weiss Doyel

Movement Differences and Diversity in Autism/Mental Retardation: Appreciating and Accommodating People with Communication and Behavior Challenges by Anne M. Donnellan and Martha R. Leary

The Careless Society: Community and Its Counterfeits by John McKnight

Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets by John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight

Learning to Listen: Positive Approaches and People with Difficult Behavior by Herbert Lovett

War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race by Edwin Black

Anatomy of an Epidemic : Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America by Robert Whitaker

About Language and Communication

The Use and Misuse of Language edited by S.I. Hayakawa

Language in Thought and Action by S.I. Hayakawa and Alan R. Hayakawa

Telling it Like It Isn't: Language Misuse and Malpractice/What We Can Do About It by J. Dan Rothwell

Word Play: What Happens When People Talk by Peter Farb

The New Doublespeak: Why No One Know What Anyone's Saying Anymore by William Lutz

Language Habits in Human Affairs by Irving J. Lee

On Parenting, Teaching, and/or Education

The Blind Advantage: How Going Blind Made Me a Stronger Principal and How Including Children with Disabilities Made Our School Better for Everyone by Bill Henderson

The Beyond Access Model: Promoting Membership, Participation, and Learning for Students with Disabilities in the General Education Classroom by Cheryl M. Jorgensen, Michael McSheehan, and Rae M. Sonnenmeier

The Nurture Assumption by Judith Rich Harris

The Myth of the First Three Years by John T. Bruer

Schooled to Order: A Social History of Public Schooling in the United States by David Nasaw

How to Survive in Your Native Land by James Herndon

The Continuum Concept: In Search of Happiness Lost by Jean Liedloff

By David Elkind:
All Grown Up and No Place to Go
Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk
The Hurried Child

By Howard Gardner:
Changing Minds: The Art And Science of Changing Our Own And Other People's Minds
Frames Of Mind: The Theory Of Multiple Intelligences
Leading Minds: An Anatomy Of Leadership
The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think And How Schools Should Teach

By Thomas Armstrong:
The Myth of the A.D.D. Child
In Their Own Way: Discovering and Encouraging Your Child's Multiple Intelligences
Radiant Child (Quest Book)

By John Holt:
Instead of Education: Ways to Help People do Things Better
How Children Fail (Classics in Child Development)
How Children Learn (Classics in Child Development)
Escape from Childhood
Freedom and Beyond (Innovators in Education)

The Lives of Children: The Story of the First Street School (Innovators in Education) by George Dennison

Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (Classic Reprint) by John Dewey

By William Glasser:
Schools Without Failure
Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom
Reality Therapy: A New Approach to Psychiatry (Colophon Books)

By Edward de Bono:
Teaching Thinking
Practical Thinking: 4 Ways to be Right; 5 Ways to be Wrong; 5 Ways to Understand

The Tao of Teaching: The Ageless Wisdom of Taoism and the Art of Teaching by Greta Nagel

Parenting With Love And Logic (Updated and Expanded Edition) by Foster Cline and Jim Fay

Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes
by Alfie Kohn (Read anything by Kohn.)

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