Would You Support My Bestfriend?

In today’s newsletter, a request for support from my subscribers, and a chance to read a book that you might not ordinarily have been drawn to.

My bestfriend in the whole world, Jane, lives out in Minnesota in the USA. Originally from Rugby, Jane moved to San Francisco when we were in our early twenties, but the miles – and Atlantic Ocean – between us has never come between us.

Here’s a picture of me and Jane from a few years ago, we don’t get to see each other much these days, but we speak everyday on FaceTime

Jane was diagnosed with MS more than twenty years ago, and more recently her condition has become secondary progressive. A few years ago she had a baclofen pump fitted in her stomach which delivers anti-spasmodic drugs directly to her spine to help with the spasticity and pain, the side effect of which has left her paraplegic and a wheelchair user full time as it was the spasticity in her muscles that kept her upright, if not mobile.

Jane is an absolute inspiration to me. I call her my sunshine, that is just her personality, with or without MS she has always been the same, but it is this same sunshiny spirit which has made her cope better than anyone I know with the challenges life has thrown at her living with a disability.

She has two amazing children, Emily and Elliot, and a wonderful partner, Tavis, (and two dogs, Sadie and Henry). Life as a wheelchair user is tough and Jane cannot leave the house without someone else’s assistance, which can sometimes feel like a lonely existence, especially for someone as exuberant as my bestfriend. But last year, she discovered an incredible yoga studio called Mind Body Solutions in Minnesota that offers free online classes to disabled people all over the world. It has meant that she could move her body in ways she hadn’t previously thought she could (and Jane was a trained yoga teacher, so for her to learn something, these guys must be good!). Most importantly she found a community online that she could join and not feel so alone while her partner is at work all day.

This week, Jane is supporting Mind Body Solutions for their Kiss My Asana fundraising campaign to raise money to help the studio offer more free classes for those living with disabilities – no matter where they are in the world.

You can find out more over in Jane’s blog below, and if you click on the You Tube link and go to 18m 55 seconds you can hear Jane herself talking a little about what Mind Body Solutions has meant to her.

Three 12 min Interviews about Adaptive Yoga (Yoga for people with any form of disability)

So, you might be wondering, where does your help come in? Well, Jane has her own fundraising page to help support Mind Body Solutions, which you can check out here.

But I thought The Book Room’s contribution to their fundraising just had to be selling books. So below, I have compiled a list of brilliant books either by disabled authors, or featuring characters living with disabilities that you might find of interest in terms of stretching your reading muscles, and trying a genre that you might not ordinarily. Most importantly all profits from the sales of these books from The Book Room until Saturday when their Kiss My Asana week comes to an end will go to Jane’s fundraising campaign for Mind Body Solutions and help them provide more classes to other people who might be isolated in their homes believing their bodies can’t move the way they want them to anymore.

You can find out more about Mind Body Solutions on their website, and please do share across your own social media channels to spread the word about their free classes.

And so, with all that admin out of the way, here are the books that you could buy that not only will you love, but you will be doing a great thing and showing your support for Jane and others living with disabilities. There are books for smaller children, middle grade, YA, both adult fiction and non-fiction, and even one I wrote. Enjoy, and thank you in anticipation of your sales. Thank you to those who offered recommendations that helped me put together this list.

I’ll leave you with one of my very favourite photos of Jane that captures her beauty and her strength of body and mind.

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? by James Catchpole and Karen George

The first ever picture book addressing how a disabled child might want to be spoken to. What happened to you? Was it a shark? A burglar? A lion? Did it fall off?
Every time Joe goes out the questions are the same . . . what happened to his leg? But is this even a question Joe has to answer? A ground-breaking, funny story that helps children understand what it might feel like to be seen as different.

You can buy WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? here.

DEENIE by Judy Blume

My 10-year-old daughter is currently working her way through Judy Blume’s backlist, and so I how could I not include DEENIE? Deenie's mother wants her to be a model, with her face on magazine covers--maybe even in the movies – but Deenie wants to spend Saturdays with her friends Janet and Midge, tracking Harvey Grabowsky, the captain of the football team, around Woolworth's. She wants to be a cheerleader, too, and go to the seventh-grade mixer to hear Buddy Brader play his drums.

Instead, Deenie is diagnosed with scoliosis. And that means body stockings to squeeze into, a roomful of strangers to face, and a terrifying brace that she'll need to wear for years that goes from her neck to her hips. Suddenly Deenie has to cope with a kind of specialness that's frightening – and might be hers forever.

You can buy DEENIE here.

THE FIRST MOVE by Jenny Ireland

Here is our YA selection. Juliet believes girls like her - girls with arthritis - don't get their own love stories. She exists at the edges of her friends' social lives, skipping parties to play online chess under a pseudonym with strangers around the world. There, she isn't just 'the girl with crutches'.

Ronan is the new kid: good looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. Chesslife is his escape. Juliet thinks Ronan thinks someone like Ronan could never be interested in someone like her - and she wouldn't want him to be anyway - he always acts like he's cooler than everyone else.
Little do they know they've already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think…

You can buy THE FIRST MOVE here.

THE GUEST HOUSE by Robin Morgan-Bentley

Jamie and Victoria are expecting their first baby. With a few weeks to go, they head off for a final weekend break in a remote part of the North Pennines. The small and peaceful guesthouse is the ideal location to unwind together before becoming parents. Upon arrival, they are greeted by Barry and Fiona, the older couple who run the guesthouse. They cook them dinner and show them to their room before retreating to bed themselves. The next morning, Jamie and Victoria wake to find the house deserted. Barry and Fiona are nowhere to be seen.All the doors are locked. Both their mobile phones and car keys have disappeared. Even though it's a few weeks early, Victoria knows the contractions are starting. The baby is coming, and there's no way out.

The protagonist, Jamie, has cerebral palsy, and Robin draws on his own experience of living with cerebral palsy to create him.

You can buy THE GUEST HOUSE here.

DISABILITY VISIBILITY edited by Alice Wong

Finally, some adult non-fiction, esteemed US disability activist Alice Wong has gathered together 35 truly diverse disabled writers. A Black New York lawyer, a Deaf prisoner, the creator of the #hospitalglam hashtag on instagram - individual stories that nonetheless throw up common themes and shared experiences. Unabashedly written by and for disabled people, everyone will find it illuminating.

You can buy DISABILITY VISIBILITY here.

BREAKING THE SILENCE by Jo Milne

This was the first book I ever wrote. It is the memoir of Jo Milne, who lives with Usher Syndrome. Jo was born deaf, and then in her thirties started losing her sight. She had cochlear implants in her late thirties which meant for the first time ever she was able to hear birdsong, her mum’s voice, music! It’s an incredibly book about overcoming adversity and campaigning for a more inclusive world.

You can watch Jo hearing for the first time here, and you can buy BREAKING THE SILENCE here.