Denise Thornton - Physical Disabilities: The Ultimate Teen Guide

Books in the It Happened to Me series are designed for inquisitive teens digging for answers about certain illnesses, social issues, or lifestyle interests. Whether you are deep into your teen years or just entering them, these books are gold mines of up-to-date information, riveting teen views, and great visuals to help you figure out stuff. Besides special boxes highlighting singular facts, each book is enhanced with the latest reading list, websites, and an index. Perfect for browsing, theres loads of expert information by acclaimed writers to help parents, guardians, and librarians understand teen illness, tough situations, and lifestyle choices.

SCARECROW PRESS, INC.

Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com

Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom

Copyright 2007 by Denise Thornton

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Thornton, Denise, 1949

Physical disabilities : the ultimate teen guide/Denise Thornton.

p. cm. (It happened to me ; no. 17)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5300-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-8108-5300-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Teenagers with disabilitiesJuvenile literature. I. Title.

RJ507.H35T56 2007

362.40835--dc22

2006029235

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.

So many people contributed to creating this book. First, I must thank my husband, Doug Hansmann, for his encouragement, and my daughters, Della and K. J., whose constant support fueled this project.

I am forever indebted to the young adults who opened their hearts to me and breathed live into this project, especially Jackie Barns, Dan Burton, Annie Connor, Shawna Culp, Mich (Michelle) Gerson, Courtney Glodowski, Laura Glowacki, Dave Groesbeck, Carl Hamming, Quinn Haberl, Kathryn Healy, Angela Kuemmel, Michelle Suzanne Maloney, Jessie Martin, Alex McKenzie, Isaac Powell, Katy Sandberg, Matt Scott, Matt Shand, Hannah Thompson, Statia Wilson, and Rebecca Wylie.

I am grateful to all the caring professionals who shared their time and expertise for this project. The Northern Suburban Special Education District, including Karen Noonan, program director; Becki Streit, Low Incidence Cooperative Agreement (LICA) Programs and Services for Students Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing; Naomi Hershman, vision coordinator; Barbara Sides, retired occupational and physical therapy coordinator; and Karolyn Berkiel, computer and technology coordinator. Thanks also to Deb Claire and Annie Robertson, accommodations specialists at the McBurney Disability Resource Center of the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Tanya Holton, vice president of development at the National Braille Press; Jackie Pieper and Dan Ferreria of the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association; Melissa Mitchell, outreach and training coordinator for the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange; Eric Lipp, founder and director of Open Doors Organization in Chicago; Mike Froggly, head wheelchair basketball coach at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Dr. Paul Ponchillia, chairperson of the Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies of Western Michigan University; Stephanie Moore, director of visual arts, VSA arts, Washington, D.C.; Karen McCulloh, National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities; Karen Black, director of media relations at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology; Michael Hineberg, attendant referral coordinator of IndependenceFirst, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cynthia A. Lambert, corporate director for government and community relations at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network; Betsy Valnes, executive director of National Youth Leadership Network; and Jennifer McPhail, an organizer with ADAPT.

Special thanks to Angelica Busque, who combined her artistic skill as a fine arts graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with her experience as a young person with a physical disabilities to create the illustrations for each chapter, and to photographer Tom Olin, who contributed images from his collection of photographs of the demonstrations and civil disobedience that drove the passage in 1990 of the Americans with Disabilities Act.