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Rated Outstanding by the American Association of School Libraries

This is the first book to be written by autistic college students about the challenges they face. Aquamarine Blue 5 details the struggle of these highly sensitive students and shows that there are gifts specific to autistic students that enrich the university system, scholarship, and the world as a whole.

Dawn Prince-Hughes presents an array of writings by students who have been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism, showing their unique ways of looking at and solving problems. In their own words, they portray how their divergent thinking skills could be put to great use if they were given an opportunity. Many such students never get the chance because the same sensitivity that gives them these insights makes the flicker of fluorescent lights and the sound of chalk on the board unbearable For simple—and easily remedied—reasons, we lose these students, who are as gifted as they are challenged.

Aquamarine Blue 5 is a showcase of the strength and resilient character of individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome. It will be an invaluable resource for those touched by this syndrome, their friends and families, and school administrators.

Receiving a diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) can be an overwhelming experience. And, it can be difficult for newly-diagnosed patients to ask the hard, personal questions in clinic. These thought-provoking stories contain the answers to many of those difficult questions. This book is a window into the thoughts, feelings, and coping techniques of real people struggling with the effects of a life-altering disease. It is a must-read for newly-diagnosed COPD patients and their loved ones.
 
In Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease:  A Collection of Personal Stories, you will learn what COPD is and what it is not. Written in the actual voices of real patients and family members, you will hear what worried them, what helped them, the good advice they have to share, and even some unexpected joys discovered in the course of their journey. There is also a long list of resources for those who are exploring COPD topics. This collection of personal stories and photos was written by COPD patients and family members for the benefit of newly-diagnosed patients and their families. The authors want you to know that you are not alone.
 
Proceeds from this book will be used to improve the patient experience at Michigan Medicine.

Receiving a diagnosis of Idiopathic Pulmonary (IPF) can be an intimidating experience.  And it can be difficult for new patients to ask hard, personal questions in clinic.  But these powerful stories, written byIPF patients and fornewly-diagnosed IPF patients, are where those hard questions are answered.  That makes this book a must-read for newly diagnosed patients, their families and loved ones.  
 
In “Chronicling Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis:  A Collection of Personal Stories,” you’ll hear the voices of real patients and family members as they talk about what worries them, the coping techniques they have tried and the bright spots of beauty they have found in the course of their journey with this disease.  Readers will learn what IPF is and what it is not.  They will find new resources and even some questions to help guide their own thoughts when reflecting on what an IPF diagnosis means to them.

The author is grateful to the FRIENDS of the University of Michigan Hospitals Patient Education Library for their generous support of this book.  Proceeds from this book will be used to improve the patient experience at the University of Michigan Health System.

 

You see them as faceless shapes on the median or in city parks. You recognize them by their cardboard signs, their bags of aluminum cans, or their weathered skin. But you do not know them.

In Nomads of a Desert City Barbara Seyda meets the gazes of our homeless neighbors and, with an open heart and the eye of an accomplished photographer, uncovers their compelling stories of life on the edge.

Byrdy is a teenager from Alaska who left a violent husband and misses the young daughter her mother now cares for. Her eyes show a wisdom that belies her youth. Samuel is 95 and collects cans for cash. His face shows a lifetime of living outside while his eyes hint at the countless stories he could tell. Lamanda worked as an accountant before an act of desperation landed her in prison. Now she struggles to raise the seven children of a woman she met there. Dorothy—whose earliest memories are of physical and sexual abuse—lives in a shelter, paycheck to paycheck, reciting affirmations so she may continue “to grace the world with my presence.”

They live on the streets or in shelters. They are women and men, young and old, Native or Anglo or Black or Hispanic. Their faces reflect the forces that have shaped their lives: alcoholism, poverty, racism, mental illness, and abuse. But like desert survivors, they draw strength from some hidden reservoir.

Few recent studies on homelessness offer such a revealing collection of oral history narratives and compelling portraits. Thirteen homeless women and men open a rare window to enrich our understanding of the complex personal struggles and triumphs of their lives. Nomads of a Desert City sheds a glaring light on the shadow side of the American Dream—and takes us to the crossroads of despair and hope where the human spirit survives.