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Audio

• Mommy Is a Mermaid -- The only song we've ever heard about having a mom with a disability, told from the child's perspective. From the CD titled, "Still Standing," performed by Helen Hayes Award Nominee Anita Hollander. "Still Standing" is an amusing and touching musical performance about life on one leg. You can purchase the CD from Anazon.com or from a variety of other sources. Though this one song is great to share with your kids, parents should note that the CD cannot be classified as "Children's Music."

Books

• The Welner Guide to Medical Care of Women with Disabilities - The legacy of Dr. Sandra L. Welner, MD, continues with this comprehensive medical guidebook. This book is priced and written for a medical audience, but for women with disabilities who have the means to have this book in their collection or who can share this information with their medical providers, it is an important work.

Reproductive Health and Sexuality

• Enabling Romance - THIS BOOK IS NOW BACK IN PRINT!! To help you get pregnant (or just have some fun!). A book on love, sex and relationships for people with disabilities and the people who love them, by Ken Kroll and Erica Levy Klein. We've given copies to many of our friends as wedding gifts. The paperback version of ENABLING ROMANCE is now available from Woodbine Publishing at (800) 843-7323, or from local bookstores. We've sometimes been able to find it on the shelves in bookstores (though they're not always sure how to categorize such a book), but you may have to special-order it. For a good time, see page 56!

• Women With Physical Disabilities : Achieving and Maintaining Health and Well-Being - This collection of articles contains chapters on women's health, sexuality, pregnancy, childbirth, parenting, physical fitness, managing bladder and bowel function and other important topics related to the well-being of women with disabilities. An excellent resource for women with disabilities and memebers of the medical community as well.

• Toward Intimacy : Family Planning and Sexuality Concerns of Physically Disabled Women (Not Yet Reivewed.)

• Reproductive Issues for Persons With Physical Disabilities (Not Yet Reviewed.) Brookes Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore MD, 1993.
  

• Sexual Function in People With Disability and Chronic Illness : A Health Professional's Guide Marca L. Sipski and Craig Alexander, Aspen Publications, Gaithersburg, MD.

Pregnancy and Childbirth

• Mother to Be: A Guide to Pregnancy and Birth for Women with Disabilities by Judi Rogers and Molleen Matsumura. The title just about sums it up! Available through the Special Needs Project, Good Books About Disability, 3463 State Street - Suite 282, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105, USA. Phone in your orders to 1-800-333-6867, FAX to 805-683-2341, or send an e-mail to snpbooks@eworld.com

• Multiple Sclerosis and Having a Baby: Everything You Need to Know about Conception, Pregnancy, and Parenthood by Judy Graham. Excellent book! Contains topics such as pregnancy related issues, and fatigue management for new parents.

Mukti Jain Campion

• The Baby Challenge : A Handbook on Pregnancy for Women With a Physical Disability by Mukti Jain Campion. It appears that this book is now available again, in paperback form. If you can get one, it's definitely worth the read.

Adoption

• You May Be Able to Adopt! A Guide to the Adoption Option for Prospective Mothers with Disabilities and Their Partners by Megan Kirshbaum, et. al. and Linda Toms Baker, et. al. This is an excellent guidebook for people with disabilities who are considering adoption as a means of building a family. This is an excellent supplement to other publications about adoption, because it deals specifically with issues that prospective parents with disabilities may face. For more information about this publication, visit the Through the Looking Glass web site or give them a call at 1-800-644-2666.

Parenting

• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk This book is not specific to Parents with Disabilities, but for many of us with mobility limitations, talking is the best skill we've got when it comes to parenting our children. This book helps us to use words effectively to get the results we want! A must read for any parent, disabled or not.

• Happy Ever Afters: A Storybook Guide to Teaching Children About Disability by Kathy Saunders. This book rates and reviews other children's stories that highlight disability. (Not Yet Reviewed.)

• The Parenting Book for Persons with a Disability (from planning your family to raising adolescents) -- Published by the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto, Inc. You can get more info on the book here: Parenting with a Disability Network Centre for Independent Living in Toronto (CILT), Inc. 205 Richmond Street West, Suite 605 Toronto, Ontario M5V 1V3 Tel: (416) 599-2458, Ext. 26 Fax: (416) 599-3555 E-mail: pdn@cilt.cnd.com. The cost is $20 Canadian, $25 US, or $30 International, including shipping. The book contains lots of helpful resources that would help any person with a disability who is planning to become a parent or who is already a parent. Contains mostly Canadian resources, but also includes information outside Canada, and is appropriate for an international audience.

• Adaptive Baby Care Equipment: Guidelines, Prototypes & Resources by Kris Vensand, Judith Rogers, Christi Tuleja, Anitra DeMoss. This latest publication from Through the Looking Glass highlights TLG's most recent research and development of adaptive baby care equipment. 86 pages (with photos). Cost: $30 ($15 low-income rate). To request an order form for this and other TLG publications, call 1-800-644-2666 (voice), 1-800-804-1616 (TTY), or (510) 848-1112 (local to San Francisco Bay Area/International/voice).

• Adaptive Parenting Aids Idea Book One also from Through the Looking Glass. Their first guidebook on creating adaptive parenting aids; has good ideas for lifting and transporting a child, play, feeding, and a lot of other tasks.

Biographies/Anthologies

• Bigger Than the Sky: Disabled Women on Parenting Michele Wates and Rowen Jade, editors. This anthology by disabled women, for disabled women, explores the myriad of emotions, hopes, dreams, and struggles of becoming a parent. The book features essays, prose and poetry from women all around the world who have a wide variety of stories to tell. A must-read!

• The Question of David by Denise Sherer Jacobson. This is the story of Denise's own journey to motherhood, through adoption. It is an open, honest look at life when both partners have a disability, and is a must-read for anyone considering parenthood.

Michele Wates and Trish Day Meet at the First International Conference on Parenting with a Disability, Oakland, CA, 1997. Michele's daughter, Anna, is at the left.

• Disabled Parents : Dispelling the Myths (National Childbirth Trust Guide)-- This is one of the best books we've ever read on the subject of Parents with Disabilities. Michele Wates presents the information in a balanced way that shows the positive and some-time problems associated with parenting, including the voices of disabled parents themselves. Note: This book is newly published, and available in the UK. We've included the Amazon.com link for easy ordering through the Internet, but we suspect that there are other ways to get this book that are faster and more economical. We'll add alternative buying information when it becomes available.

• Mother Father Deaf : Living Between Sound and Silence by Paul Preston of Through the Looking Glass. Paul explores the issues of growing up with Deaf parents, told through the anecdotes of the many individuals he interviewed. The author also gives us a glimpse into his own life as the child of Deaf parents.

• 'What Happened to You?' : Writing by Disabled Women This is a British book by Lois Pike, the editor of the earlier "Mustn't Grumble". It is an anthology of writing by women with disabilities. Their experience runs the gamut from mainstream busy lives as parents to frustrated isolation. There's a lot of eloquence here, plenty of humor, and the chance for Americans to see a slice of life from the perspective of those living with a disability in another country. (Reviewed by Mary.)

• Parenting and Disability

Children's Stories

• Special Parents, Special Children by Joanne E. Bernstein and Bryna J. Fireside. This book is geared toward 9 to 12-year-old kids. The photos are a bit old, and some of the attitudes a bit outdated (the copyright says 1991, but it "feels" early '80s), but overall, not too bad.

• Mama Zooms by Jane Cowen-Fletcher. This is a touching story written at the preschool level about a little boy who has many adventures in his mother's magic zooming machine, her wheelchair. You can also contact the publisher, Scholastic, Inc., 730 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 (USA); orders can be placed by calling 1-800-724-6527. While you're at it, tell them it's time for a second printing of the hardback!

• Mom Can't See Me (Not Yet Reviewed.)

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Last Update: August 14, 2004