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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 2, 2008
DisabilityLand
New book by noted educator and advocate explores the intimacy, nonsense, and everyday adventures of disability
New York — This spring, SelectBooks has teamed with award-winning educator and author Dr. Alan Brightman to create DisabilityLand, a groundbreaking volume that examines the landscape of disability from new, intimate and unusual viewpoints.
Dr. Brightman has devoted more than three decades to working with children and adults with disabilities. Among a host of accomplishments, Brightman was the Founder of Apple Computer’s Worldwide Disability Solutions Group which he ran for 14 years and, more recently, the Founder of Yahoo’s Special Communities Division. He was also the executive producer of PULSE: The Rhythm of Life, a musical based on the website he created with Apple for seriously ill children, as well as the PBS series Feeling Free, which introduced young children to their disabled peers.
In DisabilityLand, Brightman provides a tour through the landscape of disability where common and not-so-common sense co-exist and where people are seen for who they are rather than how they are stereotypically—and often pathetically—portrayed.
“In DisabilityLand,” Brightman explains, “kids and adults with disabilities live with, bump into, and wonder about people who’ve typically had little experience with others very different from themselves.” He adds, “I’ve been privileged to be involved in these interactions for many years. I’ve laughed at some, cried at others and was frankly flabbergasted by still others. Put disabled people together with non-disabled people, and all too often the unexpected happens together with the insightful.”
To help the stories come alive, 3 design considerations were followed. First, the stories are short (some as short as a few sentences) to make them easy and inviting for all readers. Second they are formatted in visually compelling ways that allow the reader to enter the book anywhere and be immediately engaged. And third, DisabilityLand is punctuated throughout by colorful art created by disabled adults and children at NIAD — the National Institute of Art and Disabilities.
DisabilityLand does not care about being politically correct. It doesn’t rely on euphemisms or platitudes. Rather, in stunningly frank language it conveys the experiences of disability in a candid and unprecedented way.
Contact- Kenichi Sugihara
Phone (212) 206-1997
Fax (212) 206-3815
kenichi@selectbooks.com
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