As a writer with adult ADD, I do not easily subscribe to the term "disabilities." You and I are not disabled, even if we are a bit disheveled, even if we often feel broken, out of sorts, or unable. Rather, we may be what I call hyper-able.
I want this post on mental disability writing—or about writing with intellectual disabilities—to honor these hyper-abilities, to revere these stirrings of restlessness, as much as I want it to provide good, honorable sources and resources for writers with disabilities.
And I hope to come up with a better name or label for those of us who identify with the differences that have us feeling like a vases with no flowers, race cars with no drivers, idiots savant with no savant.
This means an effort which will take a while, as I do my traditional work in between bouts of research and exploration, in between the writing and the living. In other words, this is only part of a lifetime of in-progress work.
Please feel absolutely free to contribute, adding any concerns, comments, or complaints. Well, er, I could do without the latter, but do what you will: these pages or posts are for you. For us. The gifted ones.
And I could use the break from the intensity of hyper-abilities I apply seventeen hours a day, wrapped up in investigating madness and manias or in writing (for a living) with a mad and manic mindfulness that goes on and on and on....
Informal (a.k.a. Aesthetic) Reading List*
AUTISM
Gradin, Temple. Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports from My Life with Autism.
(recommended by the NDCWU**)
CHRONIC DEPRESSION/SUICIDAL NATURE
Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar.
(written about and by a young woman--and stunningly adept creative writer--whom we lost when she successfully committed suicide after numerous attempts)
Wurtzel, Elizabeth. Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America.
(the title says it all, but the writer covers even more--in great, even severe, depth)
CUTTING and SELF-MUTILATION
Greenberg, Joanne. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.
(again the desperate need to feel and/to escape the mind)
Jameson, Kay Redfield. An Unquiet Mind: a Memoir of Moods and Madness.
(an exploration of the insidious highs and trenchant lows that resist treatment and at the same time cry for it, written by a Ph.D. with Manic Depression)
Kettlewell, Caroline. Skin Game: a Memoir.
(revealing discussions and descriptions of what is to be a cutter, one who is compelled to cut herself to gain imperative relief)
GENERAL MENTAL ILLNESS
Kaysen, Susanna. Girl, Interrupted.
(memoir of a young woman institutionalized for mental imbalance, written with a dark humor that is subtle, penetrating, and brilliant)
Milford, Nancy. Zelda. (compelling biography chronicling the life and descent of multi-talented, multi-afflicted Zelda Fitzgerald)
MPD, MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER
Chase, Truddi. When Rabbit Howls.
(powerful rendering of the evolution of a child growing up with MPD, Multiple Personality Disorder)
Schreiber, Flora Rheita. Sybil.
(the definitive MPD story)
OCD, OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER
Sedaris, David. "A Plague of Tics." In Naked.
(utterly hysterical short story told from the point of view of a boy with OCD—who licks light switches to keep his disorder content and counting)
Wilensky, Amy. Passing For Normal: A Memoir of Compulsion.
Handler, Lowell. Twitch and Shout: A Touretter's Tale.**
Morgan, Emma. A Stillness Built of Motion: Living with Tourette's**
Formal (a.k.a. Efferent) Reading Resources
Brown, Dale S.. A Guide to Planning Your Career and Finding a Job for People with Learning Disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Dyslexia.**
Emery, Dr. Kevin Ross. Managing the Gift: Alternative Approaches for Attention Deficit Disorder.
Jameson, Kay Redfield. Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament.
Kelly, Kate, and Peggy Mundo. You Mean I'm Not Stupid, Lazy, or Crazy?!: A Self-help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder.
Nettle, Daniel. Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity, and Human Nature.
Phillips, Deborah, et.al.. Writing Well: Creative Writing and Mental Health.
Traustadottir, Ranveig, and Kelley Johnson. Women with Intellectual Disabilities: Finding a Place in the World.
Weiss, Lynn, Ph.D. ADD and Creativity.
Professional (and Profoundly Helpful) Links
ADD Consults
ADDitude Magazine
Breath and Shadow: A Journal of Disability Culture and Literature
CHADD--Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
DBSA--Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
DPI--Disabled Peoples' International
International Dyslexia Organization
Life with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury)
The Multiple Journals
Multiple Personality and Dissociation Book List
NADC (National Arts and Disability Center)
NCLD--National Center for Learning Disabilities
TD+ --Tourette's Disorder: Information, Support, Hope
Writing Works: for Memory, Healing, and Art's Sake
**NDCWU, National Diversity Committee of the Writers' Union, is a collaborative effort made possible by many who compiled a list of writers' works about disabilities. In my list, where I use a recommendation (that I have not read yet), I mark the entry with **.
*nota bene: The above recommendations are by no means issued by one who is credentialed in psychology, psychotherapy, or in anything related to the profession. These are merely recommended by one who is fascinated by and immersed in the details of mental disability writing...and by one who is, in short, fascinated enough with her owned damned ADD self that she reads anything to do
with mental disorder.
Hope this is enough of a disclaimer that I don't stay awake obsessing on my own self-involved hamster wheel of insanity.
No more than I do already, anyway.
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