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Information on many genetic disorders, and the frequent new findings on them, has been extremely difficult to come by—until now. The “Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders” addresses the need for current, hard-to-find facts on emerging discoveries. The two-volume Encyclopedia, presented in a single alphabetical sequence, provides clear, complete information on genetic disorders, including conditions, tests, procedures, treatments and therapies, in articles that are both comprehensive and easy to understand, in language accessible to laypersons. The articles are arranged in a standardized format for quick comparison and ease of use, while non-disorder topics are covered in detail with extended entries. Students will want to consult the “Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders” for useful information on a range of well known disorders, including Down Syndrome, Trisomy, Hemophilia and Tourette Syndrome, and rarely seen diseases such as Meckel Syndrome, Neuraminidase Deficiency and Phenylketonuria.

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Goals in Sight in reality is the love story of John G. Hodson, Sr. Love of a man for God, Country and life. It's about his pride of family and his many achievements throughout a very full and rewarding existence despite overwhelming odds. He took the dis out of disability. His "I can do" encouraged others to follow his physiology in "I CAN IF I TRY". In Goals in Sight we follow the life of John G, Hodson, Sr., the founder, one-time president and chairman of the board for the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. To accomplish as much as he did in his lifetime, despite his blindness is encouragement for all, disabled or not. His ingenuity and blind faith would lead him through the company of presidents, politicians, sports personalities, media and Hollywood icons plus the medical profession. His dealings lead him down the road to many interesting, strange and humorous adventures. He collected many awards in his lifetime but his biggest award was the thanks that he received from the people he helped - and of these there were many. Goals in Sight is a must read – not only for the disabled but for those who want to accomplish but are afraid to try. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

If you have MS.. this is a MUST READ!
This book is full of inspiration and hope. What an amazing story. The MSAA does amazing things for people with Multiple Sclerosis. I have given this as gifts because it is invaluable information all MS sufferers need to know. ... Read more

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Tracy Shepard is in the business of alternative dispute resolution – a fancy name for mediation. She is an expert in the art of negotiation, highly compensated by parties from all over the world – Fortune 500 companies, celebrities, wealthy families – locked in disagreement, burning cash on futile litigation, seeking another way out. Dubbed the “Medea of Mediation” for her drive and ambition, Tracy offers to help the owners of a small pharmaceutical lab resolve a difference between them that is holding up progress on a breakthrough drug. She is compelled to help the owners of the lab – identical twins named Fischer and Fletcher Cuttbate – because their drug is meant to cure an insidious eye disease that afflicts tens of thousands of people, including her father.

Shortly after meeting them, Tracy becomes attracted to each Cuttbate brother for different reasons: Fischer for his gallantry and business acumen, Fletcher for his artistry and vulnerability. However, in the course of her mediation efforts she discovers disturbing evidence of fraud, and soon she finds that nothing is as it seems.

Double Blind Test is a story of deceit, connivance, despair and lex talionis which addresses the centuries-old question: What are the chances that two different men have the same tattoo . . . on their balls?
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Customer Reviews (2)

Fascinating and unusual.
A very interesting mix of an old-fashioned con game in the modern setting of business and venture capital.As in his other books, Schultz weaves in a collection of oddballs and low-lifes to make his story stand out from tamer tales.

Double Blind Test - Appearance vs. Reality
Another twisting and twisted masterpiece story from the author, Mr. Herb Schultz.This one will have you alternating between guessing and evolving conclusions, just like the main character, Tracy.You think you know where Tracy and the author are going, but you are never quit right and always interestingly surprised and entertained.The interweaving of the main character, Tracy, with her father and the "Twins" along with connections to family and business interests being separate yet equal, is fascinating and extremely well told. It is hard to predict or root for winners or losers in this fine work, but one thing for sure is that the reader wins throughout the fine read.

You won't be able to put this one down until the next question is answered....and there is always another question to be answered.Whether you have uniquely placed Tatoos or not, you will never experience more creative ink. !!! ... Read more

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University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City. Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Retinal Degenerations, held November 4-9, 1994, Jerusalem, Israel. Advanced clinical research, for ophthalmologists. Multiple international contributors. DNLM: Retinal Degeneration congresses. ... Read more

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Memoir and meditation on blindness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Clear, deep, and poignant
An exceptional read. Faulkner's clean and crisp prose is poignant and direct. She manages to convey the incredible depth of her experience with her father's blindness and pursue meaningful reflections about blindness amidst her own condition. At the same time, Faulkner manages to avoid the linguistic ambiguity that arises too often when writers pursue such depth.

Going Blind is a quick and worthwhile read. It takes you on a journey through Faulkner's early life in an Irish immigrant family to her current work as an English professor and religious sister. It will bring you to serious reflections about life - reflections that will push you to broaden your understanding of the many forms of blindness in our society - while keeping you engaged in her story the whole time.

A privilege
Our book club has been reading Mara Faulkner's memoir and have had many lively discussions.Yesterday we had the privilege of meeting Mara and found her to be delightful. She recalled her childhood for us and gave all of us an insight into her life.We discussed the many ways most of us are blind. Blind to the plight of many poor people, blind to all the injustice in the world, blind to the prejudice many of us feel but are unaware of our predjudical ideas.We look askance at people who are different than we are or who we think are different.To quote my friend Carol," sometimes we need to be blind to see."It is a wonderful book and teaches as well as tells a story. It was a very eventful day and again it was a privilege to meet Mara and her friends.

memoir with a new dimension
This book is truly a memoir, and actually adds a new dimension to the genre.As Mara Faulkner set about the task of understanding her father's (mostly unacknowledged) blindness--she has the gene, so it will eventually happen to her too--she came to see that memory is not just what is stored in our heads but is also the blank places, and these need filling in.Her father was Irish, and a law-breaker and rule-defier.She didn't know why, until she began studying the subterranean psychological fallout of the Irish Potato Famine of the mid-19th century.She grew up in Mandan, North Dakota, with American Indians in the neighborhood, but had little idea of their life, so drastically uprooted by the Garrison Dam, until she started investigating it and learned how sheltered she had been.In these and many other ways Mara Faulkner demonstrates that research is not a distraction or a frill in memoir, but of its very substance.At no point in Going Blind did I sense that history was beside the point.

Besides being a marvel of narrative structure, the book has some of the most fluent writing I have come across in a long time.I would give a lot to have written two sentences like these Mara wrote about her mother: "How was an uprooted Minnesota woman, used to lush, rainy summers and rich soil, supposed to feed her family when the garden was regularly drowned out, dried out, hailed out, or frozen out?How was she to grow flowers, keep the house clean, keep her mind intact when the wind never stopped blowing?"There's a haiku-like compression here: a full-length portrait in a few syllables.

You'll think about "blind" differently after you read this book.Mara rings changes on its meanings, both literal and figurative--blind faith, blind prejudice, blind spot, blinders, turning a blind eye, and then the upending, "to blind is to dazzle."She doesn't tell you what it all means; she has too much respect for her readers for that.She brings us along on the adventure of remembering, and we find ourselves doing our own.
... Read more

Product Description
At eighteen this rebel street kid found herself in Federal prison for stealing a car. When a new program gave her the chance for an outside day job while still in prison, she took it...along with the opportunity for clandestine lovemaking in a cheap hotel with fellow prisoner.

She was caught, stripped of her privileges. She also was pregnant. That brought a parole and a devastating betrayal—the price of her freedom was giving up her unborn child for adoption.

Out of prison, she plunged into the heady world of radical antiwar politics, playing and partying through the wild world of the late sixties in San Francisco.

Until recurring headaches drove her to seek medical help. "Sorry, we can't find any tumors," they said. "However, you are going blind. Oh yes, it's incurable, irreversible, and hereditary." She was twenty-three.

She bore a second child, a son. He would probably go blind, too. That made her mad and changed her life. No, by God, he wouldn't go blind!

This is the true story of Grace Halloran, a survivor, a person who gets things done against all odds. She tells how she, a blind mother, raised her son. She recounts the step-by-step process of intuition and serendipity that led to her developing unorthodox therapies which finally reversed her irreversible disease and reversed it in others, as well! What? The official scientific/medical commuity was incensed. How dare she!

She tells about her growing reputation. She gave classes. People from all over the world came to her, and she went all over the world. Her stories of helping people to see again are poignant. One thing is clear: she loves these people. She cares, and passionately.

But when she founded the Center for Eye Health Education in northern California, that was too much for the scientific/medical community. Who did this woman think she was? Reversing the irreversible! Political pressure led to the cancellation of the $100,000 grant from the State of California. The Center folded. But Grace didn't.

Amazing Grace is the powerful story of one woman's courage and fierce determination to save her son and herself from blindness. Full of fun and gritty reality, it is an inspiring account of what determination in the face of overwhelming odds can do. It is also a story of personal triumph over helter-skelter beginnings, even to the final pages, when Grace discovers what happened to the daughter who was wrested from her and put up for adoption over twenty years before. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An inspiration for anyone stuggling with a visual impairment
Grace tell her life story with a lot of spirit and inspiration.From a turbulent adolescence where she served time in Federal prison to where she is now, Co-director of Maximum Eyes an Institute of Visual Healing. Dr. Halloran eloquently tells of her struggle with retinitus pigmentosa for herself as well as her fears for her son.Anyone with a visual impairment will be able to relate to her pains, her joys and be inspired

It started me on a program of visual recovery.
In September 1995, I was diagnosed with cone-rod dystrophy, a degenerative condition of the retina.Two independent retinal specialists diagnosed me with this condition.Both specialists told me that the disease typically leads to legal blindness over time and that there was no treatment for the disease.

Fortunately, on the day the doctor called me with the diagnosis, I found the book, Amazing Grace - Autobiography of a Survivor, at the Chicago Public Library.I was immediately intrigued by the idea that something could be done, and that people had gotten results.After contacting Grace, I attended a one-week therapy session, and experienced improvement in my eyesight in only one week of therapy.

I am haunted by the thought of how many people walk out of the doctor's office each day with the same diagnosis and same feeling of helplessness that I once felt.I was lucky to have found Grace's book, Amazing Grace - Autobiography of a Survivor, and to have recovered a great deal of my eyesight as a result of her work.For those who have not been so lucky, I hope that her book and work finds its way into their lives.Please feel free to share this letter with other people who are interested in her work.I would also be pleased speak to people and share my experience with them.Grace has become a great friend, and I will always be thankful for what she has meant to my life.

Incidentally, as I am finishing this letter, I just walked outside and looked at the stars in the sky.I looked directly at them and could see them just fine.

Eric Lickteig / Chicag ... Read more

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On his eighteenth birthday, Ryan Knighton was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a congenital disease that would eventually leave him blind. In this penetrating, nervy memoir, Knighton tells his story of going blind and growing up, while incidentally revealing the sighted world in all its peculiarity.

Knighton learns to drive while unseeing, navigates the punk rock scene (where banging into things is acceptable), and enters into his first significant relationship--with a deaf woman, naturally. While stumbling literally and emotionally into darkness, into love, and into adulthood, he enters into a truce, if not acceptance, of his identity as a blind man.

Cockeyed is not a conventional confessional. Ricocheting between meditation and black comedy, Knighton is irreverent in words and impatient with the preciousness we've come to expect from books ondisability. Readers will find it hard to put down this wild ride around their everyday world with a wicked smart, blind guide at the wheel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Don't need no eyesight while moshing
The subject of my latest book cuts close to home: Cockeyed: a memoir is Ryan Knighton's own story about his gradual loss of vision by retinitis pigmentosa. On a personal note, in 1988 I lost the central vision in my left eye by toxoplasmosis, a diagnosis I still don't understand yet eye specialist after specialist told me the same thing. Twenty-two years ago I was given the dreadful news that I might lose all the sight in my left eye. Since then I have lived my life by the eye doctor's adage "Never take your eyesight for granted". I have also developed a sensitivity towards and activism on behalf of the blind and visually impaired. It was after conducting some on-line research that I discovered Cockeyed.

Knighton received the diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease, on his eighteenth birthday. His memoir, which is laugh-out-loud funny in places, tells the story of his voyage into darkness.

As a mosh-pit dancing punk his limited sight didn't matter; he discovered with pleasure that he didn't even need eyesight while flailing himself into people in dark clubs. Knighton even managed to teach English in South Korea, only to find that the faculty and his students didn't even notice he had very low vision.

Funniest of all was his tale of going to adult "blind camp" with thirty others on an island in western British Columbia. I quote the following passage:

> I expected, of all places in the world, this would be the one where sighted habits were dropped. They weren't. People sat around the breakfast tables and spoke to one another without identifying themselves or whom they meant to address. Cheryl might have asked something like, "Are you going to glue macaroni owls at the crafts table this afternoon?" Everybody would carry on chewing until somebody said the obligatory, "Are you talking to me?" All six dining tables sounded like a rehearsal from Taxi Driver. You talking to me? You talking to me? ...
> Likewise, you'd think of all places in the world, this one would have been gesture-free. Nope. Everybody, me included, carried on flagging and pointing, and as you'd expect, none of us followed. We were so used to living with sighted people that we couldn't even be blind with one another.

I had never read an account of a person's loss of sight before. Knighton never gets mad at God or goes on a destructive rampage, however his three car accidents while he had failing eyesight, before he got the RP diagnosis, come close. The one part in the book that will stop your heart and make you cry is how he found out about his younger brother's suicide. It was written with such vivid detail, I felt as though I were in the same room when he got the news.

Knighton did not write about learning Braille, so I am making the conclusion he can still read the printed word, albeit with 1% vision. He did write about learning how to use the white cane, or the "stick", as he calls it. Cockeyed was mostly a fun read, in spite of the subject matter. Near the end of the book Knighton waxes philosophical and seems genuinely at peace with his eventual total blindness.

IN THE WORLD OF THE BLIND, THE ONE-EYED MAN IS KING...
This is an engaging memoir of an intelligent, articulate man who happens to be blind. As a teenager, the author developed the degenerative eye disease, retinitis pigmentosa, which slowly robbed him of his sight. He was about fourteen or so, when a portent of what lay in store for him visually began making itself manifest. He ignored the signs of his increasing visual challenges and even learned to drive a car, which he drove until it became clear that he was a danger on the road to himself and others.Some time would go by before he and his family would know what lay behind the author's seeming inability to see what was in front of him. When he discovered the reason, he would remain in denial for some time, stumbling about in a sighted world without the sight he needed to do so safely.

Eventually overcoming his reluctance to admit that, yes, he was going blind, he decided to adopt the use of a cane rather than a guide dog. With stick in hand, hemoves about the world in a way that most of us would rather not. Yet, for all that he is blind, he sees the world around him in ways in which many sighted people fail to do. His observations are witty, funny, and irreverent, as he takes measure ofhis life and some of the indignities that blindness has imposed upon him. The author takes the reader on an unsentimental journey through his descent into blindness, only for the reader to discover just how interesting that journey is. The reader comes away thinking of the author not as a blind man but, rather, as a man who happens to be blind.

GREAT MEMOIR!!
Knighton did a fantastic job taking you into his journey of losing his sight.There were times when I felt terrible for him, but then there were also times when I laughed out loud!!There were scenes that did seem to drag on at times, but overall, a wonderful read.I will be looking for his next book!

His wit and humor match his writing talent
Of course this book is inspirational, but to view this memoir as another tale of overcoming obstacles is selling it short.If you take away the subject matter, and judge the writing itself--you'll find an extraordinarily well-written, incredibly witty, and extremely funny book from a writer that has a gift for story telling. Ryan Knighton's intelligence leaps off the page and engages the reader in thought-provoking discussions.He managed to make me laugh out loud as well as cry, and to effectively do both is no easy task.His introspection and fresh, intelligent take on blindness and its effect on his life (and those around him) is insightful and profound.I look forward to reading his next book, regardless of the topic, because I so enjoyed his writing style. His students are learning from a master.

I see where he's coming from
I really did love this book and here's why: It's got life, depth, sparkle, sensitivity, honesty, humor, and the ability to educate me on the interesting life he's led. I laughed when Ryan was talking about how people shouldn't worry so much about the "sighted words" in language. He's got a way with words, which includes making the reader FEEL (and yes, SEE) things, not just read them. Ryan's imagery is colorful and clear, from the beginning when he's working his first summer job and itching to drive the forklift, to the end when he's trying to remember details of a favorite photograph. In between, we learn what it was like for Ryan to drive a car (briefly), date, study, use a walking stick (and adjust to it), teach, get robbed (almost), and deal with his going blind during it all - it's quite a read I'd recommend. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1972 Larry C. Colbert's life changed suddenly and dramatically when he was diagnosed with retinitus pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease, and learned he would soon be blind.But, as Larry's eyesight gradually faded, his insight deepened.In this, his first book, Colbert shares the poignant story of his deep personal struggle with blindness, and the fear that kept him from embracing change.With remarkably frank dialog, and powerful and humorous examples, Insights reveals Colbert's intimate 30-year process of coming to "see" self, and provides practical and meaningful help for learning to cope with change, as well as managing the ideas, emotions, and attitudes that affect us all. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great book to jumpstart your self-help
You don't need to be blind to benefit from the insights provided in this great "little" book (only 111 pages!) It is clearly written, easy to understand, and perfect for all ages. The author is a great public speaker, and now, an equally great writer!

A few years ago I heard him speak at a conference, and was inspired to get out of my rut and begin living the life of my dreams...without the self-imposed limitations and negative and defeating "self-talk" that I was not even aware I was doing...and it was easy! I always wished his stories were available in a book that I could tuck into my bag and read in snips and starts during my day. Well, this is that book!In Insights, Colbert cuts right to the truth of why we struggle with constant change, and explains in everyday, nonthreatening words how our attitudes, emotions, and ideas keep us from experiencing life to the fullest.

Insights contains a dozen funny and inspriational short stories, all set within the very personal story of a blind man learning to "see" his life. Every page...and just about every paragraph contains something meaningful, motivational, and thought-provoking, but this is not just another "how to feel good" or "pump-you-up" self-help guide. This is a "real life" story of a "real life" person, just like you and me, and will help you think about your life and the simple choices you make everyday...and begin making decisions and choices that bring the happiness and joy you deserve.

There's a BIG message in this wonderfully put together "little" book, which you're sure to turn to again and again for a little comic relief, a gentle kick in the right direction, or a good dose of "get over yourself." I recommend it for everyone, no matter where you are on the journey of self-discovery, but especially for people, young and old alike, who are struggling with a sudden and dramatic challenge or change in their life, and those who need a little inspirational "jump start" out of one of life's many little ruts. ... Read more

Product Description
Virginia Jacko was a highly successful senior financial executive at Purdue University when she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa-in her case, she would go completely blind. The Blind Visionary tells Virginia's true, inspiring journey-from having to start over in life as a vocational rehabilitation student at the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired to becoming the Lighthouse's president and CEO just four years later. One of only a handful of blind chief executives in the country, Virginia became an outstanding chief executive, doubling the Lighthouse's revenues and dramatically diversifying its program offerings. The coauthors discuss in the closing chapter four practical lessons, drawn from Virginia's odyssey, that will help readers find the courage to take action, create positive change, and live fully in the face of whatever challenges might come their way. This amazing success story will inspire you to overcome obstacles on your way to building a more satisfying personal and professional life. ... Read more