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John Robison was not your typical dad. Diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at age forty, he approached fatherhood with joy, playing with his son Cubby in his own way---playing practical jokes and teaching him to drive the family's antique Rolls Royce. John thought Cubby was turning out pretty well until school authorities told him Cubby was dumb and stubborn and John wondered if Cubby had Asperger's too. By the time Cubby was seventeen he had become a brilliant and curious chemist---smart enough to make military-grade explosives and bring Federal agents calling. Cubby was facing a felony trial and up to sixty years in prison. Both father and son were forced to take stock in their lives, finally accepting that being "on the spectrum" is both a challenge and a unique gift.

Profiles the life and achievements of cosmologist Stephen William Hawking, one of the world's greatest science writers, whose notable accomplishments were achieved in spite of disabilities caused by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Rachel Kalama, forcibly removed from her idyllic Honolulu home in the 1890s when it is discovered she has leprosy, grows up in the isolated leper colony on the island of Moloka'i where she forms a family of friends, and meets the man who will one day become her husband.

The Native American author looks back upon his short time with Awee, the eleven-year-old boy with AIDS he took into his home on the Navajo reservation and cared for until his death.

Quinn Bradlee, son of "Washington Post" editor Ben Bradlee and columnist and author Sally Quinn, reveals the challenges and triumphs he experienced growing up with a learning disability, telling of his struggles before being diagnosed at age fourteen with Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome, and discussing his development of an interactive Website for the learning disabled community.

A first-hand account of a woman's experience with autism focusing on her lonely childhood, education, work with animal husbandry, and a professorship in animal science at a major university.

News anchor, Robin Roberts, discusses her challenges with breast cancer as well as her bone marrow transplant.

"Just twenty-two years old, Su Meck was already married and the mother of two children in 1988 when a ceiling fan in the kitchen of her home fell from its mounting and struck her in the head. She survived the life-threatening swelling in her brain that resulted from the accident, but when she regained consciousness in the hospital the next day, she didn't know her own name"--Provided by publisher.

A father tells of his daughter, born with cystic fibrosis.

A biography of the comedienne describing her career, her time as part of the original cast of "Saturday Night Live," and her battle with cancer.