Miracle Boy Grows Up: How the Disability Rights Revolution Saved My Sanity
"Mattlin is candid about his challenges (e.g., finding a job, hiring attendants) but he isn't looking for pity, just understanding. ... Those who do pick up this memoir will find a unique perspective that compares with Harriet McBryde Johnson'sToo Late to Die Young." --Library Journal"Quite delicious ... Mattlin's timing is perfect, never over-analyzing or dwelling too long on any one subject. ...  A compelling writer... poetic without being sentimental."- Roxanne Furlong, New Mobility magazine, January 2013"Born with a severe neuromuscular condition, writer and NPR commentator Mattlin pens the story of his life so far... While most people with this illness are unlikely to live to adulthood, Mattlin's story is filled with details of how he managed to beat the odds."-Kirkus Reviews"An insightful, poignant, light-hearted and often hilarious memoir ... Mattlin's resilience, his curiosity, and his steadfast refusal to see himself as a victim are inspiring; his prose is deft, wry and self-aware. Like many of the best memoirs, this one brings you inside a beautiful mind." - Jay McInerney"Ben Mattlin could be called many things: Iconoclast, sidesplitting, and wise, among them.  TnMiracle Boy Grows Up, Mattlin demonstrates perhaps his greatest skill--as a master storyteller." - Lawrence Carter-Long, National Council on Disability"Mattlin tells the fascinating twin stories of his own life and the history of the disability rights movement. ... Deeply intelligent, utterly honest, funny, irritable, raunchy, companionable ... it is a love story, the story of a son, a father, and writer. This book is a pleasure." - Elizabeth McCracken"InMiracle Boy Grows Up, Ben Mattlin spins the limitations of his genetic disease into literary gold. He tells his story with grace and candor, each beautifully crafted sentence illuminating not only his rich inner life but also the complex history of the disability-rights movement." -Hamilton Cain, Author ofThis Boy's Faith"Fantastic! Funny ... interesting ... beautifully done!"- Jolie Mason, "Access Unlimited," KPFK radio, March 13, 2013