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Family & Relationships Children With Special Needs

The Four Walls of My Freedom

Lessons I've Learned from a Life of Caregiving

by (author) Donna Thomson

introduction by John Ralston Saul

Publisher
House of Anansi Press Inc
Initial publish date
Jan 2014
Category
Children with Special Needs
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781552789865
    Publish Date
    Oct 2012
    List Price
    $20.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781552788905
    Publish Date
    Sep 2010
    List Price
    $29.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781770894792
    Publish Date
    Jan 2014
    List Price
    $19.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781552788868
    Publish Date
    Oct 2010
    List Price
    $14.99

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Description

A riveting and redemptive family memoir, The Four Walls of My Freedom is Donna Thomson’s account of raising a son with cerebral palsy and a passionate appeal to change the way we think about “the good life.”

Donna Thomson’s life was forever changed when her son Nicholas was born with cerebral palsy. A former actor, director, and teacher, Donna became his primary caregiver and embarked on a second career as a disability activist, author, and consultant.

Thomson vividly describes her experience in treading delicately through daily care, emergencies, and medical bureaucracy as she and her family cope with her son’s condition while maintaining value and dignity (for Nicholas, too). She brilliantly demonstrates the vital contribution that people with disabilities make to our society and addresses the ethics and economics of giving and receiving care.

Featuring an introduction by John Ralston Saul, and two new chapters, The Four Walls of My Freedom is a passionate appeal to change to the way we think about the “good life” that will touch anyone caring for the life of another.

About the authors

Donna Thomson began her career as an actor, director, and teacher. But in 1988, when her son Nicholas was born with severe disabilities, Donna embarked on her second career as a disability activist, author, and consultant. She is married to James Wright, the former High Commissioner for Canada in the UK. Their previous postings have been in London, Washington, DC, and Moscow. Jim and Donna have two children and live in Ottawa, Canada.

Donna Thomson's profile page

John Ralston Saul is one of Canada’s leading social and political commentators. He is the author of numerous books on philosophy and contemporary politics, including Voltaire’s Bastards, Reflections Of A Siamese Twin, and most recently The Collapse of Globalism. Saul was the Massey lecturer in 1995, and won the 1996 Governor General’s Award for nonfiction for The Unconscious Civilization, based on those lectures. He is the former president of PEN Canada and the creator of the acclaimed LaFontaine Baldwin Lecture series. A regular speaker and panelist across Canada and internationally, John Ralston Saul currently lives in Toronto.

John Ralston Saul's profile page