The book is about a family that raises a disabled child named Oscar. Granted, this book meant slightly more to me because for a brief time in high school I dated Oscar's brother, Alex, but this book can and will touch anyone who reads it.
Have you given to charity this month? Go to Amazon.com right now and by a new copy of Disabled Fables. It's the least you can do.
The book is funny. Granted, I am a sucker for a good pun, but the book is seriously laugh out loud funny. And sweet. I may be PMSing but that does not at all diminish the fact that tears came to my eyes while reading this book.
My uncle is mentally handicapped. You may not know that because it didn't affect my life much. My uncle was put in a home before I was even born. I thought that he had been in a home since he was born. That is not true, he lived with my father's family for many years. My Uncle Tommy, unfortunately, hates being around a lot of people. He is the middle child in a family of 15 children. Being around a lot of people was sort of unavoidable. As he got older it got to be too much for him and they decided for his safety that he would be better off in a home.
I've never even met him. He doesn't like new people.
But Oscar still lives at home. Wreaking havoc and winning hearts all at the same time.
It is so interesting to read a book about your friend's life while they were growing up. When I was dating Alex, I knew that he had a disabled brother. When we were talking on the phone my freshman year of high school ("Hey, whatcha doing?") I knew that he was making his brother peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the kitchen but I never thought much of it. I also knew that he often had to call me back later because right then he had to go search for Oscar who had taken off again.
I'm pretty glad that my parents haven't written a tell all book describing all the details of my pre-pubescent life.
But this book is very special and highlights the remarkable sacrifices that a family has to make when they have a child with disabilities. Yet at the same time it highlights the funnier side of it.
On a side note, I was talking about this book with a client of mine who happened to have a brother with Downs Syndrome. She laughingly said, "Yeah, when I was growing up, I thought every family had a child with disabilities."
This was because growing up her family not only belonged to, but started many support groups for parents with a child with disabilities. While the parents were at the meetings all the children were just thrown together. My client was even sent to the same summer camp as her brother. A camp for children with disabilities. All the children looked at her funny, because she was the weird one.
I know that in this brief blog I haven't really captured what was so great about this book, but trust me, you should go out and buy it. Come on, have I ever led you wrong in the past?
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