Wisdom from a Chair

Twelve years after his death, the family of Andrew (Drew) I. Batavia discovered his unfinished memoirs, with instructions for his wife or brother to complete them. In these memoirs, Drew shares the wisdom he acquired while living with a high-level spinal cord injury in a wheelchair, describing a person transformed from a quiet, conforming teenager to a Don Quixote of the disability community. But this is not just the story of a remarkable person who fought for the civil rights of people with disabilities. His memoirs hold a universal message about our human capacity to achieve the extraordinary, the enormous capability to survive, flourish, and succeed in the world, if we can fully exploit what we already possess within ourselves. Conceivably, each one of us can emerge as a Don Quixote. Drew’s memoirs are published during the twenty-fifth anniversary year of the Americans with Disabilities Act.