Head Above Water

Shahd Alshammari has Multiple Sclerosis and is a Kuwaiti-Palestinian author and academic. After gaining her PhD in the UK, she became an Assistant Professor of Literature in Kuwait. Her research interests focus on women with mental illness in literature. Alshammari is especially interested in the concept of hybridity, having been born to a Bedouin father and a Palestinian mother. She is also interested in Disability Studies and the correlation of disability studies with identity in the Arab world, having been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 18.

“Head Above Water... reflects on what it's like to live with a disability, to experience pain on an almost daily basis but fail to translate it to others, not for lack trying but if you don't live the experience, you will never fully understand it. Whether you have MS, or any other type of disability or chronic pain I think for many this book will strike a chord with you.” —Raya Aljadir, Disability Activist and writer @accessless