I just came across an article about Ruth Silver, author of the new memoir “Invisible: My Journey through Vision Hearing and Loss.” Here is the link:
Ruth is 81 years old, blind and mostly deaf. She is the founder of the Center for Deaf-Blind Persons. She begins her story at the moment when she learns as a 16 year old that she would go blind.
This memoir is certainly an inspirational story. Ruth says that she seeks to help people see her and others with disabilities as they are: “full, three-dimensional human beings who laugh and cry and get angry.” In that regard, those with disabilities and their loved ones have a strong voice in Ruth Silver’s life experience.
As a ghostwriter and book coach for memoirs and autobiographies, and a teacher of Writing Your Life Story classes, I believe there is a further value in this kind of life story. We all can be reminded of our fullness as human beings. And when we set out to write our life story, we can keep our eyes and heart open to how we can portray the full spectrum of what it means to be a man or woman living at our time, with our challenges, with our achievements, setbacks, challenges and breakthroughs.
Ruth Silver reveals that she felt compelled to write her story, both to make sense of her life and to give encouragement to others who struggle. Perhaps, in one way or another, any of us who may choose to write our life story can offer the same gift?
- Kevin Quirk teaches women and men of all ages to capture their most important life experiences in his role as a ghostwriter and book writing coach for memoirs and autobiographies. He is the author of “Life Is a Book And it’s Time to Write It: An A-to-Z Guide to Help Anyone Write Their Life Story” (www.yourlifeisabook.com).