FINCHLEY, London - "I see people like me being pushed to the back and being pitied on and making me feel like I'm not worthy of anything," said 15-year-old author, Zainab Mohammed. "I am disabled, but it doesn't define my self-right. Abled defines my self-right, but disabled defines my physicality."
Suffering from proximal femoral focal deficiency, Mohammed's disability may limit her physical freedom, but her heart and mind is free to go wherever her thoughts may take her. In "People Fear For Disabled" (published by Xlibris UK), she presents the character of Zeiyden who takes readers along on her journey through her painful experiences and bouts of negativity as she looks for that one sliver of hope that would help keep her going.
An excerpt from the book reads:
Zeiyden is a girl whose happiness was fake. Zeiyden had a very hard life growing up with four siblings and started from the bottom. Zeiyden was always the centre of attention. She needed people's happiness to quench her happiness. It was never so easy for her. She cried every day, wondering why she was disabled; she still does.
Written with an air of nostalgia, "People Fear For Disabled" conjures a dream-like vision - a veritable mindscape - of pain and misery that cuts its way into the hearts of its readers to reveal what strength there is at the root of what really matters.
In sharing this particularly evocative slice of despair that expresses the plight of many disabled people, Mohammed hopes to convey in her readers a deep understanding of the difference between empathy and sympathy; one heals, while the other hurts. She would also like to encourage people to think before they speak, because "words do end lives."
"People Fear For Disabled"
By Zainab Mohammed
Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 50 pages | ISBN 9781499095616
Softcover | 6 x 9in | 50 pages | ISBN 9781499095609
E-Book | 50 pages | ISBN 9781499095623
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Xlibris Publishing UK, an Author Solutions, LLC imprint, is a self-publishing services provider dedicated to serving authors throughout the United Kingdom. By focusing on the needs of creative writers and artists and adopting the latest print-on-demand publishing technology and strategies, we provide expert publishing services with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound and full-color formats. To date, Xlibris has helped to publish more than 60,000 titles. For more information, visit xlibrispublishing.co.uk or call 0800 056 3182 to receive a free publishing guide. Follow us @XlibrisUK on Twitter for the latest news.
Videos