The Company of Others

One in six North Americans will experience disability in their lifetime. In a world that has become increasingly polarized between the haves and have-nots, those with disabilities often live in isolation and poverty, suffering physically and emotionally from the toll of feeling abandoned, with nowhere to go.

The Company of Others is an extraordinary and moving book about the transforming power of community on "vulnerable" individuals-mentally challenged, the mentally ill, the elderly-and how the results enrich us as a society.

The book tells the stories, interwoven with photographs, of five people who are surrounded by social "circles"-friends and family whose respect, encouragement, and love gives them a sense of belonging in the world. In an era in which isolation and loneliness are widespread in our communities, the stories told here are profoundly inspiring, giving hope to anyone who is or knows a person who has been excluded from living a full and meaningful life. This is not a book about helping others, but rather a proposal for a betterw ay of living together in every community.

The Company of Others is produced with the PLAN (Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network) Institute for Caring Citizenship, an organization that facilities social networks around the world, and is dedicated to ensuring that those disabilities and other vulnerable individuals enjoy the full rights and responsibilities to which they are entitled.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• isolation
• loneliness
• disability
• life
• PLAN
• social
• circles
• advocacy
• rights
• individuals
• poverty