This book is a wonderful presentation of life as a differently-abled person, from Brown's own perspective. As a young child, though frustrated by his inability to communicate or control his movements, he was almost unaware of the extent of his differences until his go-car broke down and he could not go out with his brothers for some weeks. As a teenager, Brown felt the frustration and depression that is common among many adolescents, though usually for far less cause. It took becoming part of a community of other people besides his loving family, and of disabled people in particular, for Brown to realize his own nature.

Not only did he see his flaws and strengths more accurately on an absolute scale of suffering, he also was more able to evaluate them in comparison with other people.

The incoherent frustration that constrained him is described eloquently and...