Ben D. Anderson, IQ of 63 - So What! Going Beyond Everybody Else’s Expectations (St. Cloud, MN: Sentinal, 2008).

Ben Anderson is an amazing person and an articulate advocate for persons with disabilities. His work through his non-profit, Break Through Inc., is very helpful in creating an atmosphere for change in the world. In this memoir, he tells his own story and invites us to take a second look at people with disabilities in our communities. Overcoming the attitudes of other people was at least as challenging, if not more so, than learning to live with Cerebral Palsy. People interpreted his challenges in learning to speak and walk as limitations of intelligence. He had to work hard to prove that he could make his own dreams come true.

When I first started working for human rights with people with disabilities, I thought that perhaps I would have to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. What I have discovered is that others do not need me to speak for them. They need me to listen carefully. Ben Anderson is a wonderful advocate for all persons with disabilities - and for those of us who are “temporarily abled” as well.

Knowing that we are all just one accident or illness away from a disability, this book is an inspiring read for all.