Guest Author - Deborah Pipas

Chasing Normal
A guide for the newly disabled and for those who love them

Written by: Dinah Chaudoir Federer

Published by: Distynct Solutions, LLC


Although dealt the hand of disability at birth, Dinah was lovingly taught by her family to be independent. Seemingly she was well prepared for life in spite of her disability but, at age thirty five she is diagnosed with a second disability that is incredibly painful. She is very informative giving the reader a great deal of insight into some of the pain and suffering she has endured due to her personal disabilities. This in turn establishes for the reader Dinah’s credibility to write this book.

In the beginning of her book Dinah shares some thoughts and ideas with the reader listing some things she believes to be important to remember on life’s journey. These ideas include being kind to yourself, learning to ask for help when you need it and giving back to others in ways that you are capable of giving. She is able to describe to the reader the feelings experienced by those who are disabled and to help the reader become more aware of the feelings experienced by family, friends and caregivers.

Dinah strongly urges those experiencing disability to reach out to others. Reading her book gave me a whole new understanding. She is able to make it clear that there is no shame in needing or asking for assistance. Whether the disabled person or someone closely connected to that person we all need to reach out sometimes. Perhaps just to talk with someone or to try to share thoughts and feelings and to try to encourage each other.

We learn from reading this book that those who are newly disabled often must work through many feelings and emotions such as denial, anger and fear just to name a few. Dinah’s words throughout the book are encouraging to the disabled individual, family and caregivers. She helps all of us to understand the importance of proper nutrition and exercise for those with disability as well as their caregivers. Explaining that no matter what role we play in the situation we cannot accomplish all the things we need to attend to daily without physical strength, a strong heart and a steady hand.

Loneliness an emotion shared by many people is also high on the list in our disabled communities, Dinah discusses how to deal with this emotion and to learn to reach out to others for support. She speaks about how people often resist when learning they have a disability and that in so doing they make the journey more difficult for themselves and those who love them. She speaks to the reader about how one can deal with feelings of failure, what to do when feeling fragile and learning to be okay with the disability.

There is a lot of information in this book that can be beneficial to the disabled, their family and friends, caregivers and even the general population. Anyone that will take the time to read and understand this book will walk away with a great deal of new and useful knowledge. There are many task and situations in life however, being disabled or being a caregiver to someone disabled is very high on the list as a cause of stress in the world today.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. I genuinely enjoyed reading Chasing Normal, A guide for the newly disabled and for those who love them and I hope that others will take the time to locate the book and read it. At this time Chasing Normal, A guide for the newly disabled and for those who love them is only available through Dinah’s website. Please follow the link below and purchase your copy today.