No Spring Chicken
Stories and Advice from a Wild Handicapper on Aging and Disability
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Publisher Description
2022 Foreword Indies Finalist in Travel
As we age, we all begin to have physical difficulties to contend with.
In No Spring Chicken, Francine Falk-Allen—a polio survivor who knows a thing or two about living with a disability—offers her own take on how to navigate the complications aging brings with equanimity (and a sense of humor). The handbook is divided into three sections: Part I is a jaunt through accessible travel pleasures and pitfalls in several parts of the world; Part II addresses the adaptation people who love a handicapped or aging person could make in order to have a lighter, more mutually rewarding relationship with him or her, as well as advice for physically challenged and aging persons themselves regarding self-care, exercise, pain management, healthcare, and more; and Part III discusses the challenges, rewards and logistics of engaging with groups of people who share similar issues.
Accessible and wryly funny, No Spring Chicken is a fun and informative guide to living your best and longest life—whatever your physical challenges, and whatever your age.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Falk-Allen follows up Not a Poster Child with an enthusiastic if rambling collection of stories from her life as a world traveler and polio survivor. Falk-Allen's approach to enjoying travel as a "wild handicapper"—in her case, as someone who walks with an assistive device and has limited stamina—focuses on planning and understanding what to expect upon arrival at one's destination, particularly researching accessibility options, packing light, and sticking to a budget. She offers plenty of colorful accounts of places she's visited—Egypt, India, Ireland, and Israel among them—though her travel advice is based on her own onetime experiences, some up to 40 years ago, such as her hotel and restaurant recommendations from a trip to New Delhi in the 1980s. The book's second part flips erratically between advice for caregivers of aging parents and for aging readers themselves concerning ambulatory difficulties, dealing with changes in one's capabilities, and developing a partnership between the caregiver and the person needing assistance: "being positive but realistic and, most of all, determined and disciplined can reap unexpected rewards." It's all a bit shaggy, but the author's infectious sense of adventure will appeal to those struggling with aging and disability.
