Earlier today I had a fascinating telephone conversation with JR Harding, who serves as External Affairs Manager with the Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities in Tallahassee.  JR is also the author, with his wife Erika Richards-Harding, of a book that will come out this summer: Now What?  I was privileged to read the manuscript of Now What? a few days ago, and I can tell you that you'll definitely want to add JR's new book to your library.

Now What? tells JR's amazing true story, which, like Virginia Jacko's in The Blind Visionary, is about mustering the courage and determination to overcome a tremendous physical challenge.   JR was only 16 years old in September, 1983, when an act of violence transformed this star athlete at Culver Military Academy into a quadriplegic.  Believe it or not, a few years later, an auto accident further damaged JR's spinal cord, resulting in another extended hospital stay and bout of physical therapy.

JR and Virginia have more in common than suffering catastrophic physical events that would be unimaginable to most of us.  JR's quadriplegia didn't lead to bitterness, lost dreams and retirement from active life.   Quite the contrary!  Like Virginia, JR's tremendous physical challenge, which could have been truly debilitating, led to his finding a passionate new mission in life.  Armed with a hard-earned doctorate, happily married to Erika, and holding a challenging executive position, JR is dedicated to helping others who are coping with disabilities to realize their God-given potential and to live full, productive, satisfying lives.  As JR says in Now What?: 

      Living with a significant disability, as the Americans with Disabilities Act so properly expresses,  "is natural," and no physical and/or attitudinal barrier cannot be overcome because of who we are as Americans.  Each of us understands, intuitively, that no matter what, each of us has the right and responsibility to pursue "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Amen!  You'll want to get your copy of Now What? from SokheChapke Publishing, and I suggest you put it where it belongs on your book shelf - right next to your copy of The Blind Visionary.