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In this book excerpt Mattie Stepanek describes what it is like living with a rare neuromuscular disease. Defying many developmental odds, Mattie recounts highs and lows as he travels toward his tenth birthday, living on what he terms “the edge.”

Following a presidential debate in 2012, Ann Coulter referred to President Barack Obama as a "retard" in one of her tweets. Stephens, a 30-year-old man with Down syndrome wrote this open letter to Coulter in response to her hurtful and uninformed comments.

The novel's main character, Joey, is introduced in this excerpt. Joey is full of spunk, but he also has trouble focusing and controlling all of his urges—which sometimes leads him to make bad choices.

Is it possible to be seen but not noticed? To be noticed but not understood? Ralph Ellison shows that invisibility is no accident.

Lewis Diuguid recounts how The Million Man March was an important moment for the African-American community, with black men marching together in Washington, D.C. and in other cities across the country.

The American Psychological Association (APA) published “Facing the School Dropout Dilemma: The interaction of sexual orientation with school dropout rates” on its website in 2012. The APA is widely regarded as the most prominent professional organization for psychologists in the United States.

Langston Hughes, a voice of the Harlem Renaissance, writes of a black man banished to the kitchen when company arrives. This same man looks to the future, for a day when he will sit at the table to eat with company, because he, too, is an American.

Through an extended metaphor, Maya Angelou—who has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States—uses a caged bird and a free bird to juxtapose the oppressed and the free.

"Hope, Despair and Memory" is an address given by Elie Wiesel on December 11, 1986, the date Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Wiesel is an author and humanitarian and is known for writing about his experience as a survivor of the Holocaust.

In this vignette, eight-year-old Mikey spends two nights in a homeless shelter, where he and his family are too afraid to sleep for fear that someone would steal their things. The family then meets a caseworker who helps them into a temporary apartment while they work toward a more permanent home.