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GUEST: Jonathan Mooney, author of The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal

In 2003, Jonathan Mooney set off on a 35,000 mile journey across the United States to meet more than a dozen people who have been diagnosed as disabled or different, with conditions ranging from dyslexia to Down’s Syndrome. The journey was his attempt to understand the standards of normalcy that American society holds people, particularly school children to. Jonathan Mooney made the journey in a Short-Bus, what he calls “the symbol of pain and disability,” which was actually a retro-fitted special-education bus. Labeled severely dyslexic and ADHD in grade school, Mooney dropped out of school in sixth grade but eventually graduated and went on to Brown University where he graduated with honors in English Literature. In his new book, The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal, he explores his own childhood and the expectations of normalcy that were the source of much trauma. And he meets many others who challenge the perception of what it means to be “normal.”

For more information, visit www.jonathanmooney.com.