You Have Not A Leg To Stand On

This book tells the story of one man's journey from happiness to despair and back again. At thirty-two and at the peak of health, D.D. Mayers lived in a Kenyan paradise with his beautiful wife. Then tragedy struck; an accident left him paralysed from the waist down, destined to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Mayers takes the reader on an emotional yet witty and amusing tour of his life, guiding us from his childhood (and the ‘pointless' schooling he receives) through to his emergence as a young man who somehow finds himself earning money as a professional actor. One role takes him to Kenya, where we meet his wonderful wife, and we join the two for a trip through the Middle East, many years before war ravaged much of its warmth and beauty. After moving to London for a number of years, the couple return to Kenya - only for them to experience a life-changing event. The gripping storytelling throughout the book takes us from the author’s despair and feelings of worthlessness all the way through to a final, peaceful contentment. You will laugh and you will cry - but you won’t be able to put the book down.

Originally published: New York: Summit Books, 1984.

Mary O'Brien never let the grass grow under her feet, even though she lost both legs at the age of two in a farm accident. As Ireland's first double amputee to be fitted with artficial limbs she soon learned to ride a bicycle and careered off into a full life. Now with colour and humour Mary charts the milestones along the way: Growing up in a large family where her accident was never discussed. Her years as just another of the girls at a convent boarding school. Working as an Occupational Therapist for 30 years through a revolution in mental health care. Meeting and marrying John and raising two sons. Learning to swim and then going on to win Triple Gold at the Disabled Games and Stoke Mandeville. Studying Art, teaching it, and gaining wide recognition as a professional artist. Being awarded an M.B.E. Between these pivotal moments Mary describes all other trials, tribulations and triumphs of a remarkable life. Through it all, she stands tall on the only limbs she has ever known while her warm vivid memories present a unique picture of Ireland since the Second World War. They will inspire readers to constantly reach beyond their limitations and make their mark.

The fourteen contributions in this collection come from different approaches in pragmatics, interactional linguistics, conversation analysis, discourse analysis and dialogue analysis; the name given to what is studied ranges from spoken language and conversation to interaction, dialogue, discourse and communication. What the articles have in common is a similar starting point: they are informed by a form of linguistic understanding which has emerged within what could be called the interactional turn. The materials investigated come from several different languages, representing a variety of interactions: private and public, written and spoken, historical and present-day. While studies of such diverse materials naturally differ in their starting points, goals and aims, engaging them in a dialogue can help reveal where old beliefs may be challenged and new understandings may emerge. The interactional approaches to discourse presented in this volume show that there are several discourses on interaction: interconnected, parallel, but also varying and even divergent.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.