Caged in Chaos

I was blown away by Caged in Chaos. I thought I had heard of every "learning disability" or "differently abled" until I read Ms. Biggs' inspiring book about her life with dyspraxia. Not only a memoir written by Ms. Biggs when she was a teenager, this book is a guide for any young person with any kind of physical or learning challenge. Although written from the perspective of the British school system, the advice Ms. Biggs gives for coping with every situation that most people just "do" without thinking about, her advice and checklists provide a valuable resource for teens, parents, teachers, and anyone who has any interest at all in the spectrum of disabilities (a word I use with distaste, because I don't think in those terms) or challenges. Ms. Biggs is a gifted writer, and her humorous, positive perspective on how she manages the activities of daily life make for a really good read, and an extremely educational read as well. The book contains not only Ms. Biggs' observations: loaded with observations and experiences she gathered from other young people, the book makes people with "labels" attached to them simply people who have different styles of learning, thinking, and being, which is how everyone should be considered, labeled or not. I commend Ms. Biggs for her courageous story, and for her brilliant writing and amusing illustrations. I have recommended this book to my sister who is a speech pathologist, my other sister who is a teacher, two friends who are teachers, and others involved with young people, particularly in education.

We are all caged in some sort of chaos in our own way. Ms. Biggs opened my eyes to a chaos I didn't know existed, and gave me a shot in the arm to find ways to cope with my own chaos. While she provides insight into the cage of dyspraxia, her underlying message is that living with the abilities that one is born with does not have to be a cage - it can and should be just who you are, even if you have to explain yourself sometimes.