Jonathan Mooney | Dyslexic Writer, Activist and Author of "The Short Bus"

Jonathan Mooney

Dyslexic Writer, Activist and Author of "The Short Bus"

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Jonathan Mooney
Featured Book

Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive Outside the Linesby Jonathan Mooney

Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive Outside the Lines

by Jonathan Mooney

The Gift
LD/ADHD Reframed

Often students with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) struggle in traditional school settings. Yet emerging brain research suggests that many students labeled LD/ADHD have gifts for creative and visual thinking that go unrecognized in academic environments. As a result, many bright and gifted labeled students spiral in a devastating pattern of academic failure, learned helplessness, and low self-esteem.

In this presentation, Jonathan tackles this paradox head-on by outlining research that validates LD/ADHD as a set of cognitive gifts. He speaks honestly about the systemic and cultural barriers to normalizing these unique learning styles. Most importantly, Jonathan empowers parents with applicable strategies to build a positive self-understanding in their labeled student.

The Short Bus Stories

In the summer of 2002, Jonathan bought an old short school bus—the kind that transports students in many school districts to special education classes—and converted it into an RV. For four months, he drove 35,000 miles through 45 states to explore disability culture in America. What surprised him was that this journey led him straight to the myth of normalcy.

Jonathan, like many labeled abnormal, spent his life chasing that myth before his trip. But on the Short Bus, he learned that people with disabilities make up a nation-wide movement that actively resists the constraint of normalcy for all of us.

In Jonathan’s presentation entitled “The Short Bus,” he brings to life some of the individuals with disabilities that he encountered on his trip and profiled for his upcoming book The Short Bus.

Jonathan shows how schools, institutions, and public policy enforce normalcy. During “The Short Bus” presentation, Jonathan empowers his audience with ideas of resistance and encourages listeners to create an authentic and deeply human definition of themselves and their exceptional children.

We’re Not Broken
Empowering Labeled Students

“We’re Not Broken” is a powerful presentation that supports parents in celebrating the strengths, gifts and talents of their exceptional child.

Research shows that self-esteem is essential to students’ success. However our culture, schools, and medical community conceptualize people with disabilities as inherently broken and medically defective. To empower students with disabilities, parents can understand disability as a social construct, not a medical condition.

In this presentation, Jonathan tells parents what’s right about their children and instills ideas to change social perceptions. He coaches parents to help teachers and school administrators realize their labeled students’ assets.

Jonathan outlines a four-step strategy that all parents can implement to radically change their child’s educational experience. He helps parents build students’ resiliency, meta-cognition, leadership skills, and self-advocacy. He also explains how asset-based approaches fit into IEP settings, school-to-work transitions, and in building partnerships with schools and other institutions.

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Jonathan Mooney

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