Reviews

Read this book and the light bulb goes on in a blaze of clarity. What we want for our sons and daughters doesn't have to depend on the whims of social services and funding programs; it depends on families regaining control of simple, fundamental questions: what do we want? and what is a good life?

It's a profound shift in the way we help our children define themselves in our families [and in] our communities. This book is joyful. It is also sad, difficult, practical, funny, passionate and profound just like a good life. It's clear we don't have to be recipients--we can be creators.

Karin Melberg Schwier, parent, writer - Saskatchewan

A crash-course in my continuing education about the potential of `people sculpted outside the mold.' A Good Life' gently challenges us to create and demand the kind of life to which every citizen--disabled and non-disabled alike - is entitled. We must use the successful models of caring described in A Good Life to expect more, not less, from our formal social service system.

Bonnie Sherr Klein, writer, artist - British Columbia

"This excellent and challenging new book must be read by all who really want a secure future for their families. A Good Life is full of good theory, exciting and innovative practice. We love the wonderful quotes interspersed throughout the intelligent and always thought-provoking text.  A must read for the new millennium!"

Dr. Marsha Forest and Jack Pearpoint - Inclusion Press

"A Good Life presents a clear alternative to formal, professional and legal solutions to the concerns of families who have loved ones with a disability. It leads us on a journey toward security. It is a wonderful roadmap of the essential stops--friends, families, neighbours."

John McKnight - Northwestern University, Chicago

"This prize-winning author has created the first comprehensive book on the topic of future planning for people with disabilities…….Praise to Al Etmanski for his service to families…"

The Vancouver Sun

Having my first read of “A Good Life”, I was touched, troubled, tantalized, and then tranquil, with a sense of direction, hope and peace for the future. 

So easily we live in denial until something unforeseen happens that cracks our false sense of security.  Living through love in forward planning and preparation is a gift to our child and family as this beautiful book guides. 

This book is a love story of family and a love story of parents offering to other parents a path to peace of mind and heart.  Living life in interconnectedness is like a relay race.  It is ‘doing’ as a collective, and passing the relay torch on for others to carry forward.  As this book describes, the torch is our love and caring for our child or relative, and the relay is our loved ones’ live journey.  To pass the torch on we must learn to ‘let go’ and ‘let others’.  And for me, this is the message woven in “A Good Life”, the gift of love expanding and enduring beyond.

Cathy Anthony, Executive Director, Focus on Families, British Columbia