Listen to Little Book 2: Seven Middle School Stories about Disability's Edge

By Jim Hasse, ABC, GCDF, Disability Employment Expert
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Listen to Little Book 2. It's an audiobook of seven transformation stories about my struggle as a person with cerebral palsy (CP) to frame disability as an advantage in the workplace.

Career Book 4 Cover: Audiobook Now Available -- Tight shot of forearm in Canadian Crutch; path (roadway) in background.

Little Book 2 is also available as an eBook.

Little Book 2: Confidence booster

Here's why you need to download this audiobook of strategies for coaching about disability's sometimes hidden advantages for your middle school student -- all presented in seven short stories.

Learn how to frame disability as an asset for today’s society and work world.

The small steps you take now to help your youngster transform disability into a positive experience will help him or her be ready to find meaningful work and build an enjoyable life.

Listen to Little Book 2. It only takes less than two hours. In this easy-to-follow guidebook, you get:

  • Expert advice
  • Potential pathways
  • Mainstream orientation

Now is the time. The steps you take now will help your youngster build a meaningful career. Why wait until it's too late?

Stories about how I became an independent adult!

During the 1980s, I didn’t have an opportunity to tell my mom about what I had learned about developing a career as an individual with a disability.

So, Little Book 2 is all about what I think Mom would have wanted you to know about helping your middle school youngster with unexpected challenges prepare for a meaningful career.

These are the career-readiness lessons I’ve gleaned from Little Book 2's seven transformational stories. They’re all true. They all show how I learned to leverage disability’s competitive edge.

Story 1 - Innovation is the gift of doubt.
Story 2 - Authenticity is stepping outside of one’s self.
Story 3 - Focused practice is more important than innate talent.
Story 4 - Practicality is following a realistic career path.
Story 5 - Ability to set and achieve a goal can be attained through early practice.
Story 6 - Maturity is growing beyond the need for security.
Story 7 - Maximizing a competitive edge is identifying the path of least resistance.

Listen to Little Book 2.

Based on National Career Development Guidelines

Excerpt from story 1

"I saw you come out of the supermarket, pushing a cart full of groceries," Mrs. Barth shouted. Her shrill voice rose above the sharp squawks of the accordion. "You put groceries in the back seat of the car and then got in and drove away -- all by yourself."

To show I was listening and understood, I nodded, surprised and amused that the incident impressed her so much that she had to describe it to me in the middle of a neighborhood wedding dance.

"I was so surprised," Mrs. Barth continued. "I didn't know you could drive."

I offered another nod. That's all I could do. The polka music bounced off the beams of the town hall as couples strutted and stomped on the hardwood floor.

Any reply in my fractured speech would have gotten lost among the tuba notes, even though I was sitting next to her along a bench tucked against the wall that eventually led to the bar ...

Written by Jim Hasse

Photo of Jim Hasse, author

Jim Hasse, a Global Career Development Facilitator who has CP, summarizes the essential career development strategies to follow for career coaching your college student with special needs.

In Career Book 4, he outlines eight strategies for helping your youngster grow in self-confidence and eight strategies for discovering disability’s competitive edge in today's job market.

He has 29 years of corporate experience (10 of them as Vice President for Corporate Communication at Foremost Farms USA). He’s an Accredited Business Communicator, owner of Hasse Communication Counseling, LLC, and founder of cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com. He and his wife, Pam, live in Madison, Wisconsin.

Narrated by Chris Chappell

Photo of Chris Chappell, narrator

Chris Chappell, a C6-7 Quadriplegic, is a dedicated disability advocate.

From peer mentoring, career counseling, life-coaching and legislative crusading, Chris has been on the front lines of SCI (Spinal Cord Injury/Paralysis) advocacy for more than 15 years.

In addition to his corporate career as Vice President of Investments at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Graduate Relations Coordinator at Craig Hospital, Chris has a successful commercial Voiceover and Audiobook narration business (Dublot, LLC). Chris and his family reside in Littleton, Colorado.

Review of Little Book 2

From "Badger:"

"The stories and examples Jim Hasse uses in this concise and powerful book speak to his own experiences as someone with CP, both growing up and throughout his successful professional career.

"He provides specific learning points and suggestions for mentors arising from these "transformation stories" regarding how to prepare their children for what lies ahead, short, medium and long-term.

"Where possible, he encourages the mentor to prepare the child to engage in focused practices or exercises to help mitigate the perceived or actual implications of CP for not only themselves but for those with whom they will interact in daily life."

Download to Little Book 2


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This is Creative Commons content.  You can freely and legally use, share and repurpose it for non-commercial purposes only, provided you attach this sentence and the following attribution to it (including the two links):

Originally written and illustrated by Jim Hasse, ABC, GCDF, owner of Hasse Communication Counseling, LLC, who, as a person with cerebral palsy, served for 10 years as a vice president in a Fortune 500 company during his 29-year career in corporate communication. He’s an Accredited Business Communicator, certified as a Global Career Development Facilitator and author of 14 Amazon books about disability awareness and disability employment issues.