GRIT - A FAMILY MEMOIR ON ADVERSITY AND TRIUMPH is a groundbreaking
memoir on American Disability History and overcoming adversity, by award
winning songwriter and award winning documentarian Jeff Moyer. GRIT
tells the monumental story of one family's struggle with multiple
disabilities beginning before the Disability Rights Movement changed the
American landscape. It tells of Jeff Moyer's role as the troubadour of
that movement. Senator John McCain reflected, "I appreciate and remember
Jeff being at the signing of the ADA..." (Americans With Disabilities
Act). Jeff played his song "The ADA Anthem" following the signing of the
law at a Senate reception. GRIT is important for both American and
Disability History in part because it documents the horrors of State
Institutions for individuals with cognitive disabilities, within which
Jeff's younger brother Mark languished for 33 years until Jeff was able
to pull him out and establish a supported living home for him in Jeff's
neighborhood. While Mark is central to GRIT, the memoir also details
their father's overcoming alcoholism, overradiation and resulting loss
of his lower jaw and ability to speak and swallow. GRIT tells the story
of Jeff's resilience in the face of progressive blindness and hearing
loss and his son Kyle's living effectively with undiagnosed, severe
ADHD. In addition, the book tells the story of Jeff's role as a leader
in the Disability Rights Movement and his work in assistive technology
that included his role evaluating the speech synthesizer that became the
speech prosthesis used by Dr. Stephen Hawking until his death. Further,
it documents Jeff's experience as a kidney donor with resulting severe
and chronic pain. Jeff's donation saved the life of a woman he had not
met, daughter of a friend. GRIT is a multifaceted book that offers new
contributions to American History, Disability History, and Psychology.
GRIT combines so many important aspects through the telling of the Moyer
Families life over the last 65 years that it deserves to be taught in
every school and celebrated in every family. One reviewer stated "This
book will be quoted often in living rooms and hallowed places of
learning." GRIT offers hope and inspiration for families and individuals
struggling with adversity and lifts high the banner of the normalcy of
diversity and the human hearts power to overcome loss and resistance to
change.