Inspirational Author Quinn Bradlee Speaks on Living with Learning Disabilities at Shenandoah University, Oct. 7
Inspirational author Quinn Bradlee of Washington, D.C., will speak about his experiences living and coping with learning disabilities at Shenandoah University on Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 5-6 p.m. in the Ferrari Room of the Brandt Student Center.
Students, health-care professionals, educators, home-schooled children and their parents are invited to attend. The event is free and open to the public.
Born with a hole in his heart that required invasive surgery when he was only three months old, Bradlee suffered from a battery of illnesses—seizures, migraines, fevers—from an early age. But it wasn’t until he was 14 that he was correctively diagnosed with Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome, a wide-spread, little-understood disorder that is expressed through range of physical ailments and learning disabilities.
In his newly published memoir with Jeff Himmelman, “A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures,”Bradlee addresses, with candor and humor, the challenges and triumphs of living “a different life.”In addition to attending Landmark College, American University and the New York Film Academy, Bradlee has developed a series of short documentary films about children with learning disabilities and rare genetic syndromes. He also launched the Web site http://www.friendsofquinn.com/ to create a community for learning-disabled kids and their families.
Bradlee’s visit is sponsored by Shenandoah University’s Going Global: First-Year Seminar program and the School of Education and Human Development. Dr. Diane Painter, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, teaches one of the Going Global classes, “Please Accept Me for Who I Am,”as part of the first-year classes offered to freshman this year at the university. The course addresses the topic of diversity and inclusion, and students will read several autobiographical books, including Bradlee’s memoir about growing up learning disabled.
“Learning disabilities affect people in business, education, health care and other social and political contexts, and it is an issue that affects people not only in our country but in every corner of the globe,”said Painter.
For additional information, contact Dr. Diane Painter at dpainter@su.edu or (540) 678-4304.