Just What is Normal?

Just what is "normal?"

Jonathan Mooney certainly isn't.

First, he is dyslexic (who didn't learn to read until he was 12). In spite of that, he graduated from Brown University with a degree in English Literature.

Second, he is a writer of growing fame (his The Short Bus and his Learning Outside The Lines are gaining more popularity daily).

Third, he is founder and President of Project Eye-To-Eye, a mentoring and advocacy non-profit organization for students with learning differences.

Jonathan has become one of the new leaders and champions for not only the LD/ADHD student, but for all students with disabilities. His most recent book, The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal, is a memoir and, as noted by Kirdus Review, "a heartfelt rebuke to the rigid definitions of normality."

Mooney's website notes "the book is Jonathan's journey across the United States, in a converted short school bus, as he seeks to celebrate cognitive and physical diversity through profiles of people who have been labeled abnormal their entire lives."

In it is chronicled the journey of a young man who was once labeled "unteachable." He travels across America to investigate the lives of those, like himself, who are forced to create new ways of living in order to survive being labeled "dyslexic and profoundly learning disabled with attention and behavior problems." Jonathan Mooney was a short bus rider - a derogatory term used by some to describe those kids in special education and a distinction that told the world he wasn't "normal." Along with other kids with special challenges, he grew up hearing himself denigrated daily. Ultimately, Mooney surprised skeptics by graduating with honors from Brown University. But he could never escape his past, so he hit the road. To free himself and to learn how others had moved beyond labels, he created an epic journey. He would buy his own short bus and set out cross-country, looking for kids who had dreamed up magical, beautiful ways to overcome the obstacles that separated them from the so-called normal world.

In The Short Bus he recounts this trip with both humorous and memorable moments. Mooney describes this four-month, 35,000-mile journey in a way that will elicit from most teachers both the chuckles and the nods of "been there....done that." He recalls the stories of thirteen people in thirteen states who beat the odds. One young deaf and blind girl found a way to express her frustration with her teacher. A young man who was categorized as "severely LD" has become the proud owner of the Museum of Wonder. The journey teaches Mooney that there's no such thing as normal and that to really live, every person must find his or her own special ways of keeping sane.

Project EyeToEye

Project Eye-To-Eye is a national mentoring program that matches successful college and high school LD/ADHD students with elementary, middle, and high school students with LD/ADHD in order to empower these students and help them find success.

Project Eye-To-Eye's mission is to develop a coalition of mentoring programs for labeled students with learning disabilities and to empower these individuals to celebrate their differences. To achieve this mission, Project Eye-To-Eye will partner with local communities, public and private schools, universities, and local businesses to bring labeled adults with learning disabilities into the lives of labeled students with learning disabilities.