The Wild Handicapper: A Spirited Guide for Physically Challenged or Aging Folks and the People Who Love Us

2022 Foreword Indies Finalist in Travel

As we age, we all begin to have physical difficulties to contend with.

In No Spring Chicken, Francine Falk-Allen--a polio survivor who knows a thing or two about living with a disability--offers her own take on how to navigate the complications aging brings with equanimity (and a sense of humor). The handbook is divided into three sections: Part I is a jaunt through accessible travel pleasures and pitfalls in several parts of the world; Part II addresses the adaptation people who love a handicapped or aging person could make in order to have a lighter, more mutually rewarding relationship with him or her, as well as advice for physically challenged and aging persons themselves regarding self-care, exercise, pain management, healthcare, and more; and Part III discusses the challenges, rewards and logistics of engaging with groups of people who share similar issues.

Accessible and wryly funny, No Spring Chicken is a fun and informative guide to living your best and longest life--whatever your physical challenges, and whatever your age.

Francine Falk-Allen was born in Los Angeles and has lived nearly all of her life in northern California. As a former art major who got a BA in managerial accounting and ran her own business for thirty-three years, she has always craved creative outlets. Over the years, this has taken the form of singing and recording with various groups, painting, and writing songs, poetry, and essays, some of which have been published. Falk-Allen facilitates a polio survivors’ group in Marin County, and also a Meetup writing group, Just Write Marin County. She was the polio representative interviewed in a PBS/Nobel Prize Media film, The War Against Microbes. Falk-Allen resides in Marin County with her husband, Richard Falk. She loves mystery, and historical novels, and captivating biography and memoir, movies, music, pool exercise, the outdoors, travel, hanging out with good friends, lots of British tea, and a little champagne now and then.