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My name is Katie and I am a woman on wheels who educates, empowers, and entertains both children and adults. I am a poet, performer and a lover of the human process.
I survived an auto accident in 1990 at the age of 25 which took my life in a new direction. With my degree in Recreation, I became a speaker, author, and disability educator.
As Miss Wheelchair Missouri 2010, and a 2001 St. Louis Woman of Achievement, I connect with my community with the message of motivation and teaching people healthy coping mechanisms. I've written several books and recorded CDs.
Katie's New Book "On A Roll: How It Feels To Be On Wheels" is Now Available!
Having spent the past 30 years On A Roll in her power wheelchair, How It Feels To Be On Wheels is the heartfelt story of Katie Rodriguez Banister, who became a quadriplegic after an auto accident at the age of 25 years old. Through extraordinary challenges, she’s struggled with anger issues, battled depression, advocated for people with disabilities, and found a great partner in her husband Steve.
In Katie’s search for self-acceptance, love, and survival, she shares the importance of using humor, laughter, and finding the fun in life to help ourselves on a daily basis. This journey of coping, finding hope and living full-out, is an inspiring combination of self-reflection and bravery, challenging the reader to work through every obstacle life dares to present.
Reviews
“I love the honesty.” - Tina Christanell, Counselor, Sperring Middle School
“Katie has been through a tremendous amount of adversity yet found a real calling. It is evident through this book how one can become truly comfortable in their own skin, even if their sensation is limited! Katie’s Coping Strategies should be on the wall in every Spinal Cord Injury unit. This book is highly relatable regardless of disability status. However, for those who have experienced SCI, it is a must-read. They should give out this book on all SCI floors so family, friends, and persons with SCI can read it or have it read to them as they are ready. I plan to have my OT students read it to better understand a personal perspective on SCI. While not everyone who reads this book will have a spinal cord injury or even know someone with one, they will relate to the humanity of Katie’s memoir.”- Dr. Carla Walker, Advance Practice Clinician, Washington University School of Medicine Program in Occupational Therapy
“Heartfelt, funny, educational and brutally honest. From family dynamics to the accident, rehab, bladder management and dating, a real love story and spiritual journey.” - JET, The Expert, Book Reviewer
“On A Roll was very inspirational!! It gave me hope with my current physical limitations due to an automobile accident. I realize that the feelings and thoughts that I have are normal and expected. But now, I feel that I can still be everything that I want to be and more...” - Burchell McGhee, Avid Reader
“The description of the court case was riveting and chilling. So interesting to read the play by play.” - Daryle Glynn Brown, News Producer
Signed copy
$15.00 including shipping
"On A Roll: How It Feels To Be On Wheels"
is also available on Amazon.
Website Special: $15.00*
Aunt Katie's Visit
“A children's story about the adventures of Aunt Katie, who uses a wheelchair, during a visit to her niece's school. Through colorful illustrations, Aunt Katie is shown using a van with a lift, pushing on a special button that opens the school door to accommodate Katie and her wheelchair, and using special braces to help her write, eat, and use a computer. Persons with other types of disabilities are pictured doing their regular activities. While Aunt Katie is talking with the young students, she tells them not to make fun of persons who look or act differently because those comments hurt people's feelings.”
- Shirley Ryan Ability Lab
Website Special: $15.00*
Personal Care Attendant Guide
"This invaluable book guides people with disabilities and their families through a challenging, but by no means impossible, task: finding a qualified caregiver. Readers learn to successfully locate, interview, hire, train, and supervise a personal attendant, whether through an agency or on their own. Thorny issues like wages, taxes, and firing an attendant are also covered. Additionally, the book’s real-life examples help current and prospective caregivers succeed in this demanding yet rewarding work environment."
- Goodreads
Website Special: $15.00*
A Pocket Full of Poems
"I enjoyed your reflections and explanations of your poems. I am sure many can relate like I did to your family, friends, love, health, etc. issues. It was so refreshing. Life is truly what we make of it. Thank you for touching my life."
- Jacquie Cline, 8th grade teacher, Hardin Middle
Website Special: $10.00*
Karmic Validations
"Karmic validations affirm your choices from what to eat, what to wear, who you marry, what job to pursue and a million other decisions we make on a daily basis. My teens and twenties were full of shallow, empty and rotten relationships with guys. Then, the injury. Three years later, I found the man of my dreams. My wheelchair was the karmic validation I needed to get my act together in so many ways. Thirty friends and business associates share their thoughts on karma too!"
- Katie R. Banister
Website Special: $15.00*
Beauty in the Lou CD
"Your songs and poems: a treasury of honesty. Your expressive voice (and clarity so I could understand every word!) is truly beautiful; still it is WHAT you say and sing that reaches out to everyone, no matter their particular place in life. You speak to the wonders and to the painful realities that are universal, not just specific to your own life. What a gracious gift you and your collaborators have given everyone."
- Dee Pavelka, vocal and music instructor
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