“Put yourself in someone else’s shoes,” is a well-worn way to describe empathy. But this I know as a card-carrying amputee of nearly 50 years… empathy is just not that simple.
For me, and I think many other amputees too, empathy is something deeper. It’s more complicated than imagination alone. It’s lived experiences and lives reclaimed, shaped by pain, resilience, humour, anger, pride, peers, and countless everyday, ordinary moments that follow limb loss too.
In this issue, we feature 12 books about amputee life that do more than tell stories. They invite readers into lived experience. They challenge the idea that amputation can be fully understood from the outside. They remind us that empathy is not about pity or inspiration – it’s about listening and learning.
When amputees tell our own stories, something powerful happens. The narrative shifts away from stereotypes and toward truth. These books speak honestly about grief and adaptation, identity, frustration and joy. Collectively, they are a testament to the fact that there is no single amputee experience yet, for all of us, strength can coexist with vulnerability, and independence can live alongside support.
For amputees, seeing ourselves reflected in print can be profoundly validating. For non-amputees – family and friends, clinicians, employers, allies – these books offer an opportunity to learn without asking us to explain. That too, is an act of empathy.
If you explore any of these books, memoirs mostly, sit with the author’s experiences and voice. Empathy is not a destination; it is a practice. And one of the most meaningful ways to practice it is to listen – especially when someone is speaking authentically.
Jeff Tiessen
Publisher, thrive magazine
