“Freeing Teresa describes a beautiful bond between sisters impacted by the challenges of understanding disability rights through adulthood.”
Susan Peterson, Founder, Human Relations Indie Book Awards
Gold Award: Disability Rights (Special Needs)
Gold Award: Family Challenges
Silver Award: Inspirational
Silver Award: Leadership
DISABILITY RIGHTS (SPECIAL NEEDS): GOLD WINNER
Human Relations Indie Book Awards
GOLD, Disability Rights (Special Needs): Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me
Teresa Heartchild said, “I won GOLD in 2024! Freeing Teresa is all about me!”
Teresa Heartchild has shown remarkable resilience and courage in the face of adversity. She wanted to make her own decisions about where to live but lost that right with the tick of a box. Sadly, due to other people’s low expectations for her future, Teresa was put in a nursing home. Teresa had to fight to get her rights back.
Freeing Teresa and its sequel, Escape to Lotusland, tell Teresa’s remarkable journey. In 2016, the Ontario government apologized to Teresa. She published two art and poetry books in 2016 and 2018 and was named a Champion for Change for all people with disabilities in 2019.
FAMILY CHALLENGES: GOLD WINNER
Human Relations Indie Book Awards
GOLD, Family Challenges: Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me
“Winning the GOLD Award in Family Challenges is deeply meaningful to me. When the Freeing Teresa events started a decade ago, they ripped our family apart. My late parents had given me an unshakeable belief in Teresa’s right to be included, and that fueled my passion to help her. All my other siblings, except Teresa herself, wanted her in a long-term care institution. Despite my offers to have her live with me, Teresa was put in a nursing home a few days later. My Dad (then 91), my husband and me helped Teresa to get discharged. And she won her freedom back. She has brought love and joy into our lives and has become a BC Champion for Change for all people with disabilities. These awards recognize our roller coaster journey of heartbreak and triumph.”
INSPIRATIONAL: SILVER WINNER
Human Relations Indie Book Awards
SILVER, Inspirational: Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me
“Teresa inspired us to fight for her right to a full life,” said Billiam James. “And remarkably, Teresa transformed our lives and opened many new doors.”
LEADERSHIP: SILVER WINNER
Human Relations Indie Book Awards
SILVER, Leadership: Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me
“We have many laws which should protect the vulnerable, yet don’t. We need everyone to speak up about these injustices.
“Freeing Teresa has been the hardest thing I’ve done in my life,” said Franke James, “I was lucky to have my partner, Bill, who believed as strongly as I did that helping Teresa was the right thing to do and would ultimately prove true.”
‘Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me’ by Franke James, Billiam James and Contributor Teresa Heartchild.
Available on Amazon, from bookstores, and in public libraries.