I would like to thank all the people who made this book possible:

The administrators and staff of the places where the photographs were taken: Mr. Jacob Igra of the Jerusalem Institute for the Blind; Mr. Zev Weiss, Dr. Jack Gorelick, and Regina Schattner of the Association for the Help of Retarded Children; Dr. Bernard Tesse, Mr. Bert Piltz, Dr. Camilla Jones, Mr. Joseph Sardi, Sandra Gorenstein, Mr. Eddie Moore, Mrs. Mildred Adler, Rabbi Charles Hoffman, Anne Bettman, Bruce Donatuti, Jeff Seibel, Ellie Cohen, Henry Geller, Joan Sherman, Dianne Duggan, Pam Shoemaker, and Dvorah Kreppar of the Bernard Fineson Developmental Center. The families who let me come into their homes: Mrs. Elba Renta and her daughter Janette, Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick and their daughter Tara, Mr. and Mrs. Fitzsimmons and their child Suzanne, Mrs. Ruth Jackson and her son Artis, Mr. and Mrs. Feely and their daughter Catherine, Mrs. Mary Burk and her daughter Nancy, Mr. and Mrs. Hughes and their son Scott, Mrs. Dockery and her daughter Margaret, Mrs. Shadiak and her daughter Renee, Mrs. Morrison and her daughter Frances, Mrs. Mary Cummings and her daughter Dorothy. Dr. Owen Bernstein, Mr. Thomas Shirtz, Mr. Lou Chaiken, Mr. Sam Wilson, Father Cribbins, Rabbi Wullinger, Nona Koch, and Marsha Perlmutter of the Brooklyn Developmental Center. Mr. Salvatore Gullo, Monica Willoughby Grey, Marilyn Orgel, and Mr. Norman Kimball of the United Cerebral Palsy Association. Mary Jane O'Neill, Harlan Conti, George Bennette, Kenneth Phillips, and Simone Rollins of the New York Association for the Blind. The directors of the summer camps I visited: William Brown and Richard Steinberg of Wagon Road Camp; Sheldon Koy and David Arnou of Camp Jened; Miss Marie Olson of Camp Hope; Michael Larsen and Iran Buckler of Camp Catskill; Michael Seeliger of Camp Cummings; Leroy Reynolds and Jim Flanigan of the Special Olympics. Lorraine Kisly, Susan Bergholz, Karen Chao, and Barbara Gutoff, the staff of Parabola magazine. My special editor at Knopf, Toinette Lippe. And last, my wife, Dvorah, for her unfailing support and faith.