Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong

72 reviews

lottie1803's review

challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Cancer, Body shaming, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Racism

kirstym25's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical trauma, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Racism, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

wandering_canuck's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Beautiful and raw, this collection of essays is mind-blowingly honest and unapologetic. Told from the first person, these stories are wonderful complex and offer a glimpse into the just as complex and varied experiences of disabled people. 

This is exactly what you don't expect to read: unapologetic, candid, genuine tales of the lived disabled experience. Do not expect inspiration porn or movie of the week stories of overcoming. This book gives space and voice to the realities of the day to day lived experiences of disabled people.

This book served to highlight my shameful ignorance and forced me to confront some of my own biases. This isn't a one-and-done type of book. I challenge you to read this book and not have your world shook. 

Wong does a fantastic job of bringing together many types of voices. A common theme throughout is the unjust marginalization of disabled people and it's intersectionality with other invisibilized qualities, such as poverty, queerness, size, and race. 

This is an absolute must-read and is deserving of a permanent spot on your bookshelf. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Sexual violence, Ableism, Rape, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Sexual assault, Violence, Classism, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Racism, Addiction, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Classism

waybeyondblue's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Mental illness, Bullying, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, and Body shaming

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death, Medical content, and Homophobia

spacekee's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Ableism, and Chronic illness

thenovelmaura's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

It's always hard to rate an anthology since all of the pieces were written by multiple authors! I would call this a must-read for anyone who is new to (or interested in learning more about) the world of disability activism. I liked the varied formats presented in the book; there were podcast transcripts and eulogies and reviews, not just traditional essays. Personally I was surprised by how many of the featured writers were famous, either on a national level or in the community. I would have liked to hear more of an everyday perspective on disability, but there was already a wide range of representation across race, gender, sexual orientation, and class lines, so perhaps I'm being greedy in asking for more.

This book inspired me to do some research into organizations that promote accessibility solutions people with disabilities, and I ultimately set up a recurring donation to The Kelsey, a disability-forward housing solutions nonprofit. If that's not a testament to the effectiveness of this collection, I don't know what is!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical trauma, and Ableism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Racism

maddy4prezident's review

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

Read this book for a book club at work, and overall, I really enjoyed it. I thought the flow and thematic ties in the essays were excellent, and I loved that they all offered very beautiful and powerful perspectives on disability and disability justice. Some of the essays felt slightly more basic and redundant than others, but overall it was really enjoyable and informative.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Medical trauma, Police brutality, and Racism

sorenzs's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

Such a broad variety of disabled experiences - learned so much even as a disabled person myself. 
Standout pieces:
Radical Visibility by Sky Cubacub
How to Make a Paper Crane from Rage by Elsa Sjunnerson (probably my favorite) 
Why My Novel is Dedicated to My Disabled Friend Mandy by A. H. Reaume 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Chronic illness

yourbookishbff's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

Disability Visibility is an anthology of essays edited by disability justice advocate Alice Wong. I don’t think I’ve ever read a collection of stories and perspectives so intersectional, raw and (as a non-disabled person) necessary. The structure of the collection is itself a stunning example of “disabled praxis,” as defined by A.H. Reaume in their essay “Why My Novel is Dedicated to My Disabled Friend Maddy,” as each essay simultaneously adds to and stands apart from preceding narratives, building a collage of experience that reflects the community built by and for those seeking disability justice.  

Loosely framed as essays, these range from first-person narratives to transcribed Ted talks to eulogies to artist manifestos to poetry. Several of these stories reflect the trauma and abuse experienced by those living at complex intersections of marginalization, and I was thankful that every essay includes detailed content and trigger warnings at the start. Through this unvarnished truth-telling, the intention of the anthology is made crystal clear - this is a collection rightfully built to amplify disabled voices for the benefit of disabled people and not for the gaze or comfort of non-disabled people.

I read this slowly, over more than a month, and I’m grateful I took my time with it. It challenged me to think about my own areas of deep-seated privilege and about the systems and spaces I have made inaccessible because of this privilege. It expanded my understanding of and respect for inclusivity and helped me to see the ways in which disability rights work has been consistently constrained by non-disabled people. These stories force us to ask, as s.e. smith does in their essay “The Beauty of Spaces Created for and by Disabled People:” “How can we cultivate spaces where everyone has that soaring sense of inclusion, where we can have difficult and meaningful conversations?”

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Minor: Cancer and Child abuse

In this collection of essays, trigger warnings for each individual essay are included at the start of each essay.

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny

4.5

Really stunning collection of pieces. Only thing taking it down in stars is how some felt a little shorter/less fleshed out than I'd expected. Overall a really well-curated selection with great narrative voices. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Hate crime, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Bullying, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Police brutality, Rape, Self harm, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Classism, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Murder, Chronic illness, Sexual violence, and Racism