Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

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

72 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

I consider myself familiar with disability justice principles and discussions, and I still learned a lot from this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abandonment, Rape, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Cancer, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Racism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, and Murder

Minor: Abortion and Excrement

yourfavavery's review

challenging emotional informative

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Transphobia, Sexual content, Police brutality, and Genocide

leguinstan's review

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This essay anthology is simply phenomenal!! Alice Wong did a fantastic job as an editor. The essays in Disability Visability are incredibly diverse and I personally felt that there was something to take away from nearly all of the essays in the collection.

When I say that this work is diverse, I don't simply mean that in regards to author's cultural backgrounds and identities (race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.). Some of the essays are extremely political while others are more personal and intimate in nature. Some are about promoting accessiblity in certain industries while others are about the failings of services put into place for disabled individuals. I deeply appreciate the intersectional and communal focus of Disability Visability and also appreciate the (very justified) rage that was expressed in many of the essays. Respectability politics? We don't know her!

There are  so many wonderful essays and I found it more difficult than usual to pick out my favorites. But here are some of my personal favorites:

• "Unspeakable Conversations" by Harriet McBryde Johnson
• "Radical visibility : A Disabled Queer Clothing Reform Movement Manifesto" by Sky Cubacub 
• "Guide Dogs Don't Lead Blind People. We Wander as One" by Haben Girma
• "Imposter Syndrome and Parenting With a Disability" by Jessica Slice
• "Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time" by Ellen Samuels
• "Love Means Never Having to Say... Anything" by Jamison Hill

Highly recommended!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, and Mental illness

Moderate: Medical content, Racism, and Sexual violence

While my list of content warning is not remotely comprehensive, I wanted to mention that every single essay in this anthology has content warnings listed at the very top pertaining to the particular essay in question. That is fan-friggin-tastic!!

kelleykamanda's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Damn. Read this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Excrement, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Grief, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Infertility, Body shaming, Ableism, Racism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, and Fatphobia

leelaamanda's review

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Ableism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Medical content, Racism, Abortion, and Sexual assault

Minor: Hate crime, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Mental illness, and Medical content

lizziaha's review against another edition

4.0

important work being done here to build a disability archive

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Murder, Ableism, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Racism

alexisgarcia's review

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

this is such an important read. i wouldn’t recommend the audiobook because it’s harder to listen to and distinguish between the authors. but each and every author did such an amazing job and shined a light on some of the things disabled people have to deal with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical content, and Chronic illness

chronicacademia's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Racism, Sexism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Abortion, Bullying, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

booksjessreads's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is such an eye-opening anthology of essays from disabled people to speak their realities of being disabled in such an ablest world. The stories were so deeply personal and evoked so much emotion. I liked how through the audio, the essays felt more like dialogue with the reader, or like an official talk. Alice Wong and Alejandra Ospina read this with the right tone and made it so digestible despite the heavier content. 

This book does not solely focus on disability, but contributors also discuss further intersections of identity, such as gender, sexuality, age, race and religion. This allows the reader to understand how society further disadvantages those with these intersections and offers a deeply moving and rage-inducing account of US society. 

I enjoyed the audio so much I am getting my own print version to get more familiar with the text. This is essential reading and is one of the most informative reads I have read this year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Racism, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Ableism, Transphobia, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Fatphobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death and Pregnancy

changelingreader_adrian's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Racism, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Abortion, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Grief, Confinement, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder