Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

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

25 reviews

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. 

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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

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. 

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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

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

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

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

lilacs_book_bower's review

challenging hopeful informative lighthearted sad fast-paced

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. Alice Wong as the editor has gathered a wide range of essays and interviews from people with disabilities, and the collection covers a huge range of topics. I liked the approach of reading about the different aspects of disabilities that people wanted to discuss; topics range from medical care, discrimination, wheelchairs and artificial limbs, transportation, and accessible clothing. I appreciated the wide selection of topics. The only flaw I would say with this book is that some of the essays are so short (three pages), that the reader is left wanting more. A few felt like they introduced a topic and then abruptly ended. Overall, a very strong collection of narratives and a fast read!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racism, Fatphobia, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Ableism, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

atuin's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective

5.0

Truly an amazing collection detailing stories from people with different backgrounds all living in a world with disabilities. This book helps communicate how disabled people are not lesser in any way, and are perfectly able and willing to lead happy lives if given the proper chance. A must read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Ableism, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, Sexism, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Medical content, Genocide, Death, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Police brutality, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia

arlingtonchamberofgay's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Chronic illness, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Mental illness