Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong
53 reviews
kirstym25's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Medical trauma, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Racism, Mental illness, and Sexual assault
wandering_canuck's review
5.0
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.
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
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Mental illness, Bullying, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, and Body shaming
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death, Medical content, and Homophobia
yourbookishbff's review
5.0
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?”
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
4.5
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
zombiezami's review against another edition
4.0
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
leguinstan's review
5.0
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!!
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
5.0
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
5.0
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
chronicacademia's review
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