yourbookishbff's review

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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?”

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yourfavavery's review

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challenging emotional informative

4.75


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kelleykamanda's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Damn. Read this book!

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kbairbooks's review

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.5

I loved every moment of reading this and it was my first book now that I finally have a library card back in my life. I will be highly recommending this book to everyone I can.

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elizabethkore's review

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challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

A book that should be a modern primer for disability studies and narrative. Covers a variety of topics, centering and advocating for disability narratives. Authors highlighted are from a variety of backgrounds, with physical and/or mental disabilities, and predominately QTPOC identities.

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spiritedfaraway's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

Stories are the closest we can come to shared experience… Like all stories, they are most fundamentally a chance to ride around inside another head and be reminded that being who we are and where we are, and doing what we’re doing, is not the only possibility.
       – Harriet McBryde Johnson 

Everyone should read this.



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pollyhall's review

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challenging informative sad tense slow-paced

2.0

 
This was a very slow read, I had to look up a lot of words. I would have liked to see fewer essays but with more depth. 

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deveyway's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

5.0


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leighannebfd3b's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


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yasminreads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Incredible insight into so many different personal experiences. I bought this book with the intention of educating myself but I gained so much more. The joy, strength and spirit of each writer is palpable. Its a very well curated book where each essay is as good as the one before. Each piece of writing will include a content warning if required so if any I've listed put you off, just know that they are not applicable to the entire work. 

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