Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

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

59 reviews

maeverose's review

Dnfed @ 48%

This is the second time I’ve attempted to read this - the first time was via audio and I retained very little of it - this time my ebook copy was due back to the library.

I’m not sure if I’ll attempt to read it again, hence why I’m marking it as a dnf instead of putting it back on my tbr as I normally would. I think this book is important and has a lot to offer, especially if you want an insight into the lives of actual disabled people telling their own story, as opposed to inspo porn books/movies made by non-disabled people — It just put me in a bad mood every time I picked it up. I’m currently going through a lot regarding my own disabilities, so it made me feel a bit hopeless.

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kirstym25's review against another edition

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emotional informative medium-paced

4.5

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wandering_canuck's review

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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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korourke's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Wonderful book, mostly American centred, but so thoroughly examines where we are now, what got us here, and what world we could build.

My fav essays were:
- Unspeakable Conversations by Harriet McBryde Johnson
- Common Cyborg by Jillian Weise
- How to Make a Paper Crane from Rage by Elsa Sjunneson
- Why My Novel Is Dedicated to My Disabled Friend Maddy by A.H. Reaume
- Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time by Ellen Samuels
- Times Up for Me, Too by Carolyn Gehrig
- Still Dreaming Wild Disability Dreams at the End of the World by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

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thenovelmaura's review against another edition

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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!

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gnomescottage's review

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emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

4.0

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lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

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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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