Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

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

32 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

korourke's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Medical content, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Medical trauma, and Rape

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Suicide, and Violence

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

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

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

xfallenxnightx's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, Ableism, Homophobia, Medical trauma, and Domestic abuse

amberinbookland's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Excrement, Ableism, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Blood, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Medical content, and Death