Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body

If you’re looking for inspiration porn, this isn’t it. This book is about the honest, lived experiences of one disabled woman with ableism, coming of age, and navigating a world designed to ostracize disabled people.

Her writing style is easy to follow, her descriptions vivid, and the care and soul outpouring that went into this book is evident.

A wonderful read to make you laugh, challenge your worldview, ask questions, and want to get coffee with the author.

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michelles_book_nook's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

⚠️ TW: ableism and medical trauma ⚠️ This book is everything and I adored every last word! This book is a beautifully written memoir focusing on the life of Rebekah Taussig and her journey with disability and everything that comes hand in hand with it. I cannot even begin to express how much a book like this means to me as a disabled wheelchair user, and I'm not ashamed to say I cried multiple times while reading this because of how relatable it was from the bigger picture of disabled life right down to the nitty gritty things like sex, medical trauma and the evolving picture of accessibility throughout different stages of life. Also, I read this as part of a buddy read for Disability Pride Month with the Non-fiction Faction group and I'm really looking forward to discussing it with other people with some of whom are also disabled or chronically ill to discuss the themes of this book from other pov's. Overall, I think everyone needs to read this book and I cannot recommend it highly enough!

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lily1304's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

This would make a good intro to disability theory for someone (like me!) who doesn't know a lot. Would make a great companion to Disability Visibility.

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leabhar_love's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

5.0

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amandaquotidianbooks's review against another edition

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emotional informative fast-paced

3.75

A great primer into ableism and living with disability in America.

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courtneyfalling's review

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.0

I think this is one of my favorite disability rights memoirs I've read recently. I started a little suspicious of it

since there's no way her first high school class had no disabled students, and her savior approach rather than considering possible alternate disability experiences in the room would've made me feel so frustrated and vulnerable as a student, and I'm usually off-put by how disability rights appeals frame "temporarily able-bodied" status, like even if you personally never become disabled, you should frickin’ care about disabled people

. But the section an essay or two in where she starts reflecting on making decisions that now fill you with shame and hurt because you literally didn’t have any other model for how to survive… I teared up. That was really well-articulated and made me much more sympathetic to the actual writing. And "I can’t trace where my desires end and my coping mechanisms begin"?!?! OOF this hit me hard and I'm going to have to sit with this for a while. I also liked her take on species adaptability and how working less and more flexibly would benefit us all, and her story about attending a 2017 Women's March with her disability rights sign made me smile a little bit as someone who was a young college student with a homemade collaged sign filled with pictures of powerful disabled women at the same time.

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reading_between_the_trees's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is a must read!! Especially if you call yourself a feminist. Disability is all too frequently left out of social justice conversations, especially feminism. Taussig explains how doing this leaves out the largest minority of people who not only deserve to be advocated for and have their needs met, but have so much to contribute!

The disability lens reshapes how we think about productivity in relation to our own self-worth, it highlights the specificity with which the physical and social worlds are structured for able-bodied and neurotypical people, and it is a force of invention and creativity. The world doesn't have to be as it is, and the spaces and structures around you are not set in stone. They can be changed and reinvented.

Unfortunately, many of us accept the world as it is, ignoring structures that trap disabled people in poor housing, unsafe marriages, and unfulfilling and/or unaccommodating jobs. I found this text very accessible, so I would recommend it to anyone looking to further their knowledge of disability studies, or as an intro to it!

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kelseyland's review

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informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Taussig's voice is incredibly engaging, open, and honest, and this collection of eight essays on topics ranging from disability and relationships to the complications of unsolicited kindness is a must-read. I also appreciated the inclusion of additional resources she provides in the epilogue, which supports her assertion throughout that her voice is one among many that should be heeded when it comes to imagining and creating an accessible world.

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