Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism by Elsa Sjunneson

11 reviews

alwaysshure's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

Content Warnings

bookishmillennial's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

“It is a truth universally unacknowledged that you could become disabled at any point in your life. No matter how perfectly your limbs, eyes, ears, and whatever else works, it could all change in an instant.”

I am not someone who believes that you must find a way to connect to/have something directly impact you to care, so I do think the above quotation is important for people to get through their dense heads, but I also think we should build a more accessible world just because it's the right thing to do. Not everything has to be about *us* in order to make choices that promote accessibility and disability justice and equity.

Anyway, this was a fantastic, informative read which provided such a valuable disabled perspective - I listened to the audiobook on Everand, and if that's accessible to you, I really enjoyed that format. Sjunneson has chapters on dating, representation in media, navigating physical spaces like Comic Con, fandom, eugenics, inspiration porn, gender expressions and their impact on how a disabled person is treated, healthcare, police brutality, sexual/emotional/physical abuse, and much more. She notes both her lived experience, as well as societal attitudes and norms, and I really am so grateful that Sjunneson so graciously shared all of this with us.

I highly recommend ALL non-disabled folks to read this, and if you are a disabled person, I think there is value and a need to commiserate and lament with someone who just gets it. I think this should be required reading for anyone who is not as familiar with disability justice or the intersection of disability yet. I also just think everyone should read this!

Other quotations that stood out to me (I may just buy a physical or digital copy so I can go back and highlight more!):

“I was enough before ableism came for me. My dearest wish is that society will learn to accept disabled bodies as whole, instead of viewing disabled bodies as lesser than, instead of creating value judgements based on how a disabled person accesses their world.

Wholeness is not determined by how many eyes you have or how many working ears you have. It doesn't depend on which limbs work or how many of them you have, either. Wholeness is about personhood, and honoring the bodies of your fellow humans.”

“The English language is perniciously ableist. We speak in metaphor that constantly puts down disabled bodies, with phrases like "turning a blind eye" and "it fell on deaf ears" falling from our lips so easily. People often tell me it's not that big of a deal. But, of course, if you've been listening to your language make you sound stupid, ignorant, and useless for your entire life, when you've made a profession out of the craft of language, you cannot help but find pain in the ways that language cuts you to the quick."

Content Warnings

bi_n_large's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

northernzephyr's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

bookwyrmknits's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful informative medium-paced

4.0

This is a highly important book, especially for abled people to learn more about the challenges that disabled people face. It helped me to understand some of the unconscious biases I have against disabled people, and some of the ways that we need to change society to be more equal for the disabled. I encourage everyone to read this book with an open mind.

Content Warnings

heydebigale's review

Go to review page

challenging funny informative medium-paced

5.0

I adored this memoir. It’s so funny & snarky & informative & difficult. Highly recommend this book.

I learned so many things from this book. Even being aware of ableist language that is so pervasive, I learned and was reminded of words and phrases we do casually use that perpetuates incredible harm.

While my disability is completely different from Elsa’s I found certain aspects of this book incredibly relatable. Particularly the chapter on motherhood and disability. I was also discouraged from having children because of my disability. I hadn’t thought to label that eugenics, but it is.

My only teeny-tiny complaint is that I was super excited to read Elsa’s critique of ableism in the romance genre (because it’s a problem!), but all of the romantic books that Elsa referred to are not genre romance. So that was a bummer because I’d love to hear Elsa’s thoughts on Phoebe and Trevillion (for example).

I did a mix of audio and print and the Audio is narrated by Elsa and it’s very funny! Highly recommend both versions of the book.

Content Warnings

hendrixpants's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

sockfood1's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

amandaquotidianbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I loved how this blended memoir, anti-abelism manifesto and pop culture critique. I also loved the discussion of intersecting identities within different ableist spaces.

Content Warnings

quinwithonen's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny informative fast-paced

4.75

Content Warnings

More...