Reviews tagging 'Death'

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

26 reviews

waybeyondblue's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Mental illness, Bullying, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, and Body shaming

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death, Medical content, and Homophobia

maddy4prezident's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

Read this book for a book club at work, and overall, I really enjoyed it. I thought the flow and thematic ties in the essays were excellent, and I loved that they all offered very beautiful and powerful perspectives on disability and disability justice. Some of the essays felt slightly more basic and redundant than others, but overall it was really enjoyable and informative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Medical trauma, Police brutality, and Racism

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Minor: Cancer and Child abuse

In this collection of essays, trigger warnings for each individual essay are included at the start of each essay.

kelleykamanda's review

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

megj23's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma and Ableism

Minor: Death

chronicacademia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Racism, Sexism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Abortion, Bullying, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

booksjessreads's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is such an eye-opening anthology of essays from disabled people to speak their realities of being disabled in such an ablest world. The stories were so deeply personal and evoked so much emotion. I liked how through the audio, the essays felt more like dialogue with the reader, or like an official talk. Alice Wong and Alejandra Ospina read this with the right tone and made it so digestible despite the heavier content. 

This book does not solely focus on disability, but contributors also discuss further intersections of identity, such as gender, sexuality, age, race and religion. This allows the reader to understand how society further disadvantages those with these intersections and offers a deeply moving and rage-inducing account of US society. 

I enjoyed the audio so much I am getting my own print version to get more familiar with the text. This is essential reading and is one of the most informative reads I have read this year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Racism, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Ableism, Transphobia, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Fatphobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death and Pregnancy

amberinbookland's review against another edition

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

sweetsimplenothing's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, and Death

Minor: Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative lighthearted sad fast-paced

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. Alice Wong as the editor has gathered a wide range of essays and interviews from people with disabilities, and the collection covers a huge range of topics. I liked the approach of reading about the different aspects of disabilities that people wanted to discuss; topics range from medical care, discrimination, wheelchairs and artificial limbs, transportation, and accessible clothing. I appreciated the wide selection of topics. The only flaw I would say with this book is that some of the essays are so short (three pages), that the reader is left wanting more. A few felt like they introduced a topic and then abruptly ended. Overall, a very strong collection of narratives and a fast read!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racism, Fatphobia, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Ableism, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Self harm, and Sexual harassment