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

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative medium-paced

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

Read on audio, narrated by the author

Pub. 2021

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This is a book I’ve been meaning to read for ages and it was the perfect choice for April’s #DisabilityReadathon event. Elsa is a media studies professor from the US and she expertly critiques the harmful tropes that are repeated over and over in books, movies and TV. Her style is snarky and engaging.

I was particularly interested in the section on the portrayal of disabled characters in literature. When talking about studying The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver she says “most of all I remember that physical disability was used as a metaphor, a way to show inperfection, a way to emphasise difference. I remember raising this issue in the classroom and being told it wasn’t important. Message received: you are not as good or beautiful as your non-disabled peers.”

It was also great to read how Elsa became an activist including her journey to understanding internalised ablism which is something I’ve been working on myself too. At one point she comments: “As with everything else in this book, blind people are caught up in a terrible trap. If we dress well people will think we’re not really blind or that someone is helping us to keep up appearances. If we don’t, we’re dismissed , considered confirmation that blind people are useless and slovenly.there is no winning.”

I was very much nodding along in agreement for most of this book. These are arguments that are elegantly expressed and thought through so clearly I’ll be coming back again and again to read sections when I need some help to order my own thoughts around these topics. And My word, the chapter on disabled mothers is heartbreaking! Elsa absolutely points out that this memoir could be a hard read (and rightly doesn’t apologise for it) and it was this chapter that hit home for me.