A review by thedisabledreader
Waist-High in the World: A Life Among the Nondisabled by Nancy Mairs

funny informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

It is truly a privilege to have read this poignant series of essays that mark several important subjects in disabled lives. There are aspects of life that are not covered in other narratives that are explored with the unique perspective of a highly educated and deterioratingly disabled woman. Intersectionality from lives well lived, though lived differently, are just as important as lives lived in the mainstream, but it is rare to find such voices in markets that only value what they have made normal.

Even when disabled narratives are followed, most reduce the complex issues and people to one factor, objectify or infantilize disabled people and their lives, or make their story inspiration porn. Such stories are unacceptable but commonplace, yet funnily enough, they’re not written by disabled people. Disabled stories, narratives, lives, opinions, and experiences must be the disabled media that people consume because it is the most accurate, but one disabled person does not speak for the whole community.

Mairs does not speak for all physically disabled people, nor does she speak for all people with MS. Even she recognizes that she can only speak for herself and her experiences. Her perspective is unique and speaks for her experiences with many prominent or specific issues, and it is an important one to read to begin or continue understanding disabled experiences. She brings humanity into her life and her disability as they are inseparable as she is a disabled person.

Her wit and intellectual style of writing shape her descriptions leading to an enjoyable reading experience save for a few chapters. She scattered personal anecdotes unrelated to her themes, so the glimpses into events in her life find themselves to be out of place and falling on the ears of the wrong crowd. While they are interesting, the context of her essays and her style of writing do not provide room for her personal anecdotes to express the emotion it needs to to keep the audience engaged.

Although the study into a disabled life has aged well with its message still being extremely relevant, the use of offensive language, the r - word, is absolutely unacceptable. She did not use it insultingly, rather as the classifying language she had to include a community in her work, but her inclusivity in this matter falls flat due to the offensive rather than inclusive qualifier. She also uses ableist language that she is entitled to use, but she also advises against the usage of the term by physically nondisabled people in a thorough manner that explores the complexities of identity and language.

Her representation of her experiences as well as her observations of society reveal the challenges and joys of disabled life well. Her portrayal of disabled culture as well as society’s interactions with it makes it a must read for disabled and non disabled folks alike.
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