A review by leguinstan
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This essay anthology is simply phenomenal!! Alice Wong did a fantastic job as an editor. The essays in Disability Visability are incredibly diverse and I personally felt that there was something to take away from nearly all of the essays in the collection.

When I say that this work is diverse, I don't simply mean that in regards to author's cultural backgrounds and identities (race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.). Some of the essays are extremely political while others are more personal and intimate in nature. Some are about promoting accessiblity in certain industries while others are about the failings of services put into place for disabled individuals. I deeply appreciate the intersectional and communal focus of Disability Visability and also appreciate the (very justified) rage that was expressed in many of the essays. Respectability politics? We don't know her!

There are  so many wonderful essays and I found it more difficult than usual to pick out my favorites. But here are some of my personal favorites:
  • "Unspeakable Conversations" by Harriet McBryde Johnson
  • "Radical visibility : A Disabled Queer Clothing Reform Movement Manifesto" by Sky Cubacub 
  • "Guide Dogs Don't Lead Blind People. We Wander as One" by Haben Girma
  • "Imposter Syndrome and Parenting With a Disability" by Jessica Slice
  • "Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time" by Ellen Samuels
  • "Love Means Never Having to Say... Anything" by Jamison Hill

Highly recommended!!
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