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A review by annemaries_shelves
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A stunning essay anthology centering disabled voices from a diverse range of authors and experiences. The collection is organized in four sections: Being, Becoming, Doing, and Connecting and each provides unique, and intersectional perspectives around this broader element of the disabled experience.
Most of the essays were under 10 pages, which made for a great sampler of each writer’s work and stories without becoming overwhelming. While there were essays I loved more than others, each one gave me something to think about and each essay made sense as part of a greater anthology whole. The trigger content warnings at the top of each relevant essay was also appreciated. And I spent the whole time reading with a pencil in hand, underlining and starring and commenting - just annotating the whole book really.
A few above and beyond elements: You can also access a plain language version of the book on the disability visibility project website, which I think is amazing. The back of the book contains bios of each contributing author as well as recommended additional reading, which I will be taking advantage of. Since Disability Visibility was primarily focused on disabled authors in the USA (with a few exceptions) the book also reinforced my desire to read from Canadian, and other non-American disability perspectives.
I recommend this as introductory/extremely important reading for everyone. For me, Disability Visibility is just the first step in reading and learning more about disability justice and exploring disabled authors’ fiction, non-fiction, and other creative works.
Most of the essays were under 10 pages, which made for a great sampler of each writer’s work and stories without becoming overwhelming. While there were essays I loved more than others, each one gave me something to think about and each essay made sense as part of a greater anthology whole. The trigger content warnings at the top of each relevant essay was also appreciated. And I spent the whole time reading with a pencil in hand, underlining and starring and commenting - just annotating the whole book really.
A few above and beyond elements: You can also access a plain language version of the book on the disability visibility project website, which I think is amazing. The back of the book contains bios of each contributing author as well as recommended additional reading, which I will be taking advantage of. Since Disability Visibility was primarily focused on disabled authors in the USA (with a few exceptions) the book also reinforced my desire to read from Canadian, and other non-American disability perspectives.
I recommend this as introductory/extremely important reading for everyone. For me, Disability Visibility is just the first step in reading and learning more about disability justice and exploring disabled authors’ fiction, non-fiction, and other creative works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Abortion, Cancer, Death, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts