A review by bohavi
Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc

3.25

This book tried to do too much at once. Although I appreciated the descriptions of Leduc’s own experience, the book lacked a certain narrative and, therefore, a purpose. From the title, I expected an in-depth analysis of well-known fairy tales that have shaped the way we look at society. The harmful portrayal of disability is definitely something worth talking about and I applaud the author for choosing such a bold topic. However, it was painfully obvious that Leduc used the fairy tales as an analogy for her own experience of disability, cherry picking the parts that resonated with her most. As is stated in many other reviews, she focuses on Ariel losing her tale, but totally overlooks her mutism. She filters the wide spectrum of disabilities and chooses the ones that are the most similar to hers. Although I can’t blame her for writing about what she clearly knows best, I can’t help but feel misrepresented by this book. As a book that covers so many topics (fairy tales, inaccessibility and social prejudices towards disabled people, as well as the writer’s medical files and her own anecdotes), it does surprisingly little to cover a broad spectrum of disabilities. It was especially hurtful when the author tried to downplay all the struggles that disabled people have. As a person who’s disability isn’t visible from the outside, it’s already difficult to convince people of my having one and expect them to adapt to my needs. 

However, overall, I think it is a decent book. Those who know little about social issues regarding disability will definitely learn a lot. Also, people who maybe share a similar experience to the author will be met with a lot of observations and reflections from her part. The parts where she talks about her childhood where especially touching. Again, I think that the book would have been much better if the author knew what their audience was and went into as much or as little detail accordingly.