Based on the pioneering New York Times series, this volume collects the personal essays and reflections that have transformed the national conversation around disability.
While there's something of value in each of these essays, partially because they don't toe to a single party line but rather explore the nuances of various disabilities, there's an unfortunate dearth of writers with intellectual disabilities in this collection. I also noticed that certain sections focused more on people who've acquired a disability during their lifetime and thus went through a process of mourning, coming to terms with, or overcoming their new conditions. While it's true — and emphasized more than once — that many of us, as we age, will become disabled, the process of normalization must begin far earlier if we're to become a society that doesn't discriminate against or segregate people with disabilities.
... 60 pieces from the series, amply fulfilling their aim of representing the diversity and richness of human experience ... The essayists convey with uncommon candor how they live with disabilities ... Although several writers resist being called inspiring, their eloquent essays are nothing less ... A rich, moving collection.
... exquisite ... disability is, refreshingly, seen as a part of daily life, even as the contributors discuss facing a 'world that does not expect us and is often not made for us' ... Demonstrating, above all, the value of persistence, Catapano and Garland-Thomson’s anthology merits a spot on everyone’s reading list for its brilliant assemblage of voices and stories.
