by Rosemary Brown
“I am not a mistake waiting to be fixed” – June Eric-Udorie
In Disability Visibility, Alice Wong has edited an insightful and revealing collection of stories by the disabled. Wong is a “disability activist, media maker, research consultant, and founder of the Disability Visibility [online] Project and Podcast.”
Much more powerful than an academic treatise on what it means to live with a disability, are the voices of those with lived experience: the blind, deaf, autistic, brain injured, mobility impaired, and chronically ill. Furthermore, many of the contributors have multiple identities based on race, gender, and class.
While each voice and story is unique, common themes emerge: societal misconceptions about the value and meaning of the lives of the disabled; attitudes encountered in the medical system; the lack of stylish clothing that suits the needs of those with disabilities; barriers faced accessing public transit and/or using handi-buses; low expectations from others or being treated like a child; the absence of disability justice from other progressive movements; the role of technology in overcoming some barriers; the value of interdependence and collective care among those with disabilities; and dreams of a future where not only are the disabled included and represented, but where their voices count.
Several stories stand out in my mind. There is the astronomer, who after going blind developed a process by which the numbers used to track the movement of gamma rays expelled from supernovas are turned into sound, allowing him to continue his research. He has since gone on to advocate for the inclusion of the disabled in other scientific fields.
Then there is the man diagnosed as intellectually disabled, who until his early 20s spent years in an institution and group homes where he was treated as if he would never do or amount to much. He went on to become successfully employed, marry, have children, and volunteer in the community.
There is the blind woman’s story of discovering her sexuality; the mobility impaired woman who uses a power chair and a special vehicle to enhance her capacity to parent; and the blind and queer woman who folds her anger and frustration with societal attitudes into paper cranes.
There is also the disabled woman who designs clothing specifically for those who are trans, fat (her term, reclaiming and owning it), and/or disabled; and then the writer who pairs up with a friend who is also brain injured to write her novel; and the dancer who dances with her wheelchair.
These are just a few of the stories and voices found in this book. I highly recommend reading it, especially as our provincial government is now cutting off funding to disabled self-advocacy groups at a time when their voices are sorely needed more than ever.
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