October 14, 2016 - 12:41
I really enjoyed reading this book. Mairs ties herself and the reader closer and she holds your hand as she guides you through what her life is like. She expresses the same feelings that any other person has and I think that it's important that she says that she never thought about being disabled as a young person, and that she had the same fears and attitudes that society pushes on disabled people before she herself became disabled. She shows that she has been in the shoes of the nondisabled and the disabled, so in a way she is saying she is "one of us" and that this can happen to anyone, it's not just a small marginalized group that has lived with disability all their lives. I like the way she guides us through her life as a disabled person now and doesn't try to make you feel one way or another, but just shares her story with you. Her vulnerability is moving and causes us to take pause and really think about the points she is making. A main point that she does make, is that disability is difficult enough for the individual, but that society exaggerates the helplessness of disability. Public facilities are inaccessible, the public is empathetically inaccessible, and houses are inaccessible. Society ranks disability below any other social movement like black lives matter and LGBTQIA rights, and part of this is because society is physically inaccessible let alone emotionally. So I think her point, which she also expresses through trying to redefine western literature, is really interesting and important. Just as she wants us to redefine western literature, she also wants us to redefine disability. And her constant use of metaphors throughout the book is a way to bridge the gap between the disabled and nondisabled community, since not everyone understands or knows what it's like to live with a disability. She further points out that caring for the disabled community is caring for yourself because everyone benefits from universal inclusion.
I love the ending of this book. The final few lines state that she has the option of two perspectives in life, one is to wallow in her own pity about all the things she is missing out on, and the other is to appreciate what she can access, and she chooses joy. This is a powerful statement because throughout the book she shares that she fights for control, whether that is the "right" to die, not being "that person" in her childrens' lives, or pushing her own wheelchair. She has also lost so much control over her own life: she can't walk, she can't go to the bathroom by herself, and she can't drive, in a way she's lost many of the freedoms that come with living. However, she still has freedom of her mind and by choosing joy, she is claiming the ultimate power over her situation. And I believe part of her decision to choose joy is in writing this book to expose herself in order to help others. Being disabled in of itself isn't a brave or inspirational thing, but her writing of this book is a brave and inspirational thing.