October 18, 2016 - 14:21
Hey, y'all. Sorry this is coming in so late.
This book has struck me for a lot of reasons. The anecdotes are honest and the humor is sincere, if wry. Living life with a disability is difficult to capture and Mairs does a beautiful job of chronicling her own journey (and, in keeping with our distrust of inspiration porn, I don't mean journey TO a cure or epiphany or transcendant inspiration, but merely a journey THROUGH life). One aspect of this book that struck me as worthy of discussion has to do with relationships. Mairs illustrates relationships in her life (not least that with her husband George) and she discusses the experience of receiving help. I'd like to discuss how Mairs tackles the problem of building relationships that are balanced and in which the support and care doesn't only flow one way, but sloshes back and forth in a balanced and helpful fashion. I deliberately avoid use of the word "equal" since I don't think any relationship would stand up to the test of absolute equality at all times. I guess I'm just curious about what people think based on this book so far. Can people with disabilities have balanced relationships?
- Riley