From Trigger to Tool: A Journey Through Ableism
I’ve spent the last hour sitting with my thoughts, trying to digest this book—not only because I loved the visibility it provides for the disability community, but because I see so much of myself reflected in its pages. This is easily one of the most vulnerable reviews I will write this month. I won’t say “this year,” because after reading this, I am making it my mission to seek out more books by disabled authors and dive deeper into these topics. While I work with a diverse population, navigating life in a wheelchair is my personal reality. I have lost friends because of it, but through those experiences, I have gained a clear understanding of what I am willing to put up with and which barriers I am determined to break.
The word “ableism”—defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as discrimination in favor of able-bodied people—is a term that no longer triggers me. We are not a “handicapped” community; we are handicapable. This book opened my eyes to why a truly accessible society is a world worth working toward, even if it is currently hard to imagine and requires much more effort. Taussig educates her readers by revealing assumptions they didn’t even know they had, helping them see through an often-overlooked lens as she reflects on her life as a disabled person.
I want to acknowledge that this is not every disabled person’s lens, nor does it capture all the dark times we go through, but it provides the framework for someone like me to feel seen and heard. This book makes you think deeper about how making accommodating changes to help one group actually helps everyone. It teaches that many social norms and stereotypes are simply incorrect and shows that we must put ourselves in others’ experiences before we can truly understand them.
I really enjoyed learning from Rebecca and hope to continue educating myself on how disability is seen, talked about, and approached. I definitely want more insight and look forward to exploring the resources Taussig mentions at the end. I gave this 4 stars only because it is a fairly short book; I would have liked the anecdotes to be a little more fluid or to go into a bit more detail. That said, the author’s narration on the audio version was fab. My heart is full knowing that I know what love feels like and that my body and wheelchair are normal to me now—I just hope that one day, they become the “new normal” for everyone else, too.
Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig
