The Disability Experience: Working Toward Belonging

by Hannalora Leavitt, Belle Wuthrich (Illustrator)

Overview

People with disabilities (PWDs) have the same aspirations for their lives as you do for yours.

The difference is that PWDs don’t have the same access to education, employment, housing, transportation and healthcare in order to achieve their goals. In The Disability Experience you’ll meet people with different kinds of disabilities, and you'll begin to understand the ways PWDs have been ignored, reviled and marginalized throughout history. The book also celebrates the triumphs and achievements of PWDs and shares the powerful stories of those who have fought for change.

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459819283
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	04/13/2021
Series:	Orca Issues Series , #5
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	422,450
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1140L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Hannalora Leavitt is a writer living in Victoria, British Columbia. She lost most of her vision by the age of 12 due to cancer and spent two years at a residential school for the blind, where she lived and learned alongside her blind peers. She works to demystify disability through her writing and public speaking, with her loyal guide dog, Ogden, at her side. Hannalora holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Victoria. The Disability Experience is her first book.

Belle Wuthrich is an illustrator and designer specializing in books for young readers. Belle has contributed to more than a dozen books for kids, a number of which have won awards or been republished internationally, including the Montaigne Medal Award–winning Eyes and Spies: How You’re Tracked and Why You Should Know and the Silver Birch Award nominee Eat Up: An Infographic Exploration of Food. She lives in Campbell, California.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Let's Talk Disability 9

2 A Brief History of Disability 33

3 The Culture of Disability 47

4 The Culture of Independence 61

5 Engineering a Brighter Future with Technology 99

6 Advocacy and the Politics of Disablity 125

A Final Word from the Author 171

Acknowledgments 172

Glossary 173

Resources 178

Photo Credits 180

Index 182

Editorial Reviews

Easy-to-follow...Offers readers who have little knowledge of people with disabilities a crash course in understanding – rather than fearing – the unfamiliar.

Quill & Quire

Leavitt has created more than just an informative introduction to disability—this book is a compelling disability experience that ensnares readers in the lives of real people with real disabilities living their lives just like anyone else. Amidst the real-life accounts and definitions, the author emphasizes the social model, the idea that society's lack of understanding and accommodations is the disabling factor. This is a comprehensive, eye-opening disability primer.”

Kara Dorris

An engaging, conversational writing style...The Disability Experience does an excellent job of explaining the disability experience and should be required reading for all teens (and adults, too). Highly Recommended.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

04/01/2021

Gr 7 Up—This book invites readers to rethink the way people with disabilities are viewed. Leavitt, who is blind, explains that people with disabilities want the same things everyone does: independence, opportunities, and the ability to reach their goals. Leavitt also details how historically those with disabilities have been seen as "other," and covers segregation within institutions, ostracism, and the use of euthanasia for those with severe disabilities. Laws such as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 were passed to protect those with disabilities. The book explains how new technology creates greater mobility and other solutions and disability represents only one aspect of a person's life. The text centers on visible (blindness, deafness, physical) and cognitive disabilities. Communication disabilities (aphasia, stuttering, and autism) are acknowledged but not discussed in depth. The illustrations and sidebars contextualize the text and highlight a diverse population and a variety of individual stories. A glossary and an index are included. The book would be useful for reports, but its strength is a narrative voice that asks readers to contemplate another point of view. The last chapter explains how people without disabilities can be helpful, and encourages readers to consider a wide variety of options. It also urges readers to vote, pay attention, and civically participate as an ally. VERDICT A strong, if not entirely comprehensive, introduction to disabilities.—Connie Williams, Petaluma, CA

School Library Journal

2021-02-09
An overview of disability history and culture.

Leavitt, herself legally blind, begins by contrasting the impairment-focused medical model of disability with the social model, which incorporates the challenges that people with disabilities encounter in everyday life. Using person-first language, she applies the social model to a vast array of topics. Subjects include the treatment of people with disabilities throughout history; the meaning of disabled culture; assistive technologies and adaptations; and challenges faced by contemporary people with disabilities in work, school, and medical settings, such as ignorance, inaccessibility, and discrimination. She bolsters her exploration of physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities with statistics enumerating disabled populations in the United States and Canada. Sidebars highlight athletes, artists, and entrepreneurs with disabilities, and expressive cartoons illustrate common scenarios; both photos and art feature ethnic diversity. The author’s personal anecdotes provide additional insight. Unfortunately, Leavitt occasionally overgeneralizes: Although people may find learning braille challenging, she asserts that she learned it at age 10, “so how hard can it be?” and the preference of many autistic people for identity-first language is not addressed. However, her candid discussions of contemporary issues, such as low employment rates and medically assisted dying, are nuanced and hard-hitting, and her acknowledgement of disability in the LGBTQ+ community is refreshing. She ends on a hopeful note, offering ways for nondisabled readers to advocate for people with disabilities.

A candid introduction to the multifaceted experiences of people with disabilities. (glossary, resources, photo credits, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews