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"What Happened to You?": Writing by Disabled Women
Lois Keith was thirty-five, with a successful career, two daughters, and a partner of many years, when she was hit by a car and paralyzed from the waist down. Over the next few years, she discovered both a community of disabled people and a paucity of literature and public understanding about their lives. In response, she began soliciting the manuscripts that make up “What Happened to You?” , a candid, powerful, and often hilarious collection of fiction, essays, and poetry by women with disabilities. Coming from a wide range of backgrounds and ages, impairments and experiences, the thirty-six women included in the book write on everything from access to abuse, equality to equanimity, in what may well be the definitive volume on living with a disability. At the same time, this anthology tells a universal story about dealing with pain and illness, about overcoming prejudice and unjust legislation, and about the importance, regardless of an individual’s fortitude, of creating a community.
336 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 19, 2018
I didn't realize when I picked this up that all the writers are from Great Britain, but since a lot of my reading on disability is US-centric, this was an interesting read. A lot of issues are, of course, the same, but many are not. America has the ADA, and Britain has different laws and ordinances around equal access and other disability issue. They also have different social work and social net programs.
Keith includes both people with obvious disabilities like being deaf, blind, or in a wheelchair but also includes people whose lives ride the border between "illness" and "disability" like women who are on disability because of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or juvenile arthritis. It includes a mix of fiction short stories, poetry, and essays.
As with any compilation, some are better than others. I was struck by just how good a lot of the poetry was, which isn't necessarily my favorite in anthologies like this. I particularly liked everything by the editor, Lois Keith, as well as poems by an Irish woman named Mary Duffy who was a "thalidomide baby". Her poems are OUTSTANDING and I would love to be her friend. Keith was also careful to include several disabled lesbians as well as non-white disabled women. She was also careful not to make people stick to any kind of party line on disability, so there are subtle nuances in how the women perceive their place in society and how much activism is a part of their lives. The book is broken up into four sections by theme, but they're very loosely grouped. You'd expect a lot of them to be about the shock of adjustment or the sense of loss, but a lot of them are about just the everyday life of getting around in a wheelchair or dealing with well-meaning friends who say hurtful things. As women, they have interesting things to say about sexuality and parenting as well.
I really enjoyed this and recommend it highly.
Keith includes both people with obvious disabilities like being deaf, blind, or in a wheelchair but also includes people whose lives ride the border between "illness" and "disability" like women who are on disability because of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or juvenile arthritis. It includes a mix of fiction short stories, poetry, and essays.
As with any compilation, some are better than others. I was struck by just how good a lot of the poetry was, which isn't necessarily my favorite in anthologies like this. I particularly liked everything by the editor, Lois Keith, as well as poems by an Irish woman named Mary Duffy who was a "thalidomide baby". Her poems are OUTSTANDING and I would love to be her friend. Keith was also careful to include several disabled lesbians as well as non-white disabled women. She was also careful not to make people stick to any kind of party line on disability, so there are subtle nuances in how the women perceive their place in society and how much activism is a part of their lives. The book is broken up into four sections by theme, but they're very loosely grouped. You'd expect a lot of them to be about the shock of adjustment or the sense of loss, but a lot of them are about just the everyday life of getting around in a wheelchair or dealing with well-meaning friends who say hurtful things. As women, they have interesting things to say about sexuality and parenting as well.
I really enjoyed this and recommend it highly.
May 16, 2012
I know one of the hardest things to do as a writer is to stay motivated. I think this is doubly hard if you are also disabled. Nothing is easy and nothing can be taken for granted when you have disability. Just finished reading one of the most inspiring, poignant, heart rending books. The collection is a mish mash of essays and poems, all connected through the voices of disabled women writers. The message is one of empowerment built on the back of physical and emotional pain. It's strident, in turns angry and loving, reflective and impulsive, and viewed solely from a feminine view. And by God it should be! The women in this anthology have something to say and it's worth hearing.
April 10, 2010
For me, this book is about the things that most people take for granted and how that arrogance and ignorance is embedded within our language, buildings (literally) and social interactions. A must read for anyone!
January 31, 2009
This is book is a 4.5. It was a really good mix of short stories and poems, written from a lot of perspectives.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews