The Fight For Disability Justice: 6 Powerful Memoirs

Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong

In Chinese culture, the tiger is deeply revered for its confidence, passion, ambition, and ferocity. That same fighting spirit resides in author Alice Wong. Drawing on a collection of original essays, previously published work, conversations, graphics, photos, commissioned art by disabled and Asian American artists, and more, Alice uses her unique talent to share an impressionistic scrapbook of her life as an Asian American disabled activist, community organizer, media maker, and dreamer. She encourages nondisabled readers to accept and confront their own ableism and the role it plays in everyday life.

From her love of food and pop culture to her unwavering commitment to dismantling systemic ableism, Alice shares her thoughts on creativity, access, power, care, the pandemic, mortality, and the future. As a self-described disabled oracle, Alice traces her origins, tells her story, and creates a space for disabled people to be in conversation with one another and the world. Filled with incisive wit, joy, and rage, Wong’s Year of the Tiger offers a glimpse into an activist’s journey to finding and cultivating community and the continued fight for disability justice.

Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me by Franke James

For Teresa Heartchild, an artist, self-advocate and author who has Down syndrome, everything changed when the right to choose where to live was taken away from her. Teresa’s activist older sister, Franke James, gives a true account of the arduous path that led to Teresa’s wrongful institutionalization in a nursing home and her eventual rescue. 

The memoir depicts complex dynamics between family members and the harsh ableism directed toward Teresa — but it also celebrates growth, change and humanity. The book is a portrait of Teresa’s life, her autonomy, intelligence and endless capabilities. It also shows Franke, her husband Bill, and her and Teresa’s aging father, as they arm themselves with information about Teresa’s rights, Canadian law, and a determination to record everything. They are prepared to ensure the best possible life for Teresa, no matter what it takes. 

(Read the review and check out this interview with the author.)

Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig

This memoir-in-essays from Rebekah Taussig paints a nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most. Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig never saw disability depicted in the way she experienced it. As she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling.

Writing about what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit — and a world that fails to make room — Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life. Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity.

My Picture Perfect Family: What Happens When One Twin Has Autism by Marguerite Elisofon

On December 26th, 1990 Marguerite Elisofon gave birth to premature twins: Samantha and Matthew. Marguerite and her husband soon noticed their daughter lagged behind her brother and then learned that Samantha was on the autism spectrum. Most “experts” weren’t optimistic about her chances of leading a “normal” life and prepared the Elisofons for the worst. But Marguerite and her family refused to accept these limitations — nothing could shake this mother’s determination to hold her family together, and nothing could deter Samantha’s tremendous persistence, boundless energy and drive to succeed.

My Picture Perfect Family is a universal story about the struggles and successes of a family determined to leave no child behind. It’s a tale of unconditional love, a portrait of authentic parenthood, and a message of hope to all families. Most of all, it’s a true story about never giving up on your child or your family.

Watch Booktrib’s video interview with the author.

Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma

This memoir tells the incredible life story of Haben Girma, the daughter of refugees and the first Deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School, as she embarks on a journey from isolation to the world stage.

Haben defines disability as an opportunity for innovation. She learned non-visual techniques for everything from dancing salsa to handling an electric saw. She developed a text-to-braille communication system that created an exciting new way to connect with people. Haben pioneered her way through obstacles, graduated from Harvard Law, and now uses her talents to advocate for people with disabilities as a lawyer. With a focus on intersectionality, she pushes for leadership to implement institutional change across the country.

Haben takes readers through a thrilling game of blind hide-and-seek in Louisiana, a treacherous climb up an iceberg in Alaska, and a magical moment with President Obama at The White House. Warm, funny, thoughtful, and uplifting, this captivating memoir is a testament to one woman’s determination to find the keys to connection.

All Our Families: Disability Lineage and the Future of Kinship by Jennifer Natalya Fink

Disability is often, in our culture, described as a tragedy, a crisis, or an aberration, though 1 in 5 people worldwide have a disability. Why is this common human experience rendered exceptional? In All Our Families, disability studies scholar and mother Jennifer Natalya Fink argues that this originates in our families. When we cut a disabled member out of the family story, disability remains a trauma as opposed to a shared and ordinary experience.

Weaving together stories of members of her own family’s history of disability with sociohistorical research, Fink illustrates how the eradication of disabled people from family narratives is a result of our racist and sexist care systems and the destructive eugenics movement. Fink calls for a lineage of disability: a reclamation of disability as a history, a culture, and an identity. The author makes a call for a radical reimagining of care, family and kinship when it comes to disability.