Reviews

The Disability Experience: Working Toward Belonging by Hannalora Leavitt

fliplock's review against another edition

3.0

I wish they had sent the manuscript for any deaf people to vet . Despite the Deaf community saying that they don’t like the term ‘hearing impaired’, in the segment they kept using the term along with deaf and hard of hearing. No wonder it is so hard to get the abled people to understand why the community don’t like the word when the book is written by a disabled person.

atuin's review

informative fast-paced

3.0

A good overview of disability issues in North America 

a_wilz's review

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

murryloub's review

informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.0

3/5 - As co-founder of Field Inclusive, I’m always looking for good books on disability issues & how we might accommodate those in our work. This book was pretty decent, although I didnt learn much new from it - it’s a very basic intro book with a heavy focus on sensory disabilities. The author is from Canada, so does not have to consider the financial strain of disability health care. In addition, there’s no mention of intersections of race or gender. 

However, it did a good job at highlighting some of the limitations of disability rights. For example (based on the author’s true story), if a PWD needs to bring their service dog into the doctor’s office, but the doctor denies due to his dog allergies, who is in the right? What should be done about that? What if it was the same scenario, but with a restaurant owner? Definitely much to consider when it comes to accessibility & inclusivity. I also appreciated that it was short & engaging!

lmy612's review

informative medium-paced

5.0

A very good book that gives us (especially able bodied people) a look into the lives persons with disabilities (PWD) and how the world can easily accommodate — but, more often than not, it doesn’t. 

As the parent of a child with a neurodivergent disability, and myself having a parent with physical disabilities, I found this book very informative as there is always more room for us to improve and grow. 

This book was written for YAs but it is appropriate for all ages, and could easily be read to and discussed with younger children. It’s an excellent way to help all of us understand more about the lives of PWD. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

nowjamie's review

informative fast-paced

3.5

carlybailey's review

3.0

I chose this book to fulfill my non-fiction requirement.

I would teach this book in class because it gives a good introduction to what it's like to live life as a disabled person. It was written for young adult able-bodied people. This should be taught in schools because it allows students to see that there is nothing wrong with having a disability. It's difficult because the world was made for able-bodied people. This book makes students more considerate to those around them.

Drugs: None
Sex: None
Language: None
Rock&Roll: Describes the difficulties, frustrations, and marginalizations of disabled people
Violence: None

macklin's review

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Not really inclusive. No mention of how race intersects with disability. But a good primer for some basic stuff about disability rights. 

laurelsmith3's review

informative medium-paced

4.0

jennms_qkw's review

4.0

This Disability Rep book is written from a Canadian perspective and it is still a valuable review of this topic, written for middle grades.

It is also own voices.