onecrab's review against another edition
3.0
I feel like this book (with the exception of a few chapters) could be better named "Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism in the media" The book felt alienating at times by the frequent references to TV shows and movies that I haven't seen. Of the many Elsa mentioned, I have seen one - Game of Thrones. And I kept thinking, is anyone happy with their representation in media? (As someone that has worked in Chemistry for 20+ years I can assure you Breaking Bad isn't relatable for me) But, I appreciate the message Elsa is delivering here even while I wish she wasn't so broad brush strokes to the able bodied (pg 125) "Disabled Means Helpless. This one is not so funny. Unfortunately, everyone does think we're helpless victims."
The audiobook is narrated by Elsa herself.
The audiobook is narrated by Elsa herself.
zozierose's review against another edition
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
hanna_numinen's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
pagesofpins's review against another edition
4.0
The sections on The Miracle Worker and on healthcare legislation were especially eye opening.
overthinkereading's review
5.0
Oooh, this book. I don’t even have the words. The author sure does, though. No punches were pulled in this critique of everything from education, accessibility, portrayals of disability in media, medicine, even language itself. And she makes you laugh while tearing it all down. Being Seen absolutely deserved the 2022 Washington State Book Award, and is A MUST READ.
theshenners's review against another edition
4.0
Abled people with little to no knowledge of Disability activism and studies are the assumed audience for this book, so as someone who is disabled, has done some reading and coursework in disability studies, and follows the work of disabled people on social media, I didn't get as much out of some of the stuff in this book as others might. I saw a lot of familiar people and works cited and referenced in the book, which was a nice reinforcement, if nothing else.
That said, unlike the author, I am mostly able-bodied (I say "mostly" because my primary disability is mental/psychological, but I wear glasses and have other chronic physical conditions, so it's complicated) and I am not D/deaf, Blind, or Deafblind, so her accounts and insights on living with those specific disabilities were informative for me. In particular, I found her analysis of film and television portrayals of disability enlightening since I'm not really familiar with most of Western/American film and TV and therefore don't have deeper knowledge of all the historical precedents and tropes specific to that medium.
Overall, I think this book is a great starting point for abled people and people outside of academia to learn about the systems that create and sustain the oppression of disabled people. The author provides plenty of concrete examples from her life, the lives of other disabled people, as well as fictional narratives, and uses plain language to explain her points, making her work more accessible to laypeople.
That said, unlike the author, I am mostly able-bodied (I say "mostly" because my primary disability is mental/psychological, but I wear glasses and have other chronic physical conditions, so it's complicated) and I am not D/deaf, Blind, or Deafblind, so her accounts and insights on living with those specific disabilities were informative for me. In particular, I found her analysis of film and television portrayals of disability enlightening since I'm not really familiar with most of Western/American film and TV and therefore don't have deeper knowledge of all the historical precedents and tropes specific to that medium.
Overall, I think this book is a great starting point for abled people and people outside of academia to learn about the systems that create and sustain the oppression of disabled people. The author provides plenty of concrete examples from her life, the lives of other disabled people, as well as fictional narratives, and uses plain language to explain her points, making her work more accessible to laypeople.
greengaybles's review against another edition
4.0
My actual rating for this is closer to a 3.5 I think, but since Goodreads doesn't do half stars, 4 felt more fair.
I can't really articulate my thoughts yet. I'll come back to this. I did like the book, and think it's a valuable contribution to disabled literature by disabled writers, I just had some mixed feelings about the way personal opinions were sometimes attributed to an entire group. I'm only blind, not deafblind, so I can't speak to how well that was portrayed, but as a disabled queer woman in the world, I saw myself in parts of the book and didn't in others, and that's fine. Our stories are all individual.
I can't really articulate my thoughts yet. I'll come back to this. I did like the book, and think it's a valuable contribution to disabled literature by disabled writers, I just had some mixed feelings about the way personal opinions were sometimes attributed to an entire group. I'm only blind, not deafblind, so I can't speak to how well that was portrayed, but as a disabled queer woman in the world, I saw myself in parts of the book and didn't in others, and that's fine. Our stories are all individual.