By Annaham on 23 November, 2010
miss_invisible at Take a little look… (DW): Origins I often find myself wondering when, exactly, everything started. Have I always been dealing with mental illness? Have I always been, to greater or lesser degrees, disabled? At times the wondering borders on obsession, the inability of my anxious mind to let things go making me turn [...]
Posted in recommended reading | Tagged airlines, airport security, book review, books, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic illness, mental health, mental illness, multiple sclerosis, pain medicine, personal stories, stereotypes
By Ouyang Dan on 12 November, 2010
[The scene sets with OYD, a slightly pale yet never-the-less still quite indigenous woman, sitting down to her trusty Macbook Pro, a laptop named "Lappy", who has seen better days. She sets down and opens up her "drafts" tab under FWD/Forward, where she notices that egads! she has been working on this book review for over [...]
Posted in books, intersectionality, media and pop culture, poverty, race, Uncategorized | Tagged -ist language, ableist language, books, diability, disability and poverty, poverty, race, Sherman Alexie, stereotypes, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
By Anna on 30 October, 2010
So, share your thoughts! What books would you recommend? Do you see any books on this list that you want to gush about, or point out as a problem? Anything you’d love to discuss with other readers? Feel free to link reviews of the books (your own or someone else’s), especially if they specifically mention the disability-related aspect.
Posted in media and pop culture, reading list, representations | Tagged books, fiction, young adult books
By Ouyang Dan on 31 August, 2010
Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, recommended to me by The Guy, my partner of several years now, whom I thought loved me, seemed innocuous enough. I thought it a simple fantasy series woven with a love story (“woven” here should read more like a nice cudgel to the head), which I was looking for. [...]
Posted in books, disability activism, intersectionality, oyd rants, representations | Tagged ableism, Adie, Ayn Rand Lite, blind characters, books, disability, intersectionality, media and pop culture, myths and misconceptions, Objectivsm, OYD Book Reviews, pop culture, problematic attitudes, Sword of Truth series, Terry Goodkind
By s.e. smith on 27 April, 2010
A scene in which the title character (who speaks in the third person) is explaining the way his brain works to another character: ”Cognitive disorder’ is not an accurate description of what happens inside Marcelo’s head. ‘Excessive attempt at cognitive order’ is closer to what actually takes place.’ ‘Yeah? I like excessive order myself. Is [...]
Posted in normality, Quotations, representations, social attitudes | Tagged autism, autism spectrum, books
By s.e. smith on 20 March, 2010
Spoiler Notes: This post does contain some spoilerish material about Uglies. If you haven’t read the book yet you might want to wait to read this because it mentions a big reveal which is rather central to the plot! I have isolated it in its own spoilery paragraph for the benefit of those who would [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, normality, social attitudes | Tagged books, cure evangelism, normal, reading
By Chally on 23 December, 2009
Contains spoilers for A Darkling Plain, so be warned! I’ve just finished up Philip Reeve’s Hungry Cities books. They’re really good, and I’d recommend them to any young adults reading, or anyone else who is into YA. Mortal Engines, Predator’s Gold, Infernal Devices and A Darkling Plain are full of complex female characters in a [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, representations | Tagged books, disabled characters, media and pop culture, pop culture, young adult books
By s.e. smith on 20 December, 2009
Question Time is a series in which we open up the floor to you, commenters. We invite you to share as you feel comfortable. Bookwise, I mean. By which, I mean, what kind of books do you like to read? Do you read different books at different times, depending on your mood and what else [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, Question Time | Tagged books, reading
By Annaham on 10 December, 2009
A word of caution: This review is going to be quite short, as I have been struggling with “getting words out” for the past few days. Regardless, I think this is an important book, and might be of interest to my fellow FWD-ers (bloggers and commenters!). I touched upon the whole positive thinking movement (and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ableism, books, reading, the secret
By Guest on 3 December, 2009
I LOVE this book. I love that the two main characters have bodies deemed unacceptable by Western standards – Dylan because he’s a wheelchair user, Riley because she’s fat – and yet are developed as a romantic and sexy pair. I love that Dylan is not a Ministering Angel Who Inspires Us All, but a complex person who’s a moody jerk a lot of the time, but charming and wickedly entertaining a lot of the rest. Howell manages to pack a good deal of wheelchair etiquette and disability awareness into the narrative, but not preachily; mostly it comes as Dylan sarcastically noting something that Riley’s never had to consider before.
Posted in books, guest post, media and pop culture | Tagged book review, books, media and pop culture, young adult books
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