“Rethinking who needs improvement” is the provocative subtitle of this book which offers a different perspective on disability that might just shift your perspective about what it means and the way that we often see and treat people with disabilities. As a disability advocate and college professor teaching undergraduates all about disability, she’s clearly used to opening people’s minds. This short book offers plenty of illuminating insights, starting with quantifying the five main disability stereotypes: pitiable freaks, moochers and fakers, bitter cripples, shameful sinners, and inspirational overcomers.
As Shew writes, they all minimize disabled people and prevent us from hearing their full stories. Ableist thinking imagines technology as the “solution” to the “problem” of disability. This creates the perception that disabled people are fundamentally flawed and in need of fixing or saving. What people rarely think about is the flip side of disability. “Deaf gain” for example, refers to what people have gained in their lives from not being able to hear. The book is filled with mind expanding observations like this. Reading it will give you an unusual look at a topic that is too often treated one dimensionally in media and culture. After reading it, you may wonder if we have been imagining who needs improvement all wrong, too.
About the Non-Obvious Book Selection of the Week:
Every week I will be featuring a new “non-obvious” book selection worth sharing. Titles featured here may be new or from the backlist, but the date of publication doesn’t really matter. My goal is to elevate great books that perhaps deserve a second look which you might have otherwise missed.
