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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
Loved the set up, writing style and premise of this book. The history was engaging and seemed appropriate to each time period discussed. Loved learning about the evolution of what a disability is considered in the United States. The earliest ideas of it being so common that it was rarely considered and that educating women was considered a way for them to become mentally disabled (Mad). Great Read and it will be recommended.
informative
fast-paced
informative
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challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Understandably this book is not a super-detailed or in-depth deep dive into disability history due to its length. It glosses over quite a lot, but I did really appreciate the early American (pre & post-settler colonialism) history, as well as the history regarding the changes brought about through industrialization and its affects on both the disabled and the public's perception of disability.
informative
medium-paced
This is such a readable piece of research - if only all historians and various scholars could write with such clarity! It comes across as a great entry-level text for disability studies, and I say that as someone who reads very little in disability studies and is therefore quite ignorant, but who was consistently interested and informed as I read this. Please note that when I say that it's entry-level, I don't mean to be disparaging. It's just that this book covers a period of several hundred years, ranging from pre-1492 to the present, and (excluding things like notes and index) it does it in less than 200 pages. That's a relatively short page length to cover such a span, and so I'm left feeling that I've just read a very competent overview of a very complicated topic... a generalist approach that provides useful context before readers can delve into texts of greater specificity.
As someone who likes to read generalist texts in the sciences, books like this one can be invaluable, both to experts and to interested novices. The readability I mentioned earlier underlines this, eschewing theory for personal stories taken from letters and articles and lived experiences during different time periods. Nielsen's linking of perceived disability to economic capacity is a convincing one given the cultural context of the history she's relating, and it's got me thinking about disability in new ways. (New to me, anyway.)
The whole thing was just extremely lucid and very informative. I enjoyed it immensely.
As someone who likes to read generalist texts in the sciences, books like this one can be invaluable, both to experts and to interested novices. The readability I mentioned earlier underlines this, eschewing theory for personal stories taken from letters and articles and lived experiences during different time periods. Nielsen's linking of perceived disability to economic capacity is a convincing one given the cultural context of the history she's relating, and it's got me thinking about disability in new ways. (New to me, anyway.)
The whole thing was just extremely lucid and very informative. I enjoyed it immensely.
informative
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
A great overview of not just a history of disability rights in the US, but also of the definition of what a disability has been considered to be over the entire history of the country beginning with the indigenous tribes before colonization. The latter of this is what I found the most enlightening and thought provoking. It's quite a short read, so in no way can cover everything, but is obviously intended as a jumping off point not as a in-depth study. This book made me analyze what I thought I knew about not simply disabilities but the way people (both who would today be considered disabled and not) across our history have been treated. Highly recommend.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
fast-paced