Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig
Summary: Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling. Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit, Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life. Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. By exploring this truth in poignant and lyrical essays, Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity. Sitting Pretty challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.
In this combination memoir, essay collection, and call to action, Rebekah Taussig invites the reader to consider disability from a different perspective. “Instead of disability as the limitation,” she asks, “what if a lack of imagination was the actual barrier?” She shares stories from her life, which are at turns wry, hilarious, and poignant, but always she ties her experiences to a larger message: What does it mean to be truly inclusive? She lays out how depictions of marginalized people in media affect our society at a granular level, and shows everyone is disadvantaged when some voices are silenced. Taussig’s writing is mesmerizing, and she articulates deep truths in straightforward prose. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the book:
“Inclusion isn’t better just because it’s kinder. We should bring disabled perspectives to the center because these perspectives create a world that is more imaginative, more flexible, more sustainable, more dynamic and vibrant for everyone who lives in a body.”
The Words in My Hands by Asphyxia
Summary: Part coming of age, part call to action, this #ownvoices novel about a Deaf teenager is an exploration of what it means to belong. Set in an ominously prescient near future, this is the story of Piper. Sixteen, smart, artistic, and rebellious; she’s struggling to conform to what her mom wants–for her to be ‘normal, ‘ to pass as hearing, and get a good job. But in a time of food scarcity, environmental collapse, and political corruption, Piper has other things on her mind–like survival. Deaf since the age of three, Piper has always been told that she needs to compensate in a world that puts those who can hear above everyone else. But when she meets Marley, a whole new world opens up–one where Deafness is something to celebrate rather than hide, and where resilience and hope are created by taking action, building a community, and believing in something better.
Set in Australia a few decades into the future, this compelling novel presents a world where most of the population is dependent on Organicore, a food substitute that has improved nutrition and eradicated cancer and other diseases, but at the cost of estranging the population from so-called “wild food” – and possibly introducing other health problems. In the midst of this we meet Piper, a deaf teen who has grown up as an oral deaf person, relying on hearing aids and speechreading to get by. When the economy tanks and there are shortages of everything – including Organicore – Piper and her mother rent out their house and move into a tiny guesthouse, conserving the little power that is left to them. Piper meets a handsome CODA (child of deaf adult) named Marley and through him is introduced to Auslan (Australian Sign Language) for the first time. As she falls for Marley, she meets his Deaf mother and learns about growing things in the earth and growing a sense of identity and language in her soul. Piper lives out what Deaf educator Gina Oliva calls the “MET DEAF WOW” moment that so many orally educated deaf young adults experience. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al6I8… ) She begins to understand that she is not alone and there is a whole community of people like her, with deep connections and ease of communication. As she becomes more engaged in their world, her confidence grows and she joins the wild food revolution, converting the public space on her street into a thriving community garden. Interspersed with Piper’s drawings, the text pulls the reader in from the first page. Unlike many books with deaf (and Deaf) characters, The Words in My Hands never glosses over the relentlessness of the struggle for communication in the hearing world, and how much of that burden usually falls on Piper. When Piper is forced to rely on speechreading, the reader is shown the nonsense that she gets from the other person’s lips and sees in real time the work she has to do into order to construct meaning. The readers also gets to experience the blossoming of communication alongside Piper as she learns Auslan and comes into her own Deaf identity. An extraordinary book on many levels.
As my co-author Manuela Bernardi and I worked on our book, She Spoke: 14 Women Who Raised Their Voices and Changed the World (along with another project we hope to be able to share with you soon!), we learned about so many fierce and inspiring women whose stories have not been shared as often as they should be. So we are thrilled to bring you this interview with Jen Bryant, author of the very first picture book biography of Patsy Takemoto Mink.
About the Book: Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight: Patsy Takemoto Mink and the Fight for Title IX
text by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Toshiki Nakamura
Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins
January 25, 2022
ISBN 9780062957221, hardcover $17.99, 48 pages
ages 4 and up
At an early age, Patsy Takemoto Mink learned that working toward a goal could come with challenges. But she never gave up. As the Japanese proverb says, fall down seven times, stand up eight. That spirit helped Patsy throughout her life. She wanted to become a doctor, but medical schools refused to admit her because of her gender. So … Patsy carved her own path. She went to law school, ran for a seat in the United States Congress, and helped create Title IX, the law that requires federally funded schools to treat boys and girls equally. Although many people tried to knock her down, Patsy always got up again. She was a historic trailblazer who championed equal rights and helped create a better future for all Americans.
As someone who has enjoyed and participated in athletics from a young age, I am always on the lookout for topics related to that. I had such fun researching and writing ABOVE THE RIM: HOW ELGIN BAYLOR CHANGED BASKETBALL (Abrams, 2020, illus. by Frank Morrison), that I wanted to do more. My agent, Alyssa Henkin of Birch Path Literary, and I were discussing the fact that Title IX, the law that provided gender equity in education and athletics, would be fifty years old in 2022. There were already some wonderful books out about that very important piece of legislation—but none that focused on the life of Patsy T. Mink, who was a co-sponsor and driving force behind Title IX. As a high school athlete, I benefitted directly from the increased support for women’s athletics, so it was truly an honor to bring Mink’s story to life.
What lessons can readers take from Patsy Mink’s story?
A duruma doll
To be honest I’m very careful not to think about “lessons” when I choose a topic or create a picture book text. Instead, I try to share the person’s life story as accurately and lyrically as I possibly can—and if lessons arise from that naturally, then that’s great. In this case, I think the idea of never giving up and of being persistent in one’s goals despite setbacks and failures, is what comes through. The title “FALL DOWN SEVEN TIMES, STAND UP EIGHT” is an old Japanese folk saying that reflects that concept. The daruma doll—which is a recurring symbol in the book—also embodies it. I love how illustrator Toshiki Nakamura carried that image right through the pages and made it come alive! In addition, I think Patsy’s own life was a model for women of her generation and beyond as they struggled to be seen as equals in professions such as higher education, law, and medicine.
What is your favorite detail or story about Patsy Mink that didn’t make it into the book?
There’s always so much great stuff that I read, watch, listen to, and makes notes about that never gets into the books I write. This one is no exception! I spent a week in Washington, D.C. poring over the Patsy T. Mink papers at the Library of Congress. I was enthralled by her family photos, her scrapbooks (she took hula lessons as a young girl), and her letters to family members. She was very close to her brother and to her whole extended family and made sure she got back to Hawaii for important events even when she was serving in Congress (and you have to remember that this was the 1960s and 70s when air travel wasn’t what it is today.)
I was also incredibly moved by the letters Mink received while in Congress from women who, just like her, were rejected from medical and law schools, or were passed over for promotions in higher education, simply because they were female. It was both heartbreaking and infuriating to read those letters and underscored why legislation like Title IX was so critical!
How did you become a writer? Very slowly and quite accidentally. I majored in languages (French and German) in college (Gettysburg College in central PA) and for the first few years after graduating, I taught those languages in high school. I also worked in a bank, a clothing store, art gallery and had other jobs before I started thinking about writing. I left full-time teaching after our daughter was born and started doing some freelance work for a small gift-book company. I also started reading and writing more nonfiction and poetry—and in 1991, after a lot of rejections, I had my first nonfiction books published. Looking back, they were very different from what I do now, but I put my head down and tried to build on them in order to learn as much as I could about both the creative and the business side of writing.
What’s next? What are you working on now?
I’m working on a second picture book biography with editor Alex Cooper at HarperCollins. Still a bit early to say much more about that one now . . . but the subject is, indeed, another inspiring woman!!
About Jen Bryant
Jen Bryant, author. Photo by Elizabeth Fontecchio.
Jen Bryant writes picture books, novels, and poems for readers of all ages. Her books have received the Sibert Medal, two Caldecott Honors, two Schneider Family Book Awards, and two Orbis Pictus Awards. Jen and illustrator Melissa Sweet have collaborated on biographies of creative artists and writers, including A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin and The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus. Jen’s biography SIX DOTS, a Story of Louis Braille, illustrated by Boris Kulikov, is available in Japanese, Korean, Hebrew and also in a print/ braille version. Jen’s book Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball, a civil rights story illustrated by Frank Morrison and published by Abrams, was the 2021 NCTE Orbis Pictus winner. Jen lives with her family in Pennsylvania.
2021 Rise: A Feminist Book Project List. This excellent list of 2020 titles, divided into Early Readers, Middle Grade, and Young Adult categories, with fiction and nonfiction categories, highlights quality feminist literature for young readers. She Spoke was an honoree on last year’s list, and we are so excited to see the excellent company it continues to have, with so many books that provide inspiration for young readers. In the words of the Rise Committee: “As we take stock of what we have lost, we must continue to fight. We must hold both in our hearts: the past and the future.” Congratulations to all of the honorees!
CHARM hosts “Oh the Places Your Mind Can Go,” a weekly video series featuring local authors who invite you to explore the world without leaving your home. Everyone is welcome to pick up a pencil (or phone) and join these weekly writing journeys, AND you can submit your response to CHARMS’s online publication. (There are prizes, too!) Check out my episode (which of course puts a fantasy twist on the theme of place!), as well as previous episodes featuring YA novelist Karen Hattrup and memoirist and poet Sheri Booker, at http://linktr.ee/charmlitmag.
Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig
Stories By Hand with Kathy MacMillan 