cover image My Body Politic: A Memoir

My Body Politic: A Memoir

Simi Linton, . . Univ. of Michigan, $25.95 (246pp) ISBN 978-0-472-11539-6

Linton (Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity ) is a passionate guide to a world many outsiders, and even insiders, find difficult to navigate: the world of the differently-abled. In this volume, she recounts her personal odyssey, from flower child "walkie" in 1971 to disability-rights/human rights advocate in 2005. A car accident en route to a Vietnam War protest took the lives of Linton's husband and her best friend, and left Linton in a wheelchair. In the '70s, this meant almost a year in hospitals and rehab facilities before being released to cope with Manhattan before the Americans with Disabilities Act—no cut-throughs on street curbs, unusable public transportation, rarely accessible bathrooms in public buildings and inaccessible rooms in most schools and workplaces. Linton managed, as other disabled have, but it wasn't until she went to the West Coast and discovered the growing disability rights community that she began to see her situation in a political light. Disabled people networked to discover their commonalities, then went on to demand the right to speak for their own needs. Their perspectives—on sexuality, assisted suicide, urban design, social theory—offer such valuable insight on the human condition, all our lives are enriched by incorporating their perspectives. (Jan.)