Edited by Diane Driedger and L(ani) Zastre
In Disability Ways, d/Deaf and disabled people write about how their disability benefits them and how our communities, cultures and society are enriched through a disability perspective. Society has tended to view disability as a tragedy, as something to be fixed, as a negative force and burden. This anthology turns this view on its head. It includes the contributions of 33 people, from across Canada, and California. Read, and tally the disability gains.
Cost and Book Formats: The book is available in two formats—hard copy and e-book. A paperback hard copy is $30 plus shipping cost, and the e-book is $20. With a purchase of a book, you will receive a $20 1-year AANM membership for free.
Table of Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….8
1 | Ways of Being
Metamorphosis………………………………………………………………………………11
Alexandra Arthurs
Let me count the ways: a non-sonnet of housebound disability………………13
J.E. Barnard
There is Nothing You Can Say Right Now…………………………………………….17
Mandy Sita Orchard
mycelium…………………………………………………………………………………………19
Debbie Strange
The First Link……………………………………………………………………………………20
Anastasia Kory
A Mountain………………………………………………………………………………………22
Thomas Duret
A Lexicon for Living with Chronic Pain………………………………………………26
Rowan McCandless
Butterfly Window……………………………………………………………………………….30
Bella Melardi
I Am a Song: How Music Helped Me Find Myself Again……………………….33
Alex Yeboah
How an Art Class Saved My Life………………………………………………………….38
Ashley Holloway
Juice…………………………………………………………………………………………………..41
Shantell Powell
2 | Ways of Knowing
I Was That Kid……………………………………………………………………………………..43
Angela Taylor
In the Moment………………………………………………………………………………………..46
Sandra Terra
A Little Bit of Hair: The Intersection of Chronic Illness
and Queer Expression…………………………………………………………………………….49
J.L. Kies
I Wear My Strangeness on My Sleeve………………………………………………………53
Sarah Thérèse Pelletier
Deceptive Rivers (A partial inventory of chronic disease – 1970’s
to 2025)………………………………………………………………………………………………….55
Maureen Medved
This Paper is a Threat: Disability, The Sacred, Artistic, and Feral……………….59
Andi Leaf Pankratz
Ways of Seeing: Disability Gain……………………………………………………………64
Diane Driedger
Lightning in the Grass …………………………………………………………………………..67
Rae Gunn
Working with My Brain …………………………………………………………………………70
Annika Driedger
Recipe for Joy with a Broken Body (With Notes on Taste)………………………..74
Madeleine Simmons
Hard of Hearing in Space………………………………………………………………………76
Yolande House
AVA from Winnipeg: A Story about disability GAIN!!…………………………….79
Stephen Michael
3 | Ways of Relating
Deaf Gain: How Being Deaf Builds Community, Creativity,
and Opportunity …………………………………………………………………………………..93
Jordan Sangalang
Mental: This is Not a Survival Handbook…………………………………………………97
L(ani) Zastre
Still……………………………………………………………………………………………………..101
Mel Williams
Turtling Through Pandemic Times: Thriving in the
Stay-at-Home Life………………………………………………………………………………..103
Kristen Hardy
Across Provinces and Into the Unknown: My Journey with MCS…………….106
Marie LeBlanc
Learning to Breathe……………………………………………………………………………109
Kathy Liddle
DisTrue Love……………………………………………………………………………………..113
Emily Farraige
Lending a helping hand reminds us we are in this together……………………….115
Christen Roos
“Cripping” the Script: Disability, Pleasure, and the Radical Expansion
of Desire……………………………………………………………………………………………..118
Alan Santinele Martino
blooming through abandonment……………………………………………………………..121
Kay Kassirer
Biographies………………………………………………………………………………………….124