Disability Pride Month Wrap Up! _ 2022 _ Kendra Winchester

**The Importance of Disability Representation and Advocacy**

I'm happy to be able to do that. I love audiobooks and some books are just better on audio. Gauntlet thrown! You know, I'm very well aware of the privilege that I experience as someone with an invisible disability. That is slowly disappearing the older I get, the more visible it is, but most of my life I have been able to run into target and not be bothered. A lot of disabled people cannot do that. You know, people with visible conditions, disfigurements, whatever it might be, whether you use a mobility aid or anything like that . . . a service dog. If you have a visible disability, there is a higher percentage of people responding to you in a very negative way and sometimes an even violent way. And so it's really important to understand that, and so it's been really important to talk about the different types of disability and how that can present.

**Disability Rights Advocates**

So in that vein I think Carly Findlay is one of the best disability rights advocates in regards to bodily difference, particularly facial differences. She edited this anthology. I don't have her memoir in print because it's published in Australia, but I really appreciate her work, and she does such an excellent job. So please go check out her work. On that topic, recently I also read A Face for Picasso by Ariel Henley. My copy has wandered off somewhere. I don't know if I loaned it to someone or I stashed it in a safe place. I don't know. I have a squirrel brain. But i really really love Ariel Henley's work. She was born with Cruezo Syndrome, both she and her sister; they're twins. And it's where the bones of your skull fuse too early, and so as your brain grows, it has nowhere to go. And so they have to go in and expand your skull but that also creates a facial difference that you can see more. So that memoir is such a beautiful a beautiful tribute to her childhood and the people that loved her, but it also talks about the really difficult things that she grew up with having a facial difference. So I think these are really important topics as well definitely go check out these disability rights activists.

**Empowerment through Representation**

And yeah, I have really appreciated a lot of the disability rights advocates that I've seen. Imani Barbarin, or @CrutchesAndSpice, is always wonderful. Her TikToks are just stellar. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, who wrote Care Work, also has a memoir called Dirty River, and I really appreciate their work with Disability Justice and that topic. And I mean, I could go on forever. I mean, obviously. This photo . . . I have a lot of books hanging around and apparently. I'm even missing some because I still can't find Ariel's book. And it's around here somewhere. I am just so grateful for the disability community.

**The Importance of Community**

All right, then. I'm so grateful for the people who have been really encouraging to me. I hope you enjoy the Disability Pride content. Thank you so much for watching this, and you can check out all the resources below. I really appreciate you all, and I hope you all are hanging in there. I will return with some themed wrap-ups from the first part of my year, but the first thing I want to film um next is Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. So I'm gonna review this book next, because there's a lot to discuss in regards to disability and the representation in this book. So yeah, all right that's it. But until next time! Bye, friends!

**Book Review: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow**

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin - A Review

Gabrielle Zevin's novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow explores the intersection of art, identity, disability, and humanity through three characters' lives. As a reader who is passionate about representation in literature, I was eager to dive into this book.

One of the most striking aspects of the novel is its portrayal of people with disabilities. The main character, Sam, has autism, which is skillfully woven throughout the narrative. While there are moments where Sam's autism is used as a plot device or explained away, Zevin also delves into the complexities and nuances of living with autism.

Another significant aspect of the book is its exploration of disability justice. The characters' experiences with disability intersect with issues of social inequality, ableism, and marginalization. Through these narratives, Zevin sheds light on the ways in which society can perpetuate harm against people with disabilities and how we can work towards creating a more just and equitable world.

However, some readers may find that the novel's focus on intellectualism and high culture detracts from its portrayal of disability. While Sam's love of video games is an important aspect of his character development, I couldn't help but feel that Zevin prioritized the narrative over the voices and perspectives of people with disabilities themselves.

In conclusion, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a thought-provoking novel that explores complex themes in disability representation. While it may have its flaws, this book will undoubtedly resonate with readers who are passionate about disability justice and advocacy.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHello friends! Welcome back to my channel! I thought I would do a Disability Pride Month wrap  up here on BookTube because a lot of the content I created was for the bookish internet. And so  I am in a lot of different places on the bookish internet, but ultimately I really wanted to come  on here and just kind of wrap up my feelings about this year. Because this year was really  important to me. So I—you know —had some extra time. So I decided to go all in on Disability  Pride Month, and you know, I was just taking a photo from my last photos on my Bookstagram grid  about Disability Pride Month, and I was really thinking about some of the things I wanted to  talk about and some of the topics I wanted to talk about for Disability Pride Month and things that  have been on my mind as I have been recovering for most of this year and taking—you know—trying to  take it easy and heal and recover from just a lot of health issues a lot of burnout. So  I feel like this is a great time I'm just to talk about Disability Pride and like—you  know—what it's like to be a disabled person on the bookish internet. So this is my Disability  Pride Month video welcome to the chaos that is my brain. So this month, I decided decided to  take a few different tactics, and I really want to thank Emily Ladau's book Demystifying Disability.  This is a book for disability allies to learn disability etiquette. It's just general  information like why Disability Pride Month is in July is because the American with Disabilities Act  passed here in the United States on July 26th. Now should they may have picked  a different month for the celebration when—you know—not during a month when  a lot of us can't regulate our own temperature? Possibly. Good argument for that, but here we  are nevertheless. And so we now have a new Disability Pride Flag that's more accessible  for people with sensory disabilities. This was the old flag, designed by the same person. I'll  put all the information down the description box, and it's been a great time. So what I did was Iwrote some educational posts for Book Riot and the first you know post is called a Book Lover's Guide  to Disability Pride Month. And so that basically just helps people participate in a bookish way  for Disability Pride Month. There's also a post on how to be a good ally  on the bookish internet, like making your reels and stories accessible via captions  using image descriptions on your Instagram posts, things like that, to make sure that we  are trying to make our our content as accessible as possible. So that's been something I've been  thinking a lot about when writing these posts, so again those will all be linked in the description.  And there's also an essay on reviewing disability literature as a non-disabled person. Another thing  is of course audiobooks. I brought these up for a photo as well. They discontinued this version of  the Graceling audiobook which is full cast. And I was devastated and immediately went out and bought  a book. So anyway i was on Libro.fm on their new podcast. Definitely go check it out (again  linked in the description). And I talked about audiobooks and disability and the importance  of understanding that audiobooks are first and foremost an accessibility tool and so disabled  people should be centered. So I really appreciate Libro.fm having me on the podcast to talk about  that. We also talk about some other things that I do since I wear many hats in the bookish world.  But I really appreciate—you know—being able to discuss that because that's how I read.  So speaking of audiobooks, a book I forgot to tell you about and my favorite books of the year was 10  Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gatdsby. She reads the audiobook. And as a neurodivergent person  listening to her talk about being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as an adult, how that  explained a lot of her life experience and it just made sense. . . . How she struggles to understand  when people like are you being serious or like what's happening. I don't know. She doesn't know.I just laughed through the entire ,like through the entire audiobook because even though she goes  through a lot of difficult things, and it's not just a funny book there's so much depth and and  important conversations that are happening in this book. I deeply connected with it in so  many ways. I really appreciate her doing that. I was on NPR earlier this year, and I just had  to tell them about this book. I got so excited actually had to record like a pick up for it  because I just smashed all my words together. But it worked out, so it made me very very happy to  be able to do that. I love audiobooks and some books are just better on audio. Gauntlet thrown!  You know, I'm very well aware of the privilege that I experience as someone with an invisible  disability. That is slowly disappearing the older I get the more visible it is, but most of my life  I have been able to run into target and not be bothered. A lot of disabled people cannot  do that. You know, people visible conditions, disfigurements, whatever it might be, whether  you use a mobility aid or anything like that . . . a service dog. If you have a visible disability,  there is a higher percentage of people responding to you in a very negative way and sometimes an  even violent way. And so it's really important to understand that, and so it's been really important  to talk about the different types of disability and how that can present.  So in that vein I think Carly Findlay is one of the best disability rights advocates in regards to  bodily difference, particularly facial differences. She edited this anthology. I  don't have her memoir in print because it's it's published in Australia, but I really appreciate  her work, and she does such an excellent job. So please go check out her work. On that topic,  recently I also read A Face for Picasso by Ariel Henley. My copy has wandered off somewhere.  I don't know if I loaned it to someone or I stashed it in a safe place. I don't know. I have  a squirrel brain. But i really really love Ariel Henley's work. She was born with Cruzeo Syndrome,  both she and her sister; they're twins. And it's where the bones of your skull fuse too early,  and so as your brain grows, it has nowhere to go. And so they have to go in and expand your  skull but that also creates a facial difference that you can see more. So that memoir is such  a beautiful a beautiful tribute to her childhood and the people that loved her, but it also talks  about the really difficult things that she grew up with having a facial difference. So I think these  are really important topics as well definitely go check out these disability rights activists.  And yeah, I have really appreciated a lot of the disability rights advocates that I've seen.  Imani Barbarin, or @CrutchesAndSpice, is always wonderful. Her TikToks are just stellar. Leah  Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, who wrote Care Work, also has a memoir called Dirty River,  and I really appreciate their work with Disability Justice and that topic. And I mean, I could go  on forever. I mean, obviously. This photo . . . I have a lot of books hanging around and apparently.  I'm even missing some because I still can't find Ariel's book. And it's around here somewhere. I  am just so grateful for the disability community. All right, then. I'm so grateful for the people  who have been really encouraging to me. I hope you enjoy the Disability Pride content.  Thank you so much for watching this, and you can check out all the resources below.  I really appreciate you all, and I hope you all are hanging in there. I will return with  some themed wrap-ups from the first part of my year, but the first thing I want to film  um next is Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. So I'm gonna review this book  next, because there's a lot to discuss in regards to disability and the representation in this book.  So yeah, all right that's it. But until next time! Bye, friends!\n"