Sitting Pretty: The View From My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig

Having been the mother of twins with Cerebral Palsy for now nearly 26 years, I would have given myself high marks for disability awareness last month. However, this month everything changed when I read “Sitting Pretty” by Rebekah Taussig. Her memoir took everything I thought I knew about being disabled, and threw it out the window, in an exciting and enlightening way. Taussig was paralyzed at the age of 3 following a lengthy-cancer treatment regimen. She chronicles how her disability led to early discrimination as a child and later uphill battles to obtain employment, housing, health care and even love. She confronts “stigma, isolation, erasure, misunderstanding, skepticism, and ubiquitous inaccessibility.” As she recounts so many painful experiences, some stories are just cringe worthy. For example, the time she was at a clothing store, and a young couple selfishly commandeered the handicapped dressing room so they could try on clothes together, while she waited outside. Even after they saw she was in a wheelchair, and even after she calls them out for using a dressing room meant for the disabled, they defiantly continue to carry on, undeterred. Her message is loud and clear: We as a society can do better. We are not putting enough energy into becoming a flexible, all-inclusive community of people who welcome everyone. Today she is a disability rights advocate with a doctorate, as well as wife and mother to a young baby boy name Otto. Taussig calls for changes in movies, television, books and other forms of media to demonstrate a greater understanding of how disability affects all of us. Her words are not only relevant and timely, but also logical and lyrical at the same time. “I’m not ‘wheelchair-bound’ or ‘confined to a wheelchair.’ My wheelchair is as precious and liberating as a tongue, fin, or airplane.” You can follow Taussig on Instagram @Sitting_Pretty. To buy this book on Amazon click here.