“Contribution, innovation, relation, condition, completion, devotion, identification, regret, burden, belief, wrong, right, rebuild, beautiful, embodied”, all words used to describe Disability Visibility. Disability Visibility is a compilation of “first-person stories from the twenty-first century” written about disabled folks, by disabled folks. This mosaic of anecdotes was pieced together by Alice Wong. Each story differs greatly. Authors explain their individual experiences of being disabled in a world built without them in mind. Despite each story being personal to the author, the overarching theme of the book remains consistent. From narratives about navigating medication as a woman with bipolar disorder, to stories about the shame casted on a young, Black girl growing up in a religious household, Disability Visibility amplifies the voices of folks silenced in our world.  

Disability Visibility is written for a wide audience of folks both disabled and not. It acts as a learning outlet for nondisabled people to hear stories told by people living with disabilities first-hand. It gives disabled people an opportunity to tell their stories and exist in communion with one another. A concept explained in the story The Beauty of Spaces Created for and by Disabled People is crip space; “Crip space is unique, a place where disability is celebrated and embraced—something radical and taboo in many parts of the world and sometimes even for people in those spaces” (smith pg. 273). Disability Visibility is a crip space, of sorts. It is a space where disabled folks can express themselves without the ableist pressures of our society.  

Each story grapples with the idea of disability, for example, from Incontinence is a Public Health Issue—and we Need to Talk About It, “I didn’t feel disabled, as it were” (Ramsawakh pg. 175). Or from When You are Waiting to be Healed, “I was learning to navigate the world as a young Black woman, and I did not feel I had the right to claim a disability” (Eric-Udorie pg. 56). Both stories have unique plots, characters, settings, and emotions, but themes remain the same throughout. The entire book carries parallel agencies. The most prevalent is to share the non-fetishized, pity-free stories of disabled people.  

Alice Wong compiled these essays and short stories as individual accounts that created a sense of communion. Jamison Hill’s chapter, Love Means Never Having to Say… Anything, discusses their partnership with a woman named Shannon. Both Shannon and Jamison are disabled by the same illness (although it has manifested differently in their bodies). Jamison writes about how transcendent disabled love is and how having a disabled lover has been incredible. They write, “…but Shannon and I take care of each other in ways I never thought possible” (Hill pg. 265). This story portrays the larger concept of Disability Visibility. The disabled community can take care, despite the world not reciprocating. The story, and book as a whole shows the disabled community in action. The story avoids inspiration porn and pity; but rather, it resembles compassion, togetherness, and humanness.