A slim book of stunning beauty and simple, elegantly powerful prose, DisabilityLand captures in brief moments and vignettes the essence of what it means to live life with a disability. In his introduction, the author describes his goals this way:
And where exactly is this Land? Essentially it’s anywhere kids and adults with disabilities (together with their families, friends, and helpers) run, roll, skip, straggle, try, fall, dream, learn, hope, whisper and succeed. Or not. DisabilityLand is the personal space around anyone with a disability. Maybe in a kitchen. Or a bowling alley. Or a boat. Maybe in a school. Or a hospital. Or, perhaps, a memory.
Not much happens in The Land of Disability that doesn’t happen elsewhere. But so much of what goes on there seems to happen in bold relief. When people – disabled and non-disabled people – find themselves in The Land of Disability, they often start acting in italics.
So this is specifically not a book about a word – “disability” – but about a place. In that place, big and little lives play out daily and, sometimes, lessons follow. Many of the lessons are ones that could only have been revealed in The Land of Disability. These are what I’ve tried to capture and convey.
DisabilityLand is organized into three parts: Common Sense (as in, how different these stories would be if common sense had been present); Learnings (the things we learn about and from disability – and about ourselves, if we’re paying attention); and Leaps (people finding ways to be smart about using what we’re learning to change the game – or the world). Enriching the brief narratives are pages of stunning artwork created by students from the National Institute of Art and Disabilities (NIAD); quotations perfectly chosen to enhance the idea at hand are scattered throughout.
The author, Dr. Alan Brightman, is Yahoo Senior Policy Director, Special Communities and founder of Apple Computer’s Worldwide Disability Solutions Group, so understandably the empowering and liberating role of computers is a recurring thread throughout the book. But this focus is ancillary to the more important themes of understanding versus misunderstanding; common sense and common humanity versus the lack of either; and the gracefulness of simple wisdom, be it from a 12-year-old with cerebral palsy or Pablo Casals.
DisabilityLand is a gift to all of us, regardless of whether or not we see ourselves as “having a disability.” It’s a reality check, a message of hope, a blast of truth-telling in the midst of unspoken and damaging misconceptions. It should be in every public library, every school, every legislative office where policy is set, every hospital, every community center, every home. One way or another, we all live within shouting distance of DisabilityLand.
DisabilityLand, by Alan Brightman. SelectBoooks, 2008. 135p. ISBN 978-1-59079-124-0.
[Note: DisabilityLand has received the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Award in the category of “Parenting and Family” from the Independent Book Publishers Association.]
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