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ESSAYS FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES' DISABILITY SERIES

A rich, moving collection.

Disabled essayists reflect on love, joy, justice, community, and navigating daily challenges.

For three years, the New York Times has hosted “Disability,” a weekly series of essays by and about people with disabilities. The newspaper’s opinion editor Catapano (co-editor: Modern Ethics in 77 Arguments: A Stone Reader, 2016, etc.) and disabilities scholar Garland-Thomson (English and Bioethics/Emory Univ.; Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature, 1997, etc.) have selected some 60 pieces from the series, amply fulfilling their aim of representing the diversity and richness of human experience. Although the contributors all have access to language, therefore representing only a partial demographic of the disabled, they discuss common issues, such as the desire for independence balanced with the need for intimacy and caring. As psychologist Andrew Solomon (who was diagnosed with depression) writes in the introduction, the book “is really in many ways about how we seek meaning in who we are rather than in who we might have wished to be.” The essayists convey with uncommon candor how they live with disabilities that include blindness, deafness, panic attacks, anxiety, depression, cerebral palsy, stuttering, paralysis, and Tourette’s. As Garland-Thomson notes, disability can affect anyone, suddenly and randomly: “An oncoming car in the wrong direction can transform the person we think we are today to a different one tomorrow. No other social identity category is so porous and unstable.” Several writers found themselves disabled after an accident or injury; others were born with anomalies. Garland-Thomson, for example, has a rare genetic condition that resulted in her having disproportionate arm lengths and only six fingers. Living in a world built for “the fully fingered,” she proved to be resourceful in “developing practical workarounds for the life demands my body did not meet.” Many writers praise the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which helped individuals meet their needs by requiring such adaptions as ramps, Braille materials, hearing assistance equipment, elevators, special parking places, and pedestrian curb cuts. Although several writers resist being called inspiring, their eloquent essays are nothing less.

A rich, moving collection.

Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-63149-585-4

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Liveright/Norton

Review Posted Online: June 8, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019

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WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR

A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...

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  • Pulitzer Prize Finalist

A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.

Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”

A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.

Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6

Page Count: 248

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015

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PERMISSION TO FEEL

UNLOCKING THE POWER OF EMOTIONS TO HELP OUR KIDS, OURSELVES, AND OUR SOCIETY THRIVE

An intriguing approach to identifying and relating to one’s emotions.

An analysis of our emotions and the skills required to understand them.

We all have emotions, but how many of us have the vocabulary to accurately describe our experiences or to understand how our emotions affect the way we act? In this guide to help readers with their emotions, Brackett, the founding director of Yale University’s Center for Emotional Intelligence, presents a five-step method he calls R.U.L.E.R.: We need to recognize our emotions, understand what has caused them, be able to label them with precise terms and descriptions, know how to safely and effectively express them, and be able to regulate them in productive ways. The author walks readers through each step and provides an intriguing tool to use to help identify a specific emotion. Brackett introduces a four-square grid called a Mood Meter, which allows one to define where an emotion falls based on pleasantness and energy. He also uses four colors for each quadrant: yellow for high pleasantness and high energy, red for low pleasantness and high energy, green for high pleasantness and low energy, and blue for low pleasantness and low energy. The idea is to identify where an emotion lies in this grid in order to put the R.U.L.E.R. method to good use. The author’s research is wide-ranging, and his interweaving of his personal story with the data helps make the book less academic and more accessible to general readers. It’s particularly useful for parents and teachers who want to help children learn to handle difficult emotions so that they can thrive rather than be overwhelmed by them. The author’s system will also find use in the workplace. “Emotions are the most powerful force inside the workplace—as they are in every human endeavor,” writes Brackett. “They influence everything from leadership effectiveness to building and maintaining complex relationships, from innovation to customer relations.”

An intriguing approach to identifying and relating to one’s emotions.

Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-250-21284-9

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Celadon Books

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019

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