Product Description

This anthology includes works by Leo Tolstoy, Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allan Poe, John Hockenberry, Michael J. Fox, Charlotte Bronte, Harriet McBryde Johnson, Franz Kafka, Annie Dillard, Temple Grandin, Cris Matthews, Georgina Kleege, H.G. Wells, Rachel Simon, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jhumpa Lahiri, Helen Keller, Ursula LeGuin, Alexander McCall Smith, and others. The selections (fourteen fiction and sixteen non-fiction) range from old classics to ultra-modern favorites. Each work is paired with a set of discussion questions and suggested further readings. This book can keep a book group busy for a year of great literary discussions, or can serve as an excellent text for undergraduate or graduate courses on literature, disability studies, or critical studies. The selections cover a variety of disabilities--physical impairments, mental illness, and intellectual disabilities--and provide viewpoints from self-advocates, family, and friends. Topics include building societal tolerance, community vs. institutional living, family dynamics, dealing with professionals, and physical access. The readings sizzle and sparkle with optimism, anger, hope, angst, drama, and realism.