A Life Among the Nondisabled

In a blend of intimate memoir and passionate advocacy, Nancy Mairs takes on the subject woven through all her writing: disability and its effect on life, work, and spirit. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Mairs (Ordinary Time) is a writer of heightened sensibility not entirely attributable to the years she has spent wheelchair-bound because of advancing multiple sclerosis. From her viewpoint, approximately at the level of other people's navels, she constructs here "a Baedeker for a country to which no one travels willingly," the story of a life shaped by severe physical disability. In this collection of ruminative, exploratory essays, there is also earthy humor as Mairs addresses issues that range from physical intimacy and a spouse's health problems to concerns with public facilities and her advocacy achievements. The author, a vibrant, well-traveled poet, teacher and mother, takes readers inside a world that at times seem not to want her. Although Mairs disavows the inspirational thrust of her essays, they are perforce filled with insights that will be helpful to a large population, especially women. Author tour. (Jan.) From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

With eloquence, passion, and humor, Mairs (Voice Lessons, LJ 5/15/94) articulates, in a series of ten essays, the realities of a life "consigned to gazing at navels other than my own." Exploring her personal experience of disability in the first four essays, she describes events leading to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis at age 29; the physical and psychological impact of disability; being cared for; the caregivers, especially husband George; and the language of disability, including why she refers to herself as "a cripple." The second part of the collection focuses on wider, more political subjects‘access issues and the Americans with Disabilities Act, the pertinence of the abortion and euthanasia debates to people with disabilities, societal images of disabled women, the exploitation of people with disabilities, and travel and transport. This powerful, beautifully written book is highly recommended for public libraries and social science, disability, and rehabilitation collections.‘Kate Kelly, Massachusetts General Hosp. Lib., Boston From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information