Sticks and Stones: Disabled People's Stories of Abuse, Defiance and Resilience, edited by Marsha Saxton

My name is Jennifer, I live west of Chicago and I like to be busy all the time. Usually anything involving people makes me happy. My career is working in the behavioral health field so reading this book was a shoe in for me. The topic seemed interesting to me and I typically enjoy reading stories written by individuals who have lived the experience.

The book, as the title indicated contained short stories, narratives and poems written by consumers with an eye towards their experiences. Since the authors are consumers, they have dealt with, and still do deal with, living in a world that doesn't always recognize their worth. The material was sometimes heart breaking, sometimes funny, and sometimes shocking. The real honesty in the pieces couldn't be ignored.

I learned more about how it felt for people with disabilities to be living in a world that's not made for them or ignores their needs. Frankly, I was shocked at the behaviors of the caregivers that were described in certain pieces.  For example in the narrative, Attack of the Skunk Woman by Judy Freespirit, she describes having respiratory problems that make smells very detrimental to her.  She details an incident of needing a respiratory treatment, which was going to be given to her by a woman wearing very heavy perfume. Judy asked the woman multiple times to leave her room and the woman would not. Eventually a supervisor was called who intervened in the situation. This example stood out to me because it illustrates a blatant disregard for an individual's needs. At times, it felt like there was an emphasis on how the individuals have suffered but the reality is that unfortunately suffering is often a part of their lives. This book caused me to have more compassion and empathy towards individuals with disabilities and needs than before reading the stories.

Overall, I felt that the book was what I expected it to be. Compilations like this are important because they give a voice to individuals that might otherwise not have had the outlet. The book apparently can also be used as adjunct material at a college level which did at times make it seem dry, boring or academic in nature. Other than that, I thought the book was something that could be ready easily. In the future, I would read a work like this again. It would be a nice book to read in a book group or to discuss with someone else.