Multicultural Book Review: Disability

Genre:  Nonfiction

Culture:  Disability

Book:  Watson, Stephanie.  (2010). This is Me: Facing Physical Challenges.  Edina:  ABDO Publishing Company.

Level/Age:  YA (ages 12-20)

Synopsis:  Author Stephanie Watson pairs with Dr. Robyn Silverman, a child and adolescent development specialist, to address nine common physical challenges facing young people today.  The book, one in an Essential Health series entitled “Strong, Beautiful Girls,” is written to the female adolescent audience.  The physical challenges the authors address are:  adolescent obesity, adolescent diabetes, food allergies, lactose intolerance, asthma, wheelchair-bound physical challenges, dyslexia, vision impairments, and stuttering.  For each challenge, the authors provide an introduction, a specific girl’s story, and the doctor’s professional input.  They urge girls to talk about it several times throughout each case study, posing questions for not just girls who may be struggling with the challenge themselves, but also for peers and classmates to make them empathize and think about what it might be like to struggle with these challenges.  They offer advice for getting healthy, additional resources including a select bibliography and further reading, web sites, and organizations for more information, such as the American Diabetes Association.

Comparisons/Contrasts with traditional American/Western Culture:  What we call disabilities, or “different abilities,” are extremely common.  For example, how many of us have to use glasses or contacts to see properly?  And yet, teasing and bullying based on disabilities is all too common as well.  Mainstream society is not accepting or forgiving by nature, but with more awareness and education in the form of books like this one, and campaigns such as Autism Speaks (autismspeaks.org), people can become more aware, and therefore more understanding of the causes and effects of disabilities.  Mainly, it’s most important to understand that people with disorders didn’t ask for them and life’s already more challenging for them, so they don’t need the added insensitivity of others.  

Response:  This series addressing strong, beautiful girls is a great endeavor for tackling issues of self-esteem, teasing, and health among the female adolescent population.  Although it is written with a girl audience in mind, it is applicable to boys too, and the resources and suggested readings are helpful for adults alike.  I think this book was successful in helping the reader take a proactive stance in addressing her health problems, seeing that she is not alone in them, and providing a window into the problems for those who don’t personally suffer from them.  I’m glad it is in my school library media center, and feel that it would be a very good inclusion for any adolescent nonfiction collection.

Suggested Extension Activities:  I would recommend this book in Reader’s Advisory to any student struggling with a disability, or any student who knows someone struggling with one.  I would also recommend this to my administration as we go forward with an anti-bullying campaign.  It could be a possible book study for faculty and/or students, and I would feature it in the Library Media Center through “Different Ability” displays.