“Cure promises us so much, but it will never give us justice”

This book opens by talking about a mosaic in uptown (which was unfortunately torn down last year). As soon as he started describing it my head started spinning, because it couldn’t be that one, could it?? But when he kept going he confirmed it to me, and my heart was so full. 

There is so much to love in this book. I have talked in the past about how since finishing school I’ve struggled with theory and denser nonfiction, and while this is in that realm of content it was written in a very accessible way. I loved the flow of the pieces, how the topics and themes and points were woven into one another and kept showing up throughout. I loved how this really laid bare the complexity of cure and our relationship to it, which is something I have grappled with as I both ache for cure and cherish the way my disabled experience informs and guides my life. I absolutely loved the conversation around environmental activism and disability, with how ads and organizations use disability as a threat for what would happen if we don’t treat the environment better. I have worked so much over the years on holding space for nuance, and this book was rife with it. Holy shit. What a good book. 

I loved this book so much! This memoir opened my eyes to how inaccessible and ableist our society truly is, and how deeply ingrained those concepts are within us. Racism, sexism, ablism, homophobia, xenophobia, and classism all have roots connecting back to disability. 

Ellie Clare, a disabled, white, trans, male shares a mosaic of stories and case files detailing peoples experiences in a world that places cure above accessibility. By sharing a collection if poems, diary entries, letters, and medical journals Clare teaches the readers how disabled people view themselves and how we find acceptance in our own personal body-minds. 

The book relies heavily on natural metaphors, and because of this I feel that able-bodied readers can empathize with the author more effectively. And Clare is sure to include the experiences if physically, mentally, and emotionally disabled people; mental health and physical disability have more in common than you would think. 

Overall I truly enjoyed this book and all the thoughts it stirred up within me. I love when my way of thinking is challenged, and when I’m exposed to things I wasn’t aware of before.