Becoming Citizens: Family Life and the Politics of Disability

Amazon.com Price: $29.95 (as of 12/04/2019 10:45 PST- Details)

Description

Following the Second World War, a generation of Seattle parents went against conventional medical wisdom and chose to bring up their children with developmental disabilities locally. This book presents a stunning visual narrative of thirteen of these remarkable families. With a rich array of interviews, photographs, newspaper clippings, official documents, and personal mementos, photographer Susan Schwartzenberg captures moving recollections of the struggle and perseverance of these parents. Becoming Citizens traces their dogged determination to make meaningful lives for their children in the face of an regularly hostile system.

Breaking the silence that characterizes the history of disability in the USA, Becoming Citizens is a substantive contribution to social and regional history. It demonstrates the ways in which personal experiences can galvanize communities for political action. The centerpiece of the book is the story of four mothers-turned-activists who coauthored Education for All, a a very powerful piece of Washington State legislation that was once a precursor to the national law securing educational rights for each and every person with a disability in The united states.

Becoming Citizens is a deeply compassionate testament to the experience of family life and disability, as it is to the ways in which strange citizens turn out to be activists. It’s going to be important to anyone interested in disability studies, including teachers, friends, and families of those with disabilities.

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