In my many years of reading and writing about disability and chronic illness, my preference leans toward books that look outward, rather than inward, in their approach to truth-telling. The intricacies of living in a marginalised body tend to feel more philosophical if they resist solipsism and reach toward the universal.
I’m thinking about Fiona Wright’s essay collection, The World Was Whole, which focuses on suburban and urban houses and homes, and invites us to think about the body as home – and the question of what happens when the body fails us.
Books like this prove inclusive, rather than exclusive, because they cater to those living with disability, but also use a near-universal experience (in Wright’s case, the theme of houses and homes) as a framework to help readers to imagine their way into their specific experience (for Wright, of being failed by her body).
