08/27/2026
๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ผ๐๐ผ๐ฝ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐
๐ถ๐๐ โ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ.
In the opening chapter of Disability Visibility, edited by Alice Wong, disability rights lawyer Harriet McBride Johnson recounts the time she traveled to Princeton to publicly challenge Professor Peter Singer; a renowned philosopher whose writings had argued that the lives of some people with disabilities carry less value, and who had defended controversial positions that included ending the lives of infants with disabilies, along with selective non-treatment and assisted death for people with significant disabilities
What makes her story so striking isn't just that she pushed back โ it's how. Johnson met Singer with an almost startling humility, holding firmly to her convictions while still recognizing the humanity in someone whose ideas she found dangerous. She wasn't interested in demonizing him or anyone else who shared his views. Her goal was smaller, and somehow bigger: simply "to give voice to" the truth of disabled lives โ lives that are, in her words, fully and undeniably well lived. As she put it, that's the best any of us can do.
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ณ ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐.
Johnson's essay is only the beginning. Alice Wong โ a activist and writer with disabilities โ opens the book by describing how encountering stories like Johnson's changed her. She saw her own life reflected in the accounts of lives similar to hers, and that recognition sparked something bigger: the Disability Visibility Project (DVP), an ongoing effort to record and preserve people with disabilities' oral histories, now archived with the Library of Congress. This anthology gathers 37 of those voices โ writers, activists, and everyday people telling the truth about their own lives, their own "being", in their own words.
๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐๐๐๐ฑ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐, ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ญ๐ณ๐๐ต ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ณ ๐๐ผ ๐ด ๐ฝ๐บ. ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐'๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ผ๐, ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐, ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ณ๐๐น ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป.
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[Photo: Harriet McBride Johnson]
