Publish Date |
November 05, 2024 |
Category |
Family & Relationships / Children with Special Needs Biography & Autobiography / Social Activists |
Price |
$26.99 |
Adelle Purdham is a writer, educator, and parent disability advocate. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of King's College and teaches creative writing at Trent University. Adelle lives with her family in her hometown of Nogojiwanong (Peterborough), Ontario.
ISBN: 9781459754539
Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: November 05, 2024
A beautifully intimate blend of personal narrative, cultural critique, and sharp-eyed social commentary on disability and motherhood, this stirring debut is lyrical, heartfelt, and uncomfortably honest. Adelle Purdham, with uncanny precision, cuts our heart strings and dissects our minds with her archeological approach to excavating life's difficult truths. I Don't Do Disability and Other Lies I've Told Myself is a riveting collection of essays that will deeply resonate with readers.At its heart, I Don't Do Disability And Other Lies I've Told Myself is a story about creativity and love, the essential ingredients necessary to harness the wildness and the wonder of our world, and, in Purdham's case, to face down inherent ableism, both in herself and others. Purdham shows us that disability is life, and she illustrates this with fierce veracity and through intensely readable prose, writing with a wisdom and clarity that comes from great self-reflection and research, but also via the simple act of living.Beautiful and moving.I loved riding shotgun with Purdham's kind, funny, and unflinchingly sharp observations. This book is a vehicle of expansion.Purdham's fearless honesty and vulnerability fills these pages with magic. This is a stunning debut.An extraordinary memoir that takes us on an arduous journey of heartbreak and evolving new ways of perceiving love - even meaning, itself.At once heartbreakingly honest and defiantly joyful, I Don't Do Disability and Other Lies I've Told Myself is a poetic tribute to the relationships that have shaped Adelle, her family, and their experiences with Down syndrome. Beautiful, deliberate, and thought provoking.A tender, beautifully written essay collection that is about so much more than parenting a child with a disability.A staggering examination of privilege and ableism [and] a profound testament to how our children teach us more than we'll ever teach them. A must-read.In essays both raw and daring, Adelle Purdham takes a hard look at what it is to be a wife and mother deeply in love with her family and the life she's made with them, without losing herself in the melee. From a fractious walk home from school with her children to a late night skinny dip with a friend, these essays are about moments that transcend the everyday and give us, one glimpse at a time, a sense of a larger whole.A marvel of tenderness and ferocity. The voice of these essays is that of a devoted parent, a tireless advocate, and a generous thinker. Every line is shaped by Purdham's powerful sense of integrity: her insistence on seeing things for exactly what they are and her willingness to imagine what they might one day become.Searching, intimate, and above all, honest, these essays about friendship, marriage, parenting, disability, and the risks and joys of a writing life reverberate, nourish, challenge, and shine.A welcome addition to disability literature in Canada.- the true power in this memoir comes from the emotion and the journey that Purdham shares as a mother and often well-intentioned advocate - but one who is conscious of how she's evolved over time - the writing in this is very smooth and beautiful.