Disabled We Stand

The central theme of this political book might be summarized as follows: "We are not a category, The Disabled, but we do see ourselves as an oppressed minority. Our disabilities are facts with which we must live, but it is the society we live in that disables us." Allen T. Sutherland, who has grand mal epilepsy, refuses to speak of "disabled people." His book is about people with disabilities, addressed both to them and to those who identify themselves as able-bodied, all of whom are members of the same society.

In Disabled We Stand, he describes many of his own experiences as someone with a disability, as well as those of a group of people he interviewed for the book. He shows how they have evolved new attitudes to their situation, developing a new consciousness that has led people with disabilities to take a stand and speak for themselves. He challenges the stereotyped passive roles they have inherited from our society; the stigma associated with various forms of disablement, visible or invisible; the fact that people with disabilities seldom have an effective voice in the organizations set up to "help" them; and the reluctance of institutions and individuals to banish even the most basic forms of discrimination -those that could be eliminated by the provision of mobility access, sign language translation, and the simple courtesy of recognizing other people's personal needs.

Disabled We Stand is impassioned, often angry, but also hopeful and practical. It is imbued throughout with the spirit and energy of people who are determined to take their lives into their own hands, and it ends with a series of suggestions for action that will lead to change. As the author says in his introduction, "Ultimately, this is a book with very wide implications, because, implicitly and explicitly, it asks what sort of society we want to live in... The changes that will make a better society for people with disabilities to live in will benefit us all."