Beautiful People: My Thirteen Truths about Disability -- Melissa Blake, Hardcover
Disability activist and social media influencer Melissa Blake offers a frank, illuminating memoir and a call to action for disabled people and allies. In the summer of 2019, journalist Melissa Blake penned an op-ed for CNN Opinion. A conservative pundit caught wind of it, mentioning Blake's work in a YouTube video. What happened next is equal parts a searing view into society, how we collectively view and treat disabled people, and the making of an advocate. After a troll said that Blake should be banned from posting pictures of herself, she took to Twitter and defiantly posted three smiling selfies, all taken during a lovely vacation in the Big Apple: Her tweet went viral, attracting worldwide media attention and interviews. Now, in her manifesto, Beautiful People, Blake shares her truths about disability, writing about (among other things):
- the language we use to describe disabled people
- ableism, microaggressions, and their pernicious effects
- what it's like to live in a society that not only isn't designed for you, but actively operates to render you invisible
- her struggles with self image and self acceptance
- the absence of disabled people in popular culture
- why disabled people aren't tragic heroes
Author: Melissa Blake
Publisher: Balance
Published: 3/5/2024
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0 lbs
Size: 0" H x 0" L x 0" W
ISBN: 9780306830426
