Stories on Disability Through our Voices: Born This Way(Autocritical Disability Studies)

This book integrates the discipline of disability studies with the lived experiences of women with visible disabilities. It seeks to foreground the silenced voices of Korean and Korean American women with visible physical disabilities in South Korea and the United States. Drawing upon the work of scholars in disability studies, largely drawn from in disability studies in education and feminist disability studies, it challenges readers to (re)consider their own misconceptions and assumptions about disability and reconceptualize their understanding of diversity. A special distinction of this book is that the author, as a woman with visible disabilities, can connect to other women with visible disabilities in unique ways as they share similar experiences as well as their own unique stories through the process of in-depth interviews. Starting with a recollection of her own experience of living with a disability, it then moves to the lived experiences of four other women with disabilities. This unique way of storytelling conveys the important message that living with disability is not a one-time linear process from initial diagnosis to acceptance and overcoming, but a dynamic, evolving, and ongoing meaning-making journey. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of disability studies, Asian studies, women’s studies, and sociology more broadly.

1.Introduction - The Untapped Power of First-Person Narratives: Breaking the Silence of Korean Women With Physical Disabilities. 2.Hee-Yeon: Reconnecting With a Childhood Friend Striving to Articulate the Multivariant Nature of Disability Identity. 3.Jinju: Living in the Body of a Disabled Person With the Perspective of a Nondisabled Person. 4.Theresa: Questioning Moments of Marginalization and Moving Beyond Barriers. 5.Helen: Living in Two Countries, South Korea and the United States. 6.“Life Goes On”: The Continuous Journey of Living With a Disabled Body.

Yoon Joo Lee is Associate Professor in the Department of Childhood, Bilingual and Special Education, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, USA. She is the co-author of Inclusion in the Early Childhood Classroom: What Makes a Difference? New York, NY: Teachers College Press.