We spoke with Alice Wong (she/her), disabled activist, writer, editor, media maker, consultant, and founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, about her inspiration, Disability Culture, and more. Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, edited by Alice, invites listeners to question their own understandings. It celebrates and documents disability culture in the now and looks to the future and the past with hope and love.
Alice is most recently the author of Year of the Tiger, which draws on a collection of original essays, previously published work, conversations, graphics, photos, commissioned art by disabled and Asian American artists, and more to provide a glimpse into her journey and the continued fight for disability justice.
Please tell us a little bit about what inspired you to edit Disability Visibility and how these stories took shape for you.
This anthology is rooted in my love for stories by disabled people. Disability culture is everywhere but it’s not represented enough. In editing this anthology featuring first-person stories by 37 amazing and brilliant disabled people, I invite readers to challenge what they know about disability and appreciate the richness and variation of our community.
In two sentences or less, what’s something that might surprise Libro.fm listeners about the anthology’s audiobook?
I recorded the introduction, and the narrator for the audiobook is a disabled advocate, Alejandra Ospina! You can find out more about her experiences recording the audiobook here.
Have you listened to the audiobook? If so, what struck you about the narration?
I listened to a sample of it from Soundcloud and love it! Alejandra has such lovely intonation and she just gets the material.
Are you an audiobook listener? If so, what are some of your favorite audiobooks?
I don’t listen to audiobooks but I know how important they are for so many disabled people who cannot read print or e-books. Audiobooks are unique works of art. I recommend Find Another Dream, a memoir by Maysoon Zayid who is a contributor in Disability Visibility.
What have independent bookstores and/or booksellers meant to you personally and professionally?
In San Francisco, Green Apple Books on Clement Street is a neighborhood institution!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
People can check out my website for more info about my book, online events, and a free discussion guide & plain language summary. I’m also on Twitter @SFdirewolf.
Header photo by Eddie Hernandez Photography