Q+A with Alice Wong on her new book, "Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the 21st Century"
Linda Williams, Ph.D.., Founder, Invisible Disability Project
I want to congratulate my friend, Alice Wong on her new book, “Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the 21st Century". I want to encourage everyone to get their own copy of this anthology of first person essays about the disabled lived experience— and while you’re at it, pick one up for a friend or neighbor! Without delay, below is an excerpt from my recent conversation with Alice.
LW: Your new book, "Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the 21st Century" will be released June 30th! Tell me why you chose the first-person format?
Alice Wong: I believe first-person stories are approachable, accessible and direct. A reader learns from a person’s individual perspective and it feels like an intimate conversation between the reader and the author.
LW: Your title specifies "stories from the 21st century" Do you think our intimate needs and first-person voice have changed over the centuries? What are the most prominent changes in our first-person voice?
Alice Wong: History and media coverage about disabled people has been through a non-disabled lens for a long time but the growth of social media, blogging, and self-publishing gave rise to disabled people creating their own narratives on their own terms and that is significant compared to fifty years ago. There has been a lot of work by disabled people for several decades and I wanted to focus on the last 19 years in this century as a marker of sorts--this anthology highlights some ideas and issues from our current time period.
LW: Did you, or the others in your book who shared their stories, experience a shift in their mental health?
Alice Wong: I would say the piece by Shoshana Kessock, a writer and game designer, “Falling/Burning: Hannah Gadsby, Nanette, and Being A Bipolar Creator” is one that’s primarily about mental health. Her blog post is incredibly honest and beautiful about her creative process, bipolar disorder, and the influence of Hannah Gadsby on her life.
Collaboration is a beautiful thing because you create something unique that merges everyone’s talents and skills together
—Alice Wong
LW: You collaborate with some of the most important voices in the disability community, now, in the age of COVID-19, what is the power of disability collaboration?
Alice Wong: Collaboration is a beautiful thing because you create something unique that merges everyone’s talents and skills together. When disabled folks come together, we accept the times when some might need more time and support and we plan things to allow for maximum flexibility, access, and impact.
The last two months I produced several podcast episodes and published guest essays about COVID-19 with and by disabled people. We need as many stories from the disability community about the pandemic because we know a lot about survival and our lives are at stake. There are two projects that will come out in July that I am terribly excited about: ADA 30 in Color, a series of essays I will publish on my website by disabled people of color with Andraéa LaVant as the project’s coordinator. Community as Home is a collaboration with artist Ashanti Fortson where we’re pulling together stories on how disabled people create and find community. Ashanti will be creating a series of digital portraits for this project based on submitted photos and we’re going to make them free and available for all. I also want to give a shout-out to my co-partners in #CripTheVote, Andrew Pulrang and Gregg Beratan, our collaboration started in 2016 and it’s still going strong! Earlier this year pre-pandemic we hosted Twitter town halls with two Presidential candidates which was ah-mazing: Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. I could never do these things on my own and am so grateful to work with these amazing people.
LW: What is your next big thing?
Alice Wong: I have two book ideas that are percolating in my brain right now. Once I catch my breath, I’d like to write a proposal for one of them later this year. Other than that, I don’t have any grand plans at the moment. The world is so topsy turvy right now--I will feel out what’s happening and try to respond accordingly.
About Alice Wong
Alice Wong (she/her) is a disabled activist, media maker, and consultant. She is the Founder and Director of the Disability Visibility Project® (DVP), an online community dedicated to creating, sharing and amplifying disability media and culture created in 2014. Currently, Alice is the Editor of Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century, an anthology of essays by disabled people, coming out June 30, 2020 by Vintage Books.
Photo of an Asian American woman in a power chair. She is wearing an orange-red jacket and black pants. She is wearing a mask over her nose attached to a gray tube and bright red lip color. Her hands are resting over her joystick. Photo credit: Eddie Hernandez Photography
