A raw and intimate portrait of family, love, life, relationships, and disability parenting through the eyes of a mother to a daughter with Down syndrome.
With the arrival of her daughter with Down syndrome, Adelle Purdham began unpacking a lifetime of her own ableism.
In a society where people with disabilities remain largely invisible, what does it mean to parent such a child? And simultaneously, what does it mean as a mother, a writer, and a woman to truly be seen?
The candid essays in I Don’t Do Disability and Other Lies I’ve Told Myself glimmer with humanity and passion, and explore ideas of motherhood, disability, and worth. Purdham delves into grief, rage, injustice, privilege, female friendship, marriage, and desire in a voice that is loudly empathetic, unapologetic, and true. While examining the dichotomies inside of herself, she leads us to consider the flaws in society, showing us the beauty, resilience, chaos, and wild within us all.
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- Pages
- 240
- Published in
- Toronto, CA
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- Title 9
- Copyright 10
- Dedication 11
- Contents 13
- Mother 15
- Three, Two, One 17
- Eleven Years a Country 27
- The Golden Hour 35
- I Don’t Do Disability 43
- Woman 63
- Everyday Devotion 65
- A Loon 75
- How to Make New Love 85
- Extramarital Sex 93
- Child 101
- Pins & Pine Needles 103
- The Mushroom 109
- The Giving Tree 117
- Reverberations of Institutional Violence: A Spectrum 129
- A Reclamation 137
- Nature 151
- Untethered 153
- Wild Horses 159
- A Thin Line 169
- Cepheid: An Astronomy of Female Friendship 181
- Aporia 193
- The Best Fortune 205
- Acknowledgements 225
- Notes 229
- About the Author 237
- Back Cover 238
