The Anti-Ableist Manifesto

May 1, 2024

Yu, founder of Diversability and creator of a TikTok anti-ableism series, writes about disability and how to build an inclusive, accessible world. She urges conversations about disability and offers ways to frame discussion and identify the language of ableism and microaggressions. She also suggests concrete steps for allyship. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2024 Library Journal

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2024
Activist Yu debuts with an insightful guide adapted from her TikTok video series, which she created in 2020 to help others become “better allies to disabled people.” Interweaving her own disability experience into the account—a car accident at age nine paralyzed the author’s arm and led to a PTSD diagnosis many years later—Yu overviews many different aspects of ableism. For example, she explains how framing disabled people as “inspiration” perpetuates “the problematic narrative that we exist merely to... provide lessons” to the nondisabled community; how a so-called “disability tax” requires disabled people to expend more financial resources, time, and energy to simply exist; and how designing “for accessibility” fosters innovation that can benefit society as a whole (voice-activated technology was created for “people with limited mobility or vision disabilities” but has spawned digital assistants like Siri and Alexa). While Yu carefully untangles the ways in which ableism insidiously shapes everything from language and the economy to TV, her most valuable contributions are concrete tips for approaching others’ disabilities with awareness and sensitivity, including scripts for asking people if their access needs are being met without demanding they explain their limitations. Readers will find this to be a sensitive and helpful resource.

September 1, 2024
A Taiwanese disability rights activist outlines the path to recognizing and improving the rights of her community. Yu was just 9 when a car accident took her father's life and left her with permanent right-arm paralysis. Battling consistent grief and post-traumatic stress disorder for two decades afterward, in an effort to "take control of and reclaim my narrative," she became a staunch disability advocate. She has since channeled her experiences as a disabled person into a speaking engagement circuit, TED talks, and a popular "Anti-Ableism" series on TikTok. Organized in three sections, the book first focuses on clearly defining disability terminology (including the concept of ableism) and paths to overcoming privilege, shame, and the harm done by modern society's misconceptions. This is followed by discussions on how to interact within communities and in personal relationships with an anti-ableist mindset to intervene and counteract denigrating, micro-aggressive behaviors and promote sensitivity and inclusiveness. A final section details how we can participate in changing stigma and oppressive societal attitudes toward the disabled community and in creating positive, equitable, and inclusive solutions, such as advocating for improved accessibility to public spaces, expanded job opportunities, and a lower "disability tax" (the cost of items necessary for disabled people to navigate the world). Yu offers an impressive barrage of simple strategies, proactive tools, and action items to aid readers in becoming better allies to people with both apparent and nonapparent disabilities, and she includes "reflection questions" at the conclusion of each chapter. Perhaps the most useful and effective section in the book details how readers can make active, consistent contributions to demarginalizing disabled populations through awareness and civic and social engagement. In this universal appeal for societal change, Yu convincingly bridges the gap between those already sensitive to the disabled and those with lessons yet to learn. A practical, educative guide to empowering and respectfully approaching people with disabilities.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.