Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space

⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

Written by a woman with cerebral palsy, this book looks at disability and specifically how it's portrayed in fairy tales, both in the original versions and in the more modern ones. She includes a lot of her own story, growing up loving Disney princesses but knowing her feet would never fit in glass slippers.

She talks a lot about representation and disability rights, and how society sees disability as something to overcome and the ultimate dream is for the disability to go away, instead of for society to change and become more accepting and accessible for people with disabilities. I've read a few books on the topic of disability rights now, and my favourite book about that aspect of disability was Rebecca Taussig's Sitting Pretty. But I did like the focus of this one on fairy tales and the history of them, and how they've shaped our culture. And, of course, how the importance of fairy tales in our culture and portrayal of disability in them has shaped our view of disability. A cool combination of two interesting topics.