Reflections

The Disability Memoir: Stories That Make a Difference

Episode Summary

The memoir genre is booming, disability memoirs specifically. But what makes these books so entertaining, informative, powerful, or groundbreaking? Is it pressure from publishers? Or is it the translation of a person's lived experience into a digestible, easy-to-read format? Andreae Callanan is a writer and researcher who studies neurodiversity and the disability memoir. Andreae provides her perspective on what disability memoirs can bring to the literary industry. Dorothy Ellen Palmer is an author of the memoir “Falling for Myself” and she shares why she wrote her memoir, and the compromises and sacrifices she had to make to write the memoir in the most accurate way. Listen to Joeita Gupta’s conversation with Andreae and Dorothy to find out how authors can balance sharing the joyous moments of their lives while also being critical of the systems that exclude people with disabilities. Plus, Karen McKay the Communications Manager at the Centre for Equitable Library Access, will provide some of CELA’s top memoir picks from their collection.

Episode Notes

The memoir genre is booming, disability memoirs specifically. But what makes these books so entertaining, informative, powerful, or groundbreaking? Is it pressure from publishers? Or is it the translation of a person's lived experience into a digestible, easy-to-read format?

Andreae Callanan is a writer and researcher who studies neurodiversity and the disability memoir. Andreae provides her perspective on what disability memoirs can bring to the literary industry. 

Dorothy Ellen Palmer is an author of the memoir “Falling for Myself” and she shares why she wrote her memoir, and the compromises and sacrifices she had to make to write the memoir in the most accurate way. 

Listen to Joeita Gupta’s conversation with Andreae and Dorothy to find out how authors can balance sharing the joyous moments of their lives while also being critical of the systems that exclude people with disabilities. 

Plus, Karen McKay the Communications Manager at the Centre for Equitable Library Access, will provide some of CELA’s top memoir picks from their collection.