Review: Dispatches from Disabled Country

 

I recently finished this book by Catherine Frazee, a Canadian disability advocate/activist and former professor at Metro Toronto University's Disability Studies program (something I've looked into more than once). Dispatches from Disabled Country takes its name from a poem and is a collection of essays, articles, and speeches from Frazee's career, broken down into three main sections. Those related to Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying law, Disability Arts, and Vulnerability.

I'd rather not go into too much detail about Medical Assistance in Dying, since it can be a sensitive topic for some. However, I did enjoy one or two writings in this section: one that displayed Frazee's legal background, and another that was a speech given to students of a Genetic Counselling class about their field's potential impact on people with disabilities.

The book's section on Disability Arts was interesting, and much more upbeat and fun to read than the previous group of essays. Here were selections about portrayals of disabled people in the media, the opening of a Royal Ontario Museum exhibit about disability history in Canada (now at the Human Rights Museum), and a couple things about numerous disability arts showcases across Canada.

Vulnerability has a wide range of writings. Addresses about violence towards disabled people, treatment of the disabled during the SARS and H1N1 outbreaks years ago (fitting, given COVID and the "vulnerable" label), and a personal story from Frazee's youth about an unfortunate incident involving a carnival freak show while on a date.

Dispatches from Disabled Country concludes with a lengthy interview with Catherine Frazee by the book's editors.

There were a few times I found Frazee's activist nature a little intense and off-putting (activism isn't really my thing), and there was more than one opinion I vehemently disagreed with, prompting ideas for blog posts in the near future. But, overall, Dispatches from Disabled Country was very insightful and intriguing, and I enjoyed learning more about Canada's Disability Rights history and culture.

Cheers!