An eye-opening memoir that answered questions I was hoping Taussig would answer, as well as many more I hadn't even thought to ask.

I was delighted to read a copy of Sitting Pretty; however, I will be withholding all public reviews until HarperCollins agrees to pay their union workers a living wage.

Sitting Pretty // by Rebekah Tausig

It can be difficult to face your own privilege in any way, shape, or form but the way it tends to hit me the hardest is when I read books about it. Reading is such an influential part of my life and it generally gives me the opportunity to sit and stew about it until I sort out my feelings. Rebekah Tausig's memoir is unapologetic, educational and exactly what is needed. I am always surprised at how candid memoirs can get but also so appreciate the courage it takes to really put yourself out there. Tausig wrote about her childhood as well as her adult life and we get to see how the world changed her perception of herself along the way but also how she was able to come out on top of that and see her worth despite the hurdles thrown in her way. She is witty, honest, and straight-forward in her criticism. I can't deny that I was ignorant of many things when it comes to living with a disability but this taught me to take a closer look at my privilege and how prevalent ableism is in our society. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a great memoir. Well-written and easy to follow, it gave us good insight into how the author sees herself and her life, as well how she would like others to see it.

To say that this book in necessary is a vast understatement. It reads like a conversation with a close friend who is comfortable to confide in you their most vulnerable secrets. I could picture myself sitting across from her with a steaming cup of tea, taking in everything that she was laying bare. Rebekah speaks of her experiences as a disabled woman, from childhood to the present. Her triumphs, her failures, and her hopes. She intertwines her story with factual information regarding the disabled community. This was an incredibly informative read.
Not only is this educational on what the needs of the disabled community are, but what ableists need to relearn. Could this book make an able-bodied person uncomfortable? Probably. And it should.
I was originally drawn to this book because I have a family member who is disabled, and there are so many things I want to do better for them without having to ask them to educate me. Because it shouldn’t have to be their job. And I am so incredibly thankful for this book. I read it slow because I was reflecting so much with each completed chapter.
Rebekah inspires me to help amplify the voices in the disabled community, and from this book I have learned what actions I can take to be a better ally.
I will be recommending this book to everyone that I know. And if you are reading this review, please do not hesitate to pick up this book and start reading.


Thank you to Harper Collins and Harper One Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A candid and engaging memoir-in-essays, Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Body offers readers deep insight and broad perspective on disability, as reflected in Rebekah Taussig's life.

Taussig, an independent woman, successful educator and prolific Instagrammer (@sitting_pretty), became paralyzed at age three following treatment for childhood cancer. Because her parents didn't treat her any differently than her five siblings--several years passed before she got her first wheelchair--Taussig initially didn't see herself as disabled. "I continued to sleep on the top bunk on the top floor of the house. I learned how to pull my body up the side of my bunk bed, my feet mere props as I used my arms to lift myself up higher and higher until I tumbled onto the top mattress." Like many young children, "I believed that I was royally beautiful, valuable, and fully capable of contributing to the group." That idyllic view changed as she began to understand--often painfully--how society considered people like her. "I consumed and digested the culture around me and slowly learned, with certainty, that I was not among those who would be needed, admired, wanted, loved, dated, or married."

Sitting Pretty is a groundbreaking and candid memoir that immediately draws the reader into Taussig's world with a casual, witty and confident tone. Through her interactions with friends, family and strangers, Taussig shows that concepts such as ableism ("favoring, fetishizing, and building the world around a mostly imagined, idealized body while discriminating against those bodies perceived to move, see, hear, process, operate, look, or need differently from that vision") permeate society. She addresses the lack of accessible housing and the dearth of gainful employment (with health insurance) for people with disabilities; shatters misconceptions that they are helpless and devoid of sexual attraction; and takes on the media's influence in perpetuating stereotypes and disability through the lens of "inspiration."

While acknowledging her privilege and position as someone who is highly educated (she holds a Ph.D. in disability studies), Taussig conveys that her greatest struggles aren't always physical. Sitting Pretty poignantly demonstrates that the biggest obstacle is the common inability to see past disability so that all people can be fully accepted and integrated into society. Only with that emotional connection will it be possible to create a community of understanding and respect. Sitting Pretty is a refreshingly welcome and necessary addition to the voices that may help get everyone there.

Soitting Pretty
As a disabled person, I could relate to many things the author said. We need to be aware of and more mindful of each other.

"Inclusion isn't better just because it's kinder. We should bring disabled perspectives to the center because such perspectives create a world that is more imaginative, more flexible, more sustainable, more dynamic and vibrant for everyone who lives in a body."

Rebekah Taussig's memoir-in-essays manages to sneak a whole lot of eye-opening, paradigm-shifting truth into one small, cheerful, cheeky package. Taussig has a PhD in creative nonfiction and disability studies and, due to childhood cancer, has been paralyzed from the waist down for as long as she can remember. She has a wealth of information and stores to choose from and distills them perfectly here, touching on representation, inspiration porn, ableism, feminism, intersectionality, healthcare costs and consequences, objectification and dehumanization, demoralizing and threatening kindnesses, accessibility, inclusion, and more.

The writing is excellent. The curation of stories is perfect. The tone is conversational and gracious and generous and unwavering. Anyone who lives in a body should read this. Anyone who lives in a body in our current society should read it a few times.

Content notes: strong language, alcohol, ineffective support systems and responses to the needs of marginalized and vulnerable people

My thanks to NetGalley and HarperOne for a digital ARC.

Honestly, I did not like the language in the introduction and stopped reading right there. I try to be very careful in what I read, so it was not off to the best start. I was not enjoying it, so I set it down.

Sitting Pretty is a fabulous #ownvoices memoir from disability activist Rebekah Taussig. It is both funny and poignant, and extremely intelligent in the issues it raises and the questions poised to the reader. Recommended for anyone interested in learning more about Taussig, the creator of the extremely popular Instagram account @sitting_pretty, or who wants to learn what people mean when they talk about ableism and how ableism permeates our world (but doesn't have to).

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own. #memoir #ownvoices #SittingPretty

Very much enjoyed this peak into her life as a disabled person. Speaking frankly she gives a clear picture of her life and her experiences and at least teacher me that yes they have full and enriching lives. Read this amazing book. Deserves a spot on your TBR stack. Happy reading!

Rebekah Taussig had cancer when she was very young and, at the age of three, could no longer walk unaided. Still, she says proudly, "I felt talented and dreamed big." Taussig earned a PhD in disability studies and creative non-fiction. In addition, she became a teacher and passionate advocate for change in society's attitude towards the disabled. The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, but Taussig is convinced that we still have a long way to go. In "Sitting Pretty," she tells us, "I believe there is a kinder, more supportive, creative version of us out there…." In addition, she emphasizes that physical barriers are not the only obstacles that the disabled face; the psychological obstacles can be equally daunting.

In her powerful memoir, "Sitting Pretty," Taussig reveals that her mom, dad, and five siblings did not coddle her. There was "no wallowing, no time for grieving, and definitely no whining." However, as she grew older, it became clear that blending in with her peers would be difficult. When she was invited to birthday parties and sleepovers, she often had the feeling that she was a weak and helpless burden. At her lowest ebb, Rebekah felt ashamed, stigmatized, erased, and misunderstood. Now she comes across as a smart, funny, resilient, and imaginative force of nature who brings a great deal to the table as a friend, romantic partner, educator, and activist.

The author's prose style is elegant, lyrical, and deeply moving. In a particularly poignant chapter, Taussig describes her yearning for physical, emotional, and economic independence. There are harsher passages, as well, in which she lambastes those who presume to know what is best for her and insist on giving her a hand when she is perfectly capable of managing by herself. We get it that she is annoyed at the many misguided men and women she encounters. However, Taussig's writing is most compelling when she employs humor, sincerity, and persuasion to educate those of us who are in need of a wake-up call. Her central theme, that disabled people have value and deserve to be treated with sensitivity and respect, is one that we should all take to heart.

I volunteered to read this book, through netgalley in exchange, for an honest review. This book is well written. It makes you think about the families that go through this. The people who have these disabilities are inspirational to everyone. I absolutely enjoyed reading her book and I can't wait to read more books by this author in the future. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
While I was not aware of Rebekah Taussig’s social media presence prior to picking up this book, I was intrigued by what she would have to say, as I too am a person with a disability, frustrated with how the media took all the nuance out of stories centered on disability, to push a narrative that appeals to abled people. This book forms a great addition to the slowly growing collection of realistic narratives of disability, with a great balance of humor and poignance.

Eye-opening intelligent and accessible, this book is a must read.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy to review.

I cannot adequately express how essential Rebekah Taussig's memoir is. Writing aside (Taussig is an excellent writer; her prose is funny, friendly, and warm), the content here is so necessary and overlooked, even in 2020. I was especially challenged by the chapter on feminism and what it means to be an intersectional feminist. I urge everyone to read this.

Rebekah Taussig's Sitting Pretty is the kind of book I never know I need until I pick it up. The kind of book that connects with the deepest hidden parts of how I feel about and engage with the world. The kind of book from a perspective that understands because they, too, have lived it. Her and I do not have the same disability, but our experiences connect all the same. If I learn anything about being disabled in the world the longer and deeper I'm in it, it's that the experience of disabled people trying to live in a society that would prefer to pretend you aren't there is shockingly (or not) universal. 

I, too, was only made aware of how different I was because kids at school made sure I knew what normality meant, and that I was on the outside of it. I, too, have battled the Social Security office for supplemental income only to realize accepting it is conditional on not having a job at all. I, too, have descended into sheer and blinding panic over losing medical insurance and the pressing need to have a job with good coverage just so I can afford to live, and battled over finding truly accessible housing. It's a hard battle to keep fighting, and one no disabled person really gets a choice in entering into.

But it isn't without its shining moments either. Reading this book was like finally being seen, heard, and deeply understood. Feeling that connection on the level of my disability is incredibly rare, and Taussig's vulnerability, charm, and wit about it felt like a gift. Every complex emotion about how difficult it is - or even what it means - to connect with people, she understands. The revelatory discovery that society's structure is the problem, not how you live in it, didn't really hit me until college either. Up 'til then I had been beating myself up and feeling like a burden in the world almost daily, because I didn't see anything in the world telling me that I was even worth a second glance. My family is a rock solid base I am eternally grateful for, but the world at large very clearly wanted to erase me from existence, and for a time I believed that was as much as I was worthy of. But then, something clicked in me, and it keeps clicking today. 

The first time I saw someone like myself in media (that wasn't, like, a villain or a token friend, or someone who needed to be made over to be worthy of love) was in a Target Halloween ad. A little girl with crutches was in an Elsa costume in the middle of the page, no larger or smaller than anyone else, but there. And I cried. I was in college, and it was the first time I saw something I always knew deep inside of me I needed to see. I've seen it more often in the years since, but the feeling never changes. A rush of happiness and validation that yes! I belong here just as much as you do! My presence in this world matters! We don't need media to tell us that, of course, but to think media has no effect on social thought is folly. I didn't cry over that Target ad just because it was something I needed to see. I did it because there are kids in the world out there who need to see it too. Who would get just as excited about seeing themselves on that page as I did.

This is part of Taussig's point, of course. Growing up and going through the world disabled means growing through and with a unique kind of pain, physical and otherwise, that shifts and morphs but never truly leaves. The pain of knowing how different you are, feeling people's eyes on you no matter where you go, having safety concerns entirely unique to your body and mental state. Seeing someone else put down in words about being afraid of things like taking an Uber because, what if they withheld my mobility aid? I wouldn't be able to get away as quickly as other people; or being the only visibly disabled person in the room and feeling other people's tension rise when something awkward happens; or the quandary of do I really have the energy to speak up about this societal overlook or can I just put up with the inconvenience? was uniquely refreshing. 

Many things she discusses in Sitting Pretty I have only in recent years begun to puzzle over, and finding solidarity in someone being worried about the same things for the same reasons was comforting in a way I didn't really know I needed. We're all shut up in quarantine right now, and it's a very lonely experience, but this book was a much needed reminder that every question I ask myself about my place in the world and my abilities to navigate it is not unique to me.

I write about representation in media for the same reasons it feels like Rebekah Taussig wrote this book: if we want the world to truly be a better place, we have to have as many voices at the table as possible. Even when the stories aren't centered on a disabled person, their input can and should be considered. We've gone a long time being overlooked, but any world that overlooks minorities of any kind is an incomplete one. Disabled people aren't asking to be the center of every conversation. Just to be included. To be seen. To be heard. Improving the world for us, believe it or not, improves the world for everyone else, too. 
I cannot recommend Sitting Pretty loudly enough. A vital and vulnerable memoir about the importance of inclusion and the rough edges of growth of understanding.


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I would like to thank HarperCollins and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. This one means so much.

I really enjoyed this book and I related to a lot of it, as a disabled woman. I think this will be excellent on audiobook.

Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig is a fascinating look into the world of the disability through the eyes of a disabled woman. I have to admit, I've followed Ms. Taussig's Instagram for awhile and when I saw she was writing a book I kept checking NetGalley to see if would be available. This book delves into her life as a child. where because of how she was raised she thought she could do anything, through her teen years and college, where she discovered more of the limits of her disability in an able oriented world. She also points out many things that I never considered, such as are we really helping when we offer to help a disabled person? I know that I always offer to hold doors for people, disabled or not, but what about those that offer to help the disabled put the groceries in their cars? They often have a system that enables them to get the groceries in and out of their car in the best way possible for them and by helping we are disrupting their system and making it more difficult for them. I had never considered that! She also goes into all sorts of discrimination, not just disabilities, which is important in the culture that we are living in currently. If I thought I was impressed with Ms. Taussig and her work previously, I was even more impressed with her after reading her story. This is a very important novel for our times...and for any time!

Sitting Pretty: The View From My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig is both memoir and education tool, self-care guide and inclusive rallying cry, and I’m comfortable suggesting it as reading for anyone with a body.

Through eight essays, Taussig uses her personal experiences to show readers the way that ableist language, policies, and norms hurt society at large and leave people with disabilities feeling somewhere between erased and pitied. And if you think the experiences of folks with disabilities are somehow outside of your experience as a person with a body, give it time and this memoir will confidently and empathetically guide you to a new conclusion.

Though Sitting Pretty’s essays are told through personal anecdotes, they carry a theme of education and allyship, each discussing a particular topic ranging from disability conversations with allies who think they understand (but maybe don’t really understand); falling in love and finding representation in romantic narratives; navigating the workplace and the pressure of not needing “special accommodations”; finding accessible, affordable housing; interacting with well-meaning folks who disbelieve the proficiency, strength, and/or intellect of someone with a visible disability; how generalizations of what it means to be Female or Woman may discount the experiences of folks with disabilities; and what accessibility often means vs what it ideally should include.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to feel seen from by this book. When reading from someone in a marginalized community, I don’t expect they’ll make my problems their focus, and aa trans person, I don’t expect people to write for my experience. However, part of Taussig’s message is that inclusivity, accessibility, and disability representation benefits anyone with a body. Ableism pushes a belief that a body should be gaged by what it produces, how much it produces, how much money it is able to make, and how few accommodations (lets not use the word “special”, please) it requires. And don’t we all need accommodations for our bodies for some reason at some point in our lives if not throughout most of our growing/aging existence?

When Taussig relays conversations where friends have equated womanhood with experiences that are perhaps mostly relevant to only certain bodies, my nonbinary body felt massively validated. When Taussig speaks of pushing herself to be The Best Worker, requesting as few accommodations for her body as possible against her bodies needs, I couldn’t help but think of every time I have pushed through when my mental health requested something else of me. I bring this review to a personal place, because, yes, these discussions are important to aid folks with disabilities, and that on its own is important, but as Taussig reminds readers, learning from people with disabilities opens up a world that is better for everyone.

So, if you have a body, give it a read. Allow yourself to be surprised. Allow yourself to learn. And if you are already fairly well-versed in disability and inclusion, pick up Sitting Pretty, relax a moment, and also allow yourself to feel validated.



*This book recognizes trans and nonbinary bodies and cis-privilege
**This book recognizes BIPOC bodies and the author’s white privilege