Valuable perspective since most disability memoirs are more about inspiration and motivation, rather than what it's really like for disabled persons navigating the world. Important calling for nondisabled people to take a look at how we enable the ableist system.

Being Seen is a memoir written by deafblind professor Elsa Sjunneson about her life as a person with disabilities as well as commentary and critical analysis of societal views of deafness, blindness, and other disabilities. I really loved this book, it was often hard to put down. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of life with a disability, for example dating, using assistive technology/devices, working and applying for jobs. I think that whether you know someone with a disability (including yourself) or not, this book is a must read for all humans. Sjunneson gives readers a window into the life of people with disabilities and the challenges they face DAILY which are usually caused by or exacerbated by abled people.

Ableism is definitely a theme in this story and for some people it may be a first introduction to an area of discrimination that people with disabilities face constantly as they navigate the world we share. Assumptions and prejudice are awful in most cases but when someone is disabled they face these assumptions constantly from doctors to customer service agents to friends and family. They are often seen first for their disability and then maybe for who they are as a person.

I commend Sjunneson for her honest and brave storytelling and her desire to give readers an opportunity to learn from her (often traumatic) experiences. This book is very well written and well researched and is the perfect combination of personal experiences and information to support observations or opinions. The story also involves a pretty in-depth critique of disability in popular culture and the media. At times I did find this a bit less interesting as I hadn't previously watched or read several of the books and movies described. That being said, it is not necessary to have consumed the media described and it is also an opportunity for readers to add literature and film to their to-read/watch or to-avoid lists! I also felt the ending was a bit awkward, and I think the author did too lol! Sjunneson is only in her 30s so how do you end a memoir when you aren't even half way through your life (based on average life spans in North America)? Aside from those two things I thought this book was amazing and would highly recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this book.

This is a nonfiction, partly memoir partly media studies book by a Deafblind woman (she’s a Professor of Media Studies, hence the inclusion of that subject). Elsa Sjunneson teaches us in and fun and quirky manner about the true definition of being disabled, and dives into why people have complex and often negative feelings about that term. For instance, small children with disabilities are cute and heroic, elderly disabled people are seen as a burden. And all demographics are expected to have an origin story that explains their disability.

I feel the frustration in Elsa’s words, but somehow the tone doesn’t get heavy. When you consider the absolute horror show of the American Health Care System, it’s amazing that we aren’t all constantly protesting Washington and voting out immoral politicians contributing to the system. I admire her ability to discuss what life is like for disabled people in the USA without just writing out a string of swears at all the groups causing the systemic issues surrounding health care.

There were moments when I thought she was verging on condescension when explaining to the reader exactly what abled bodied people think about disabled people and how wrong they tend to be in their viewpoints. But does thinking that make me a #notalldisabledpeople person? Well, Yikes, maybe that’s the point Elsa is making. Let’s not be that person.

Elsa describes being blind in verbiage that a photographer would use “restricted views”,
“Dutch angle”, which makes it easy for sighted people to understand that 80% of blind people are not in total darkness. She also invites people into her world of dating, and there is a particularly heartbreaking part about disabled people wanting to become parents that I won’t get into, but I will say that the fun and quirky tones of the book can also turn to very serious. It’s unfair how women are treated in the healthcare system period, but to be disabled and navigating the system? There are no words for how terrible it can be.

I was following Elsa on Twitter for a while before I realized she had a book coming out. Of course I had to request an advanced release copy, and I want to thank Tiller Press for the arc in exchange for my honest review. Lastly, there are a lot of footnotes in this book. That will be no big deal to most; I found it distracting.

Read an eARC from NetGalley
Content warning: ableism, depression, suicidal ideation, medically-assisted suicide, assault (sexual and physical, mentioned), child abuse, spousal abuse, eugenics, Nazis

Elsa Sjunneson is an award-winning writer, professor, and media critic. She is also Deafblind woman with partial vision in one eye and bilateral hearing aids. This memoir takes the reader through her personal history while also seamlessly incorporating critique of popular works featuring disabled characters and dispelling myths about the disabled experience through a combination of lived experience, history, sociology, and pop culture.

Infused with intersectionality, dry humor, and passion for the media critiqued, this is not one to miss.

The structure of this memoir really worked for me. There’s a balance between looking at ableism across several axes, including personally, structurally, entertainment-wise, and more. I do not have a point of reference for several things that Sjunneson brought up throughout, as I’m relatively abled, she explains her reality and experiences with a patience fueled by a desire for change. There are condemnations of specific pieces of media (such as the way Helen Keller is presented to many nondisabled people as the first example), but there is also an invitation to take a walk in Sjunneson’s shoes. And after that, to examine our own ideas and perceptions. The level of detail is outstanding, and there are opportunities upon finishing to delve deeper into the histories, studies, and critiques of everything mentioned.

The footnotes woven throughout are also fantastic. They’re great for both sourcing specific examples, providing context, but also introducing necessary snark and levity. There are parts of this book where Sjunneson discusses her traumas with regards to ableism in general, but also personal anecdotes. Humor here works bother to enhance clarity but also zero in on points made.

Parts are going to make you angry alongside Sjunneson, but there is an invitation to work through ableism both witnessed and internalized. This is a fantastic read from start to finish. I am grateful for the truths and vulnerability that Sjunneson shares with the reader.

Being Seen is a memoir with elements of cultural criticism and history of the Deafblind community. It’s incredibly personal and intimate; the author doesn’t shy away from writing about having sex, being queer, or taking part in police brutality protests.

As an able-bodied person who tries to read diverse books, I must admit that I have not read much (if anything at all) about the Deafblind experience before. A lot of the subjects that Sjunneson wrote about were new to me, or were things I never really contemplated. She writes about serious topics, but treats them with a lot of humor and doesn’t try to make herself look like a brave hero for “enduring” her disability - quite the contrary, she hates disabled people being treated like inspirations. In one chapter she writes about a boy in her class who wrote an essay about how impressed he was with her spirit, which left Sjunneson mortified. It’s a truly thought-provoking book that taught me a lot, and I was especially curious to read Sjunneson’s thoughts on Hellen Keller and how deaf or blind people are represented in media (Daredevil, Don’t Breathe, etc.). I also loved having the opportunity to read about her experiences with activism and how important intersectionality is in every corner of society.

Overall, Being Seen is an incredibly important book that answers many questions able-bodied people might not even know they have, and I hope it reading it will make us more aware of what we can do to be better allies.

Written by a Deaf/Blind activist against ableism, this book opened my eyes to just how much non disabled individuals such as myself don't understand about the world the author lives in every day. Well written, in a disarming, conversational tone yet she doesn't pull any punches when it comes to the changes that she sees need to be made in the ableist world. Highly recommended.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review.
This book is an educational look at the ways in which society reinforces ableist attitudes, some (relatively) innocuous and some incredibly insidious, yet all overlooked. As a disabled person myself, I’ve faced some of the challenges discussed in the book, while also being stunned and horrified at others that were brought up. I love the way Sjunneson used to her own experiences as a reference point, but also spoke to the wider issues and how they impact people she knows or has read about. I especially appreciated her insights into the intersections of disability with race and sexuality, especially as they add additional nuances that also don’t get acknowledged, like police brutality or the stereotypes around sexual attraction for disabled people.

"By participating in ableism, we participate in the devaluation of all humanity."

This book is a must-read for anyone, but especially for nondisabled people. It's half memoir, half critical analysis, but all things that need to be said. If you're unsure why ableism in media can be harmful, how disability looks different for different people, what reason disabled people might have to fear the police--Elsa Sjunneson covers it all. This book made me so frustrated and upset at points, but it points out just how much change is needed (with a focus on the United States, because that's what the author has experience with).

Thank you to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster, and Elsa Sjunneson for the chance to review this ARC.

Beautiful, funny, informative, and relatable. Elsa Sjunneson does an incredible job at sharing her story while writing on the broader topic of ableism and accessibility. As a disabled person, I appreciate the necessary and difficult work Sjunneson has put into this book. Too many people experience ableism on a daily basis and there is little attention to the harm it causes.

"It is a truth universally unacknowledged that you could become disabled at any point in your life" - Elsa Sjunneson

I reviewed this book in exchange for an advance copy. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me this opportunity.

I had mixed feelings that made me wait a while before opening this book. I got the book because I'm familiar with the author through science fiction fandom - I saw her speech accepting a Hugo award and liked her more for it, and she's just delightful on Twitter, a fountain of knowledge and snark.

But this book looked like it might be an inspiring disability story, and I wasn't especially in the mood to be inspired.

I was wrong, though - this is the opposite of that. It's a book about disability activism, about living with disability, about why Inspirational Stories are not just irritating but offensive. It would also be very excerptable for class, and actually might work very well as assigned reading in a high school or college classroom, if you're at a school where parents won't scream too much about the sections which address the fact that disabled people do have sex lives, and sexual trauma, too.

Loved it, would recommend widely.

Being Seen by Elsa Sjunneson

I don’t usually read a lot of non-fiction, but I was intrigued when I heard about this book. The author is a nominee this year for the Best Fan Writer Hugo Award. I was reading her website and some of her essays in the Hugo voter packet and her website noted that she had this book coming out this year, so I requested a copy from NetGalley. The book is very well written and I really like her writing style. I felt like I really got to know her as a person and I loved her use of footnotes. I don’t know any deaf blind people and I know very few disabled people so a lot in this memoir was - well, I was going to say “eye-opening”, but I’m going to try to use less ableist language in my own writing, so instead I’ll say it was edifying. I learned a lot and I really enjoyed reading this book. My only complaint is that it was a memoir and autobiography, and therefore jumped around a lot in the authors life and left several gaps making me wish that I knew more. Still, that’s a small quibble. I very much enjoyed it.

Thank you to Elsa, Netgalley, Tiller Press and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Being Seen is part-memoir and part critical analysis as to people view disability in media. While there is some sections that really delve into Elsa's own experience being Deafblind, it really enables the reader to gain insight as to how people with disabilities are portrayed in media and the experiences of people with disabilities in a society that is really ableist.

I really love everything about this book and I hope that we as a society really take the opportunity to learn from this book how to be better humans.

As much as I wanted to love this book, I had issues with it, one being the negative view of Helen Keller portrayed in it, as if somehow the author was selling her achievements short.


The second major issue I had was the way the author clumped all Churches into the category of those who are supporting Ableism, it’s an unfair portrayal, and does not address the Churches that apply to ADA guidelines. I’m disabled myself and was hoping to find encouragement from this book, instead I found it was actually discouraging.

Elsa Sjunneson has crafted a masterpiece with this nonfiction account. It is part memoir, part critical analysis of disability in media, and part historical account of the Deafblind experience.

Elsa discusses her own experience as a Deafblind woman and the experiences that other disabled people have faced and continue to face in a predominantly ableist society. As a media studies professor, she expertly explains the harmful and ableist ways disability is portrayed in films and TV.

Elsa states that she was raised by her queer parents to not think of herself as disabled. It was not until a bit later in life that she began to identify as disabled and as a Deafblind woman with a capital “D”.

Elsa discusses everything from what it’s like for disabled people to be denied services to being infantilized and, contrastingly, to being fetishized. She also discusses the intersectionality of being disabled and belonging to other marginalized groups. She describes her life as an activist and the harm that disabled people have experienced from police brutality.

When I started this book, I hoped that the author would discuss the most ableist and offensive movie I have ever seen: Me Before You. And, yes, Elsa delivered. She summed the movie’s message up perfectly: the only good disabled partner is a dead one.

This book handles some serious topics, but humour is also injected throughout. Some parts made me chuckle, others made me angry at the ableism that is so ingrained into our society. Elsa states early on in the book that she did not write this for readers to feel inspired by her achievements, but rather to inspire and create real changes to end ableism.

Thank you to Netgalley, Tiller Press, and Simon & Schuster for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Important and illuminating. BEING SEEN is a highly recommended first purchase for all public nonfiction collections.