Eddie Ndopu had some incredible highs while pursuing his Masters at Oxford, like being voted student body president. But he had to do so while fighting for basic rights and access to care. In this vulnerable, moving memoir, Ndopu reveals the ableism he faced during his grad program and argues for why disabled students deserve better. It's a powerful read that shows off Ndopu's sharp insights and great sense of humor.

Thank you so much to Legacy Lit for reaching out to me with a review copy of disability activist Eddie Ndopu’s new memoir. When I sat down to read “just a few pages”, I became completely immersed and read over half of the book. I couldn’t put it down even if my sleep schedule suffered! 😂 [laughing emoji]

The memoir primarily deals with Eddie’s experience attending Oxford University with small snippets of flashbacks to his younger life. Eddie is a master at painting a literary picture and you feel like you’re sitting right next to him as he experiences horrific ableism, fights for his rights, laughs with his friends, dreams of love, and continues to break barriers.

However, at times I wished the memoir was more chronological with more details about Eddie’s early life and teen years. The jumping back and forth in time was sometimes hard to follow. I also craved more descriptions of Eddie’s work. I imagine it was cut down for publication reasons but I would’ve been happy to read a detailed, immersive, and fully fleshed out narrative of his earlier life and career even if it meant the book had to be twice as long!

Eddie brings a charming sense of humor to his writing that makes this memoir addictively readable. I hope that this book is only the beginning of Eddie’s publishing journey and he goes on to write a part 2 (and maybe even a part 3) to this engaging memoir!

I loved this book; Ndopu brings a story of disability and struggles to get basic needs met. I appreciated his academic successes and his hard work to go to Oxford. It was funny at times and other times upsetting at all the ableism he had to endure.

A raw, honest, and infuriating story, Sipping Dom Perignon Through A Straw truly showcases the experiences of a disabled African man simply trying to love out his dream and contribute to the world. At times hilarious and then immediately anger-inducing, it opened my eyes to so much work there’s still to be done!

Eddie Ndopu charts his journey from South Africa to Oxford in his perfectly titled memoir Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw: Reimagining Success as a Disabled Achiever (it really was the title that grabbed my attention to read). Ndopu was born with a profoundly disabling condition called spinal muscular atrophy, and his mother was told not to expect him to live past five years. But instead, Ndopu shone and became a successful global humanitarian and was offered a spot in a graduate program at Oxford University- a major feat. While Ndopu's mental abilities are unaffected by his condition, he requires significant assistance with virtually all activities of daily living and much of this memoir charts the challenges, many bureaucracy-filled, on obtaining (and paying) for the needed care at Oxford. I appreciate the vulnerability Ndopu showed throughout the memoir, and I sympathized with his frustrations. I only wish he had also spent more time on what he studied at Oxford- so much was focused on his struggles to find necessary care and basically having to fund raise for it, I missed out on context of his work prior to coming to Oxford, his studies there, and his work afterwards.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

As we're introduced to Eddie Ndopu in "Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw: Reimagining Success as a Disabled Achiever," we're also introduced into the intense ableism he encounters on his daily journey toward becoming globally recognized for his humanitarian efforts.

Diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at the age of 2, Ndopu's brilliance in this opening scene is nearly matched by his stark vulnerability. An alarm testing has gone off inside the residential building where he is currently being assisted in bathing by a paid caregiver. Despite Ndopu's protests, this caregiver is intent on obeying institutional rules and quickly vacates the building with Ndopu only minimally covered and still, yes really, in his shower chair.

At the same time that Ndopu is achieving academic excellence, this is but one example of the myriad of ways in which he is also experiencing daily ableism and frequent humiliations.

These kinds of experiences are shared throughout Ndopu's first book, "Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw," a book that Ndopu wrote with his one good finger and a book that is both profoundly motivating and profoundly vulnerable as Ndopu openly shares what it means to be a disabled achiever in pretty much any part of the world.

The vast majority of "Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw" covers Ndopu's acceptance on a full scholarship into the prestigious Oxford University's inaugural African Leadership Academy. Despite Oxford's seeming embrace of Ndopu's presence, it quickly became apparent they were ill-equipped to meet the needs of a qualifying student with significant disabilities. Oxford, which doesn't come off particularly well here, responds to his challenges with such profound ableism (and familiar for those of us with disabilities) that it's a wonder that the intensely motivated Ndopu persevered and lived to tell about it.

As a disabled achiever myself, though certainly on a different scale, much of "Sipping Dom Pérignon" was achingly familiar and maddening. From daily humiliations to difficulties in both affording and obtaining appropriate supports to peers who either lean toward "inspiration porn" or the other extreme of apathy, Ndopu writes with an openness and honesty that is refreshing and also community-building. He serves as an example that the promising disabled achiever can manage these challenges, I dare not use the word "overcome," and yet he also serves up reminder after reminder of the highest cost paid by many individuals with disabilities who choose to buck the system in an effort to make a better life for themselves and for the world around them.

While building his global reputation, Ndopu also deals with basic issues like how to go to the bathroom when an aide isn't allowed to lift you. He deals with hefty bills not covered by his "full" scholarship and he deals with a lack of support from the university that seems to regard crowdfunding as his answer to everything. The examples go on and on.

On the plus side, Ndopu poignantly shares the building of a village and the importance of this very vulnerability in ultimately achieving success. Forced to find his stride or crumble under the crushing weight of ableism, Ndopu builds a world where he gathers with world leaders while also wades through painful loneliness, social isolation, and monstrous uncertainties.

"Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw" is a moving and engaging introduction into the life of a man recognized as a "global changemaker," neither a full-on memoir nor really a self-help book. Instead, it's a hands-on journey into a disabled achiever's journey toward remarkable success while still living his daily life with spinal muscular atrophy. Both exhilarating and maddening, "Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw" informs, educates, and inspires while poignantly sharing the ways big and small that ableism exists in daily life.

Written with patience and precision and with one good finger, this evocative and vulnerable prose advocates for a more universally accessible world for all while reminding us of our own capacity for resilience.