Page 27 - Mainstreamer e-Magazine 01 June 2022 - Final (4)
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BOOK REVIEW
the idea of disability and sexuality. General with disabilities.
belief suggests that disability decides a person’s
hyposexuality or asexuality, and this has proven This book is unique and interesting in its own
to be unscientific, although there is evidence way, especially in Western culture, in which
suggesting that the mentally challenged may be the mantra of self-identification, gender, queer
hypersexual. Having interest in sexuality only at a behavior, freedom of choice, and inequality is
later age, she found it uncomfortable to talk about common. However, for the purpose of this review,
marriage, let alone about having kids. Her writing I have two points to make.
informs readers not only on the complexity of sex First, the reviewer is open to the idea that
issues, but also on the complexity of a disabled identity should be hidden and kept private. The
person and how these two subjects, disability and visibility of an individual should be based on their
sexuality, are worth exploring. contribution to society, instead of being based on
Another article also written under Part 2 is their disability.
“How to Make a Paper Crane from Rage” by According to the group that wants to make
Elsa Sjunneson. She provides a very interesting their identity private, making their disability
metaphorical origami to turn her burning rage visible is not important, because the moment they
into a beacon of light. She is deaf and blind, and know how significant the contributions from the
feels strongly how unjust the world is, but was disability group are, the abled people will naturally
able to convince society that this injustice must be open their eyes to make those with disabilities
corrected. Despite her thinking being radicalized visible.
by her father’s sickness, which led to his death,
coupled with other psychological problems and Secondly, we do not know much about how
childhood trauma, she helped abled people to religious PwDs are in the West, regardless of
open their minds, respecting the disabled as their denomination, although the article by
human beings, just like everyone else. June Eric-Udorie explained how happy she was
during Church activities once she admitted
Another interesting story, “How a Blind wholeheartedly of her disability. I am quite sure
Astronomer Found a Way to Hear the Stars”, was that as people become truly religious, they may
written by Wanda Dìaz-Merced (Part 3: Doing). She have different takes on equal rights, let alone their
explains how a blind person can make her name in sexual preference, to get themselves visible.
the world of astronomy. In the writing, a rhetorical
question is asked: “If someone who is already at Muslims, for instance, are always being
the top of their career suddenly turns disabled, reminded that if they face confusion, they should
should we just excommunicate them?” This is always refer to the main sources (the Quran and
exactly what happened to this blind astronomer Hadith). A part of the Hadith states:
when she lost her vision at the point where
she was really into becoming an astrophysicist. ‘If I deprive my slave of his two beloved
Knowing that the data of energy released from things (i.e., his eyes) and he remains patient,
gamma ray bursts are able to be plotted onto I will let him enter Paradise in compensation
a graph, visible on the screen, the astronomer for them.’”
began thinking of how she could access the same
data, despite being blind. Collaborating with other Through this book, readers would be more
astronomers, they developed a method called aware on the concept of ablism versus disablism,
sonification, transforming data into sounds. As making them strange to the familiarity of Asian
sighted people organize the data into a visible culture, whilst familiarizing the strangeness of
curve, the same data can be accessed by the blind the Western culture. In short, Disability Visibility:
through audible sound waves. Knowing that the First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century
blind can become astronomers, she established is a very interesting book which should be read,
a radio astronomy school, focusing on only those especially by the non-disabled community.
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