I started reading Disability Visibility this week to expand my understanding of the experiences of the one in five people with disabilities in the US.

I had intended to do a blog post on things I learned, what struck me, etc. However, instead of reading what I think, please read Unspeakable Conversations (which is the first chapter of Disability Visibility) from Harriet McBryde Johnson.

The first paragraph will draw you in better than anything I could write:

He insists he doesn’t want to kill me. He simply thinks it would have been better, all things considered, to have given my parents the option of killing the baby I once was, and to let other parents kill similar babies as they come along and thereby avoid the suffering that comes with lives like mine and satisfy the reasonable preferences of parents for a different kind of child. It has nothing to do with me. I should not feel threatened.

Harriet McBryde Johnson, Unspeakable Conversations

It’s beautifully written. Deeply personal, raw, complex, funny, and profoundly impactful.