No Pity - Book Review
...r book did. Joseph Shapiro presented factual information and history in a manner that provoked much thought and emotion from the reader. When I read about struggle after struggle that these people went through, I started to empathize with them, not because they are disabled, but because they had to fight incredibly hard for equal treatment. The first chapter is what really blew me away because I had never thought about how the disabled were thought of and portrayed just a few decades ago. To think that in the 1960’s it was shunned upon to be a disabled adult made me think of how much they truly had to go through to turn the negative image into a positive one. Reading about the history contained in this text, has made me realize that there actually is no pity in disability, but it is society and our myths, fears, and stereotypes that we place on disabled people that make it so difficult for them to feel “normal” in our world. Although disabled people still struggle to have people accept them as normal and competent individuals, the image of them has changed tremendously. Joseph Shapiro has made an effort not only to explain what disabled people have fought for over the years, but also why they fought. The history of the disability rights movement has shed light on how the passing of various acts has changed the culture of the disabled people and, also, the views and culture of those around them. In No Pity, there were many parallels made between the disabilities rights movement and other events in history, such as the civil rights movement. Since there has not been a lot of attention about the disabilities rights movement, I think this was a key aspect of the boo...