Rebekah Taussig

A memoir-in-essays from Rebekah Taussig, disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty, reflecting on identity, accessibility, and representation and processing a lifetime of memories to paint a more beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most. Rebekah Taussig has been paralyzed for as long as she can remember but didn't begin to unpack it until she was in her mid-twenties working on a PhD in disability studies. She began writing mini-essays about what it means to live as a disabled woman and exploring the limited ways we typically see disability: something monstrous (the Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). She longed for stories that reflected her experiences--stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling. Sitting Pretty offers an honest look at disability and its effects on identity, love, money, and self-worth. Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn't fit, Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and the false idea of "ableism." Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. We all need more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity. A timely reminder to look beyond ourselves and our singular experiences, Sitting Pretty challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.

The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body

Sitting Pretty

Riley

So where do we point our blame when our favorite villains, Overt Cruelty and Malicious Intent, are found to be missing in action? How do we begin to understand what happened?

I didn't use this word when talking with David. Later, I wondered why. It's efficient and holds so much. It's the perfect word to answer the question at hand. What's the hesitation? I suppose that I feel a bit of caution whenever using this word with anyone who isn't already intimately familiar with its texture. WVithout knowing what it feels like to live inside it the slippery surface, the sharp cuts and dull bruises it leavesableism" can feel like just another "ism" in a long list that people are already weary of tracking.

And in case this isn’t clear, let me emphasize: more is at stake than hurt feelings, irritations, and misunderstandings. Stories written about marginalized people embed themselves in our culture and are used to justify our politics, to arrange our school systems, to determine a hospital's budget. They enter our private homes, follow us into libraries, classrooms, airports, restaurants, courthouses, swimming pools, doctors' offices, churches, bars—these skewed, melodramatic narratives shape our cities, our communities, our social interactions. They precede us, follow us, and are almost impossible to shake.

Sitting Pretty quotes

Join the club