Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This opened my eyes.

Of course I know disabled people existed. I obviously know queer people existed. And yeah then logically queer disabled people existed too. But this book giving me many examples of wonderful people made it so much more real. It gives examples of people further back into history, and others who lived not that long ago. It gave me a big idea of us being there in all ages of time, and that was really nice.

I felt connected with history through this book in a way I only once had before with Queer as Folklore which I reviewed a few weeks ago. Both books take a look at historical queer things and it really gave me space to exist. Queer Disability Through History gave me even more a connected feeling though because disability is such an essential part of me and that intersection gives life a very different outlook. I loved that the book talked about this intersection too, how queerness can sometimes act as a disability, or how queerness and disability together give someone a significantly higher chance of discrimination. The look at both of these marginalizations together and how they interact through history gave me a lot more insight how this can be for others.

The book stayed down to earth but professional throughout. It felt respectful to the deceased and handed it with care. It was interesting to learn about so many individuals, some of whom I'd heard from before and others who I didn't. It highlighted a few big moments in both queer and disabled history and showed someone disabled and queer who had a big hand in that. These highlights were really awesome and gave me a lot of insight.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting queer and disability history in a fun way.

NetGalley, Ivan Langen

An enjoyable and informative book. There were a range of individuals discussed - both ones I had heard of and ones that I hadn't. Out of those that I had heard of before, there was a ton of information about them that I was unaware of. The book does a solid job of putting the individuals and their experiences into a greater context as well. Even as someone who has read about/engaged with disability advocacy for some years now, there were sections that helped me grasp areas of theory better than previously.

NetGalley, Nick Aucoin

Starting off, I loved that the book included a definition for disability at the beginning that was widely inclusive. It is such an interesting premise to dive into history through specific queer Disabled peoples’ lives! Immediately, they touch on how queer Disabled peoples’ identities are often separated into “queer” or “Disabled”, but both aspects are rarely examined together. They also mentioned how their own coverage of the issues may be biased and I appreciated how the author confronted their own biases this way. They did a wonderful job weaving in a lot of basic queer and disabled history to fill out the stories that this book told and it added some interesting context! All together, it made an enthralling read about disabled queer history!

NetGalley, Sarah Loyd

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is an amazing book that focuses on The intersections between several groups, but predominantly those with disabilities that are also lgbtqia+.
Covering topics from Guardianship, Ethics in care, access issues and more it is a definitive guide to understanding these groups intersecting history and I feel should be a mandated read for all.

>From platforming icons both known and previously unknown (at least to me) for their contributions to policy, societal change, pride as we know it and so much more it is a fountain of knowledges.
Additionally it highlights Impacts on those in several minorities ie queer and disabled or BIPOC/and disabled.
One event which particularly stuck out to me was the Capital crawl. This being as it was such a visual and un-ignorable representation of the community and the need for Policy around queerness and disabilities to change to better protect them.

This includes fighting against past DSM psychotherapy definitions on homosexuality and transgenderism and ADA policy failing protecting those who were intersectional.
>From Deafness to chronic illness, To those disabled by events we see a broad range of disabilities and identities represented and it has an intersection with art as well as policy.

NetGalley, Jade Husdan-Hicks

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is genuinely a must read. It talks about important queercrips in history and their importance but also connects it with other, queer and/or crip, history. As a queercrip who has talked about historical queercrips in the past, this anti-erasure book gave me so much joy.

NetGalley, Jax Davis

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This was a really poignant and important read. The way the author structured this book lead the reader through the intersection of disability and queerness -which has not previously been really talked about together even though the term intersectionality has been coined for a while. I liked how the author started with more famous queer folks - Frida and Marsha - and then expanded with other figures that might not have been well known in either the disability or queer communities but are now more understood. This is a great book for anyone who wants to learn more about queer or disability history (and will learn about both).

NetGalley, Lauren B