Disability Visibility: Part 1

by Alice Wong
Published ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, this collection of 17 essays presents the complex array of struggles that individuals face when navigating the world in a marginalized body.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. abstain
    refrain from doing, consuming, or partaking in something
    During Ramadan, those observing the fast abstain from food, beverages, smoking, and kissing.
  2. savvy
    marked by practical hardheaded intelligence
    In my day, teachers weren’t as culturally savvy as they are now.
  3. bigotry
    intolerance and prejudice
    We would spend all day on the street doing interviews with the locals, who weren’t too fond of Muslims. For the first time in my history of Ramadans, I complained. I was hot, thirsty, and tired of bigotry.
  4. deem
    judge or regard in a particular way
    I had never understood mathematical equations or ratios, so the only thing I learned from her lesson was that these were the beauty standards a woman must meet if she wanted to be deemed worthy.
  5. aesthetics
    the branch of philosophy dealing with beauty and taste
    My jaw was too far back; my ears were too low. There were regular appointments with doctors and surgeons trying to fix me and my twin sister, who was also born with Crouzon syndrome. Some of these were for medical purposes, others for aesthetics.
  6. skeptical
    marked by or given to doubt
    “You don’t have to show these to anyone,” she told me. “Just take them for you.”
    I was skeptical, but agreed.
  7. rectify
    set straight or right
    They broke my bones and shifted everything forward—necessary to rectify the premature fusion of my skull.
  8. incorporate
    make into a whole or make part of a whole
    I told her of the assignment Beth had given me and asked her if I could incorporate my project into my class assignments.
  9. arbitrary
    based on or subject to individual discretion or preference
    She told me that appearance, much like design aesthetics, is arbitrary and exists only to assign meaning and purpose for those seeking it, but that ultimately our unique attributes are our signatures. They’re the stamps on the world that only we can leave. They’re the things that set us apart and make us beautiful.
  10. attribute
    a characteristic that distinguishes objects or individuals
    She told me that appearance, much like design aesthetics, is arbitrary and exists only to assign meaning and purpose for those seeking it, but that ultimately our unique attributes are our signatures. They’re the stamps on the world that only we can leave. They’re the things that set us apart and make us beautiful.
  11. quip
    make jokes or witty remarks
    “I don’t know about you,” she quipped, “but he doesn’t look too pretty to me.”
  12. retrospect
    contemplation of things past
    But I guess that’s how life works sometimes—noticing beauty only in retrospect and poetry, in silence.
  13. influx
    the process of flowing in
    It was not unusual at this time of year to have a sudden influx of new faces.
  14. stark
    complete or extreme
    Beside me, my grandmother was dancing, hips swaying to the rhythms of the talking drum, her smile wide enough to expose the stark contrast between her pearl-white teeth and the dark opening between them.
  15. raucous
    disturbing the public peace; loud and rough
    I wanted to dance, too: free my limbs; take off my shoes and place them underneath the pew in front of me; join the raucous congregation, their voices gradually rising above the instruments as they sang, Come and join me, sing hallelujah.
  16. dissipate
    go away, scatter, or disappear
    But that Sunday, my bones became feeble, as if the very thing that held them together had dissipated, and I asked God for a miracle.
  17. congenital
    present at birth but not necessarily hereditary
    I was born with congenital idiopathic nystagmus.
  18. idiopathic
    (of diseases) arising from an unknown cause
    I was born with congenital idiopathic nystagmus.
  19. involuntarily
    against your will
    The American Nystagmus Network defines nystagmus as a “complex condition where the eyes move involuntarily in a small, repeated back-and-forth motion,” making it hard to see clearly.
  20. sparse
    not dense or plentiful
    At home, conversations about my nystagmus were sparse, except when discussed as a thing that God would “deliver me” from.
  21. ophthalmologist
    a doctor who diagnoses and treats diseases of the eye
    In 2012, an ophthalmologist at a hospital in Oxford, England, asked if I’d considered registering as partially sighted.
  22. implication
    a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred
    The implication—the idea that I could have a disability—was so momentous that I didn’t say anything for a while.
  23. undermine
    weaken or impair, especially gradually
    I had grown up surrounded by people who undermined the severity of my disability, and so for me to claim the label, when I didn’t feel “disabled enough,” felt disingenuous.
  24. disingenuous
    not straightforward or candid
    I had grown up surrounded by people who undermined the severity of my disability, and so for me to claim the label, when I didn’t feel “disabled enough,” felt disingenuous.
  25. laud
    praise, glorify, or honor
    I was Black, female, young, Nigerian, British—but I was not disabled. Claiming that label felt like lauding myself with an extra unnecessary burden.
  26. perpetuity
    the property of being seemingly ceaseless
    The sky was a translucent blue, and the clouds seemed to stretch on for perpetuity.
  27. grievance
    an allegation that something denies some legal right
    I asked several other deaf guys in the prison about it, and they said the same thing happened to them. From that point forward, I started filing grievances.
  28. vocational
    of or relating to an occupation
    Every other class—the basic computer class, vocational training, a reentry program—I would get there, they would realize I was deaf, and they would kick me out.
  29. chaplain
    a member of the clergy ministering to some institution
    None of the staff knew sign language, not the doctors or the nurses, the mental health department, the administration, the chaplain, the mailroom.
  30. exorbitant
    greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation
    Writing all that down takes an exorbitant amount of time: I’d be in there for thirty minutes, and I didn’t have the time to write everything I wanted to.
Created on Tue May 10 10:01:52 EDT 2022 (updated Tue May 17 15:06:19 EDT 2022)

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