{"product_id":"unbound-by-ben-mattlin-9781958888520","title":"Unbound","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis insightful and often witty collection of essays charts the making of a reluctant disability activist—including his commentary for NPR, the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e and elsewhere.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBen Mattlin was born in 1962 with spinal muscular atrophy, a congenital and progressive neuromuscular weakness. He never stood or walked but grew up expecting a normal life. In this book of essays, he chronicles that life and also charts his growth as a reluctant disability activist and public intellectual.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMattlin's disability was from birth. Raised in a family that insisted that he be educated in a mainstream setting, he never thought about his disability as being an obstacle until adulthood. It was not until he had graduated from Harvard and could not find a job that he began to understand what disability rights activists were talking about.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese collected short pieces chronicle Mattlin's intellectual coming-of-age including his beginnings, difficult conversations about disability, the social aspects of being disabled in a nondisabled world, and a wider perspective as the author looks back on his sixty years of disability. The book contains a variety of essays intermixed with a few edited podcast transcripts. Some of the pieces are deeply personal; others are stridently political. All of them are guaranteed to make readers see life and the world in a new way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAltogether, this collection is a frank, unsentimental examination of some of the most important and moving issues of our day—always rendered with intelligence, sensitivity, and a liberal sprinkling of humour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47559095812332,"sku":"9781958888520","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781958888520-unbound.jpg?v=1776929457","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/unbound-by-ben-mattlin-9781958888520","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}