S4 Ep. 5: Disability in America: Molly McCully Brown and Rebekah Taussig On Living and Writing Thirty Years After the Americans with Disabilities Act

fiction/non/fiction

In this week’s episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan mark the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by talking to two writers who have made important contributions to the way we talk about disability in America. First, poet and essayist Molly McCully Brown discusses her new essay collection Places I’ve Taken my Body, and reflects on the threat a global pandemic poses to populations who are already seen by society as less valuable. Then Rebekah Taussig talks about her memoir Sitting Pretty, as well as pervasive and tired ableist tropes in films and literature.

To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction’s YouTube Channel.

This episode was produced by Mary Henn, Emily Standlee, and Andrea Tudhope.

Selected readings:

Molly McCully Brown

• Places I’ve Taken my Body
• The Virginia State Colony For Epileptics and Feebleminded
• In The Field Between Us
• On Books and Their Harbors

Rebekah Taussig

• Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body
• “I've Been Paralyzed Since I Was 3. Here's Why Kindness Toward Disabled People Is More Complicated Than You Think,” Time
• “I Called Mine Beautiful,” The Florida Review

Others:

• If You Really Love Me Throw Me off the Mountain, by Erin Clark
• “10 Body Positive Instagrammers With Disabilities You Should Follow Immediately” by Nina Matti, Bustle
• Special, Netflix series
• “Sia’s Trailer For ‘Music’ Struck A Nerve With The Disabled Community. Her Tweets Only Made Things Worse.” By Allison Norlian, Forbes
• The Golden Girls, TV series
• “Texas Lt. Governor: Old People Should Volunteer to Die to Save the Economy” by Bess Levin, Vanity Fair

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