Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Edited by Eliza Hull, Black Inc., $32.99.
Everyone should find something empowering in this first major anthology by parents with disabilities. They show what’s achievable: disabled people make exceptional parents.
Like most parents-to-be when writer and musician Eliza Hull was pregnant with her first child, she was a mix of excited and nervous. However, as a person with a disability, there were added complexities and many questions.
Parenting with a disability. To put it into perspective, Eliza points out: “The thing is, it’s not my disability that disables me: it’s society.”
Eliza has a genetic condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome which affects her mobility and her gait. It’s a disability which she used to try to hide, but now she embraces it.
More than 15 per cent of households in Australia have a disabled parent, according to Eliza’s introduction in the book. Yet, usually when disability is portrayed in a family setting in popular media or in parenting literature, it usually focuses on disabled children. We’ve Got This is the first major publication of its kind in showcasing the experiences of disabled parents, and to some extent in its recognition that disabled parents exist.
In We’ve Got This, 25 parents who identify as deaf, disabled or chronically ill discuss the highs and lows of their parenting journeys and reveal that the greatest obstacles lie in other people’s attitudes. The result is a moving, revelatory and empowering anthology. Amazingly common themes emerge, even though there’s a substantial mélange in the experiences that are represented.
Contributors include Jacinta Parsons, Kristy Forbes, Graeme Innes, Jessica Smith, Jax Jacki Brown, Nicole Lee, Elly May Barnes, Neangok Chair, Renay Barker-Mulholland, Micheline Lee and Shakira Hussein.
