TVFDH book
That’s right, I’ve written a book!
The View From Down Here: Life as a young disabled woman, is my debut memoir.
It looks at what it’s like to live at the intersection of ableism and sexism, and how these forces have shaped who I am and my relationship to others. Using my own experiences, I show that the particular and specific realities of disabled womanhood are completely ignored by society in general as well as the very social movements (feminism and anti-ableism) meant to liberate us, because the problems we face are often radically opposed to those faced by more visible members of those movements and communities.
At it’s core, the book argues that much of the painful discrimination I’ve faced as a disabled woman has stemmed from society’s failure to see me as a woman at all.
Looking at topics as varied as access and body image, friendships and work, care and relationships, motherhood and activism, the book aims to lift the lid on experiences and emotions we often never hear about. It aims to highlight injustices, break taboos, and call readers to the fight against misogynist ableism in all its guises.
I put my heart and soul into writing this book, never shying away from my most difficult memories or complicated feelings. It is the whole truth; often raw, occasionally funny, always unvarnished. I really hope you’ll read it and use it to challenge the harmful assumptions that hurt all women, disabled or not.
The View From Down Here is out now with DK Books.
Praise for The View From Down Here
“A ground-breaking memoir that takes the deeply personal and makes it fiercely political. I loved it.” - Frances Ryan, author of Crippled
"In a world that gives disabled women endless reason to believe we don’t actually belong, The View From Down Here plants a flag in the dirt and insists that we fundamentally do. Lucy Webster’s voice builds that belonging for us as she allows the fullness and contradiction of her life experience to blossom on the page – stories of friendship and loneliness, anger and joy, reliance and freedom, grief and liberation, despair and hope. I felt my own sense of belonging dig deeper roots as her stories washed over me." - Rebekah Taussig, author of Sitting Pretty
"In a book that is at turns both devastating and light-hearted, Webster succinctly dismantles preconceptions around disability" - The New Statesman