Book Review for Disability and Society in 2004

of

DISABILITY AND SOCIETY – a review
Shelf Life
Edited by Katie O’Reilly, 2003
National Disability Arts Forum, Gateshead (UK)
Paperback (metal ring spine), iv + 104 pages
£ 15 (£10 unwaged). P&P: £3.60 (UK), £ 4.50 (Europe), £ 9.20 (outside Europe). Available online at : http://ndaf.org/shelflife/press/orderform.html

Anthologies on a particular subject – any subject – have the potential to suffer from the same problem: they often bore the reader to death with repetition. As such, in an anthology of poetry, prose and images about death itself, one has to be especially careful how it affects the reader. Does this anthology suffer from such a problem: well, a little.

The anthology is fundamentally a collection of art works that offers ‘a glimpse into the experiences of people with shortened lives’. The individual pieces, almost without exception, are intelligent, well crafted and highly readable; they are moving and thought provoking without being maudlin; they are short yet precise; they are heartfelt and personal whilst also containing elements of the universal (moving towards an understanding of the human condition). The writers / creators of each piece deserve nothing but praise for their contribution: for putting their fears, anxieties and ‘lives’ on the line on the page.

So what is the problem? Partly it is the ‘Introduction’ by Geof Armstrong; it sets the wrong tone and slightly misleads one into viewing the anthology in a way that it does not deserve. For example, Armstrong writes that: ‘The Social Model of Disability is beautifully precise as a means of helping us to identify those external hard aspects of being disabled. However, it struggles when it comes to addressing the more emotional aspects of our lives, such as sexuality, depression, isolation, pain and being aware that you might die within a certain number of years of months.’ Immediately one is confronted with a view that the anthology is in some sense a collection of pieces created with some form or degree of a political consciousness (with a view to either reinforce or challenge existing paradigms). Few pieces in the anthology are written with any political consciousness at all. This would in itself not be a problem except for the fact that the ‘Intro’ sets up such an expectation that is only to be consistently betrayed. (This is apart from the fact that it also reveals a misunderstanding and simplified view of the complexity of the Social Model of Disability and the understanding of what impairment is – can be – in relation to disability. But that is another issue!)

Having read the anthology in one sitting is not to be recommended. It is something a reader / viewer should dip into on a regular basis (repeatedly) to enjoy. And I do mean enjoy! Though the subject is highly emotional: full of acceptance, betrayal and outrage at the contributors close relationship to the Grim Reaper. The anthology is in itself somewhat enthralling, comforting and cathartic to the reader (especially if they themselves have a close relationship with an experience of ‘people with shortened lives’).

Though again, due to the ‘Introduction’, one is a little mislead by the term ‘shortened lives’. A significant proportion of the contributions are actually about chronic impairment (and the experience of impairment -which the Social Model in no way denies or minimizes) or chronic and / or acute disease. Again, not a problem in itself. The problem is that the reality of the anthology reveals the Introduction to have been a false bearer of the contents. Nabil Shaban’s ‘Foreword’ – which is exceptionally precise and apposite – should have been the only introduction to the Anthology as it is emotionally and individually relevant and less prescriptive; Shaban’s piece allows the reader to enter the subsequent pieces on an entirely different level and consciousness.

Finally, I would argue that there is a slight problem with the design of the anthology: it is very large indeed (a 29 cm square with metal ring-binding spine using thick paper). Thus, the design makes the anthology a clumsy and heavy package to handle. Combined with this there is a real waste of paper due to blank pages and an apparent excessive spacing and kerning of the text. On an environmental basis the anthology is a cause of major concern. One cannot help but feel that the design is part of the ever-troubled NDAF’s attempt to make a bold statement about itself at the expense of the emotional roller-coaster that is its contents. The anthology would have been better served by being an independent, Disability Art free – much like NDAF itself, project.

The project that has led to Shelf Life has been in gestation at NDAF for nearly a decade (!); a fact that has not helped the project find its own feet and way on to the page. Though the anthology could have done without the confused politicking of the Disability Arts movement (NDAF), and its relationship with its even more confused funders (i.e., the Arts Council England), I would highly recommend the anthology Shelf Life with one proviso: you tear out the Introduction.

Dr Paul A. Darke – director of www.outside-centre.com

834 words