UNSTOPPABLE

Wolfe, herself physically disabled, introduces 10 contemporary women with disabilities.

As a teacher, writer, and social worker, the author “hardly saw any people like [her]” in her 40-year career: “Imagine how great it would have been to learn about other women with disabilities!” she exclaims. Her conversational profiles of disabled women from various countries and cultures turn her wish into reality. Most subjects’ disabilities are physical, ranging from spina bifida to limb difference; their careers include advocacy, law, and entertainment. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is autistic. Yetnebersh Nigussie, who is blind, co-founded the Ethiopian Center for Disability and Development, which promotes accessibility in employment and public life. Maysoon Zaid, who is Muslim and has cerebral palsy, became a comedian and established the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival. A motivational quote from each woman concludes each single-page profile. On the facing pages, Patkau’s vibrant, realistic illustrations spotlight the subjects’ accomplishments: Canadian singer/songwriter Christa Couture, who lost a leg to bone cancer and is of mixed Cree and Scandinavian heritage, appears with a guitar; wheelchair user Zhang Haidi, the head organizer of the 2022 Chinese Paralympians, reads a document as an amputee athlete skis in the background. Noting that a newly disabled adult “asks many questions that a [disabled] child wouldn’t ask,” the author refreshingly explains that congenital disabilities are experienced differently from those acquired later.

An eclectic, accessible, and upbeat introduction to accomplished disabled women.