Book review on “The Me in the Mirror” by Connie Panzarino, addressing the issue of society’s attitude to disabled people.
This paper focuses on Panzarino’s struggle and experiences as a disabled person when she was a child until she reached adulthood. In addition to the discussion of her life as child to an adult (which is included in her book, “The Me in the Mirror”), Panzarinos’ life as an activist (feminist and advocate for equality among able- bodied and disabled people) is also discussed, since her revolutionary thoughts and ideas about disability oppression presents a valuable position for people who are also physically disabled like Panzarino.
The Me in the Mirror is an autobiographical work written by Constance Panzarino, a writer, activist and artist who talked about her life as a disable cause by the rare disease Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II. Connie Panzarino was born on November 26, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York, and her book chronicles her life as a child growing and living with the said muscular disease. The book is divided into different sections that focus on various topics, and her narration is not a chronicle of her life from childhood to adulthood, but rather, Panzarino touched various aspects of her life as a disabled person. In addition to her struggle for physical mobility, her book speaks of her struggles also as a woman who is disabled, as an individual doing passionate work for her fellow disabled individuals, and most importantly, her fight against the concept of Ableism, a term that she coined to describe the belief that people have more power and more right to things when they’re stronger and more able. In effect, Panzarino’s fight against ableism is her way of destroying what she terms as disability oppression.