Accidents of Nature, Harriet McBryde Johnson
Accidents of Nature, Harriet McBryde Johnson
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Accidents of Nature

Author: Harriet McBryde Johnson

Narrator: Jenna Lamia

Unabridged: 5 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/23/2006

Synopsis

Seventeen-year-old Jean has cerebral palsy and gets around in a wheelchair, but she’s always believed she’s just the same as everyone else. She goes to normal school and has normal friends. She’s never really known another disabled person before she arrives at Camp Courage. But there Jean meets Sara, who welcomes her to “Crip Camp” and nicknames her Spazzo. Sara has radical theories about how people fit into society. She’s full of rage and revolution against pitying insults and the lack of respect for people with disabilities.
As Jean joins a community unlike any she has ever imagined, she comes to question her old beliefs and look at the world in a new light. The camp session is only ten days long, but that may be all it takes to change a life forever.

About The Author

Harriet McBryde Johnson was an author, attorney, and advocate for disability rights. She held a Bachelor's degree in History from Charleston Southern University and a Master's degree in Public Administration from the College of Charleston, as well as a JD from the University of South Carolina. Living and operating a private practice in South Carolina since 1985, she spoke out for the benefits and civil rights claims of poor and working people with disabilities. She wrote both nonfiction books about disability issues and works of fiction, including her 2006 novel Accidents of Nature. Johnson died in 2008.Jenna Lamia has appeared on- and off-Broadway, as well as on television in Law and Order: SVU, Strangers with Candy, HBO's Oz, and MTV's Awkward., of which she is also the coexecutive producer. Her film credits include The Fighter and The Call.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jim on December 18, 2014

This is an odd choice for me & not likely one I'll repeat. I'm a norm (pretty much, anyway) & don't really even know anyone who isn't. I don't know why this even came to my attention, but it did & I read the author's bio - she was disabled & very active in the community. She didn't like the Jerry Le......more

Goodreads review by April (Aprilius Maximus) on September 11, 2016

I learnt so much reading this! I admire Harriet McBryde Johnson so much and all that she did in her life to educate people and fight for equality for people with disabilites!......more

Goodreads review by Ally on June 23, 2011

*mild spoilers ahoy* Loved this book. Well, okay, some of it rubbed a bit too raw, and the scene of the counselors teasing the campers sexually made me absolutely sick to my stomach, but only because it was so true. It's gritty and sharp and smart and mean, but it's also real and sort of sweet, in it......more

Goodreads review by Sue on March 30, 2012

This book is set in 1970 from the POV of a teen girl with cerebral palsy who is attending a summer camp for disabled teens for the first time. She has always striven to be considered "normal" and when faced with a camp full of others with disabilities and a militant camper versed in Marxist theories......more

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