Thank You, Alice: How Year of the Tiger Reignites a T-Rex’s Passion

I recently finished the book “Year of the Tiger,” written by Alice Wong.  I thought I would be reading another disability memoir, but I was wrong. Alice’s book was not a memoir. It was what I like to call an anti-memoir. Her book made me rethink the direction that my advocacy is meant to take. The rest of this piece will highlight key concepts of the book that I believe will improve how I advocate for people with disabilities.  Finally, it will serve as my version of a thank you letter to Alice for her tremendous honesty and bluntness.

Her book is divided into seven sections. Each section follows a theme and comprises several essays embodying that theme. For example, all the essays in Origins describe how Alice’s activism began. Two essays in this section resonated with me. The first is the one that starts the section. It is entitled “A Mutant from Planet Crypton: An Origin.” This essay describes Alice’s birth and the development of her identity as a new mutant from planet Crypton. The underlying message I got from this essay was that Alice’s upbringing and mine are similar, minus the fact that she is Asian and a woman. I mean that our parents did not treat us like we were different, and it wasn’t until later in life that we realized that we were entirely from another planet. While Alice equates her body to that of a mutant or cyborg, I go the other way and consider myself a somewhat evolved Tyrannosaurus Rex. Either way one looks at it, the lessons this essay reinforces are something I’ve been trying to teach/share with everyone I have come in contact with for years. Our bodies may look “different”; however, for those of us born with disabilities, our bodies are not our identity. Instead, how we deal with them makes us who we are.

The second essay I identify with ends the origins section. It is entitled “Did You Enjoy High School?” This essay highlights the discrimination that Alice faced due to the shortsightedness of a few able-bodied people. Alice was unable to advance in her choice of an extracurricular activity due to others' perceptions of her disability. She pointed out in the essay how her lack of physical ability was perceived as necessary to able-bodied society and did not say anything about her as a person; instead, it was emphasized by one group who transferred their beliefs about physical ability onto another group. I know this is not exactly like my being denied the opportunity to teach, but they are similar on some levels. I draw the similarities. We were judged by another group's standards and ostracized because we did not fulfill or meet those standards. Just as my being denied an opportunity started my activism, Alice began her activism the same way.

I was immediately hooked on this book after reading both of those essays. There were other points in the book that I can relate to, but rehashing them all will take away from the following point. I am not a literary scholar by any means. I started a disability blog 11 years ago and have just recently started this book review blog, but I can safely say that this book is a good read for everyone. However, for you to get the most out of it, I would recommend that you be in either one of two camps for those who read this book and have a disability, as I do be prepared for all your inner thoughts to come out on these pages or audio tracks depending on how you read the book. Alice does a great job of capturing the passion and desire not to be shortchanged that most disabled people have.  Our diagnoses do not define us as people. We are much more than Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, or any other disability. Alice’s book points out that we are people first. Secondly, to all able-bodied people who pick up this book or download it on audio, be prepared for some stereotype-shattering ideas. Ms. Wong is very blunt, but if you’re brave enough to read this book, it will not change the narrative overnight between able-bodied and disabled people, but hopefully, it will start a conversation.

Although our struggles may be different, Alice’s book contains universal lessons. If you think your struggle does not have a purpose, it does. You may not realize it until 20 years later, but like Alice and me, life has a funny way of forcing you to think outside the box, which for me would be a box of matchbox cars.

Before I sign off, I would give this book 100 out of 10. Okay, that scale did not make sense, but it was my way of saying this is a must-read for everyone. It has inspired me to collect my writing pieces and turn them into an anti-memoir like Ms. Wong did. Thank you, Alice. Even though the purpose of your book wasn’t to inspire people, it did. As you put it, it inspired this T Rex to mess with people’s bleep. Thanks again, my fellow Crip.

Until next time when we review JD Vance’s 2016 book Hillbilly Elegy happy reading, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook.

 Your Friendly Neighborhood T-Rex/Bookworm

Jay