This important and ground-breaking collection brings together the diverse voices of women with various disabilities, both physical and mental. Here, Canadian women speak frankly about the societal barriers they encounter in their everyday lives due to social attitudes and physical and systemic inaccessibility. They bring to light the discrimination they experience through sexism, because they are women, and through ableism, because they have disabilities. For them, the personal is definitely political. While society traditionally views having a disability as “weakness” and that women are the “weaker” sex, this collection points to the strength, persistence, and resilience of disabled women living the edges.

Diane Driedger has been involved in the disability rights movement at the local, national and international levels for 40 years, with organizations such as Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI), the DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) Canada, and Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD). She has published ten books, including four anthologies by women with disabilities, and The Last Civil Rights Movement: Disabled Peoples’ International (1989). She is also a poet and visual artist. Her most recent poetry book is Red With Living (2016). Diane is Assistant Professor in the Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Disability Studies at the University of Manitoba.

Diane Driedger's profile page

“I heard the voices of my sisters—some new, some old, all engaging—as I read living the edges: a disabled women’s reader It reignited my passion for our stories. What a gift! Diane Driedger has worked magic. This book is a must read for anyone searching for a deeper understanding of all women’s issues. ”
—Pat Danforth, Founding Member, DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) Canada

Thanks to some great writers (Julie Devaney and Joy Asham, to name just two), the collection brims with wisdom, candour and strength. But the best thing Driedger does is highlight our responsibility towards activism. Asham writes, “It is not just the responsibility of those who are victims to work toward positive change in a culture or work environment. Nor does it rest solely on the shoulders of the perpetrator. It is the job of peers to educate their own, to bring forth the welcoming of voices from the affected masses so that they may be heard.” —Herizons

“Living the Edges: A Disabled Women’s Reader reaches the core of every disabled woman’s experience and helps us understand the culture and politics of being a disabled woman. Finally, the voices, the stories, of women with disabilities are being heard! This book takes us on an extraordinary journey of pain and powerlessness but, more importantly, strength, endurance and hope.”
—Emily Ternette, Chairperson, DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) Manitoba