Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

I reviewed this book as part of GeekDis 2022 an event discussing disability representation in pop culture from the perspective of the disabled and neurodivergent community.


Content warnings:
This anthology contains stories that feature scenes of ableism, internal ableism, racism, and homoism. There are scenes of death on and off page with several stories containing deaths of loved ones from cancer. One story, ‘Crutch. Cage, Sword, Kerfuffle’ by Dorothy Ellen Palmer, is about a miscarriage and contains a very violent and visceral scene which may be disturbing for anyone who has been touched by the loss of a child (I know it was for me personally).

I hadn’t realised just how much I needed an anthology like Nothing Without Us until I read it. As disabled author Derek Newman-Stille says in his brilliant foreword “these stories are fictional, but they tell truths that can’t be expressed in simple […] tales”. I’ve felt seen in other books by disabled authors, however, I have never felt completely at home in a book. There’s always that feeling in other books that they’re not completely for a disabled audience, that some part of the story has to be written in a way that it appeals to a non-disabled audience because otherwise the book won’t sell. I felt this especially the other day when a bookstragrammer I was following showed their annotations of one of my favourite books with a disabled character and not a single annotation included a scene about her chronic illness. I don’t think they probably even noticed that they had done it.

You can’t read Nothing Without Us and be in any doubt that these stories are about disabled and/or neurodivergent characters. The stories, the characters, the situations and the ableism is vibrantly there for all to see and there are no words to describe how liberating it was to read them. There is no holding back, no playing to a non-disabled audience and the writers’ experience bleeds through onto the pages. These fictional stories and characters give voice to experiences, and feelings that so many of the disabled and neurodivergent community will recognise.

Normally when I review an anthology I do a breakdown of each story, however, this time I feel that each of these stories should be experienced fully first hand. I am going to share some of my favourites with you briefly.

There is the wonderfully heartfelt ‘The Bellwoods Golem’ by Myriad Augustine which is the first story in the book, the clever ‘The Descent’ by Jamieson Wolf, the phenomenal science fiction story ‘Bug Hunt’ by Joanna Marsh, the poignant ghost story ‘Search and Seizure’ by Shannon Barnsley and the incredible ‘The Case of the Silenco Scientist‘ by Maverick Smith. I could keep going because to be honest, this is an anthology of the highest calibre and all the stories in Nothing Without Us are brilliant in their own right. I had to stop myself several times from adding just one more to that list because I’d add another, then another. They are all that good.

The editing is also superb, with the selection and placing of the stories being perfect. I tend to find that the story order in most anthologies falls flat but Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson have curated Nothing Without Us very well. Just as ‘The Bellwoods Golem’ is the perfect start to the anthology, the final story ‘Charity™’ by Derek Newman-Stille is a poignant end that leaves the reader with a lot of things to think about after they have finished the book.

In Nothing Without Us you’ll find stories of various genres, characters from multiple backgrounds, ages, and identities. This is an inclusive and intersectional anthology that celebrates, gives voice to and represents disabled and neurodivergent people, and it’s a must-read.

Here is a full list of the stories and the disability and/or neurodivergent representation in each one:

The Bellwoods Golem by Myriad Augustine – Chronic illness
Knit One, Purl Two by Carolyn Charron – Arthritis
Names by Jennifer Lee Rossman – Neurodivergent
Mafia Butterfly by Raymond Luczak – Deaf and Deaf Community
Dress Rehearsal by Nicole Zelniker – Cancer
The Descent by Jamieson Wolf – Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Bug Hunt by Joanna Marsh – ADHD, Autism, Schizophrenia, Sensory processing disorder (SPD)
Oliver Gutierrez and the Walking Stick of Destiny by Elliot Dunstan – Mobility aids, hearing aids, Deaf, Rheumatoid Arthritis
Crutch. Cage, Sword, Kerfuffle by Dorothy Ellen Palmer – Miscarriage
Iron Bone by J. Ivanel Johnson – Spondylolisthesis
Sometimes you… by Tonya Liburd – Schizophrenic
Search and Seizure by Shannon Barnsley – Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia (PoTS)
Backbone by Madona Skaff – Wheelchair user (disability not named)
The Case of the Silenco Scientist by Maverick Smith – Deaf
Flight by George Zancola – Mental Health
Panic in Paradise by Diane Koerner – Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), migraines, PTSD
The Blessing Cookies by Laurie Stewart – Depression, Chronic Pain
Jungle Demon by Tom Johnson – Mental Health
The Living Among the Dead by Tasha Fierce – Paralysed
Alone by Nathan Fréchette – Dissociative identity disorder, Cancer
No Room at the Inn by Emily Gillespie – Mental Health
Charity™ by Derek Newman-Stille – Amputees, prosthetics, mobility aids

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