Heather KuttaiReseñas

First of all I feel I must say that I've never read a book on disability or the issues surrounding disability before. Taking that into account I found the book quiet informative.
The book is split into two sections: the first being mostly autobiographical in nature and the second being more academic in its treatment of the issues. By far the most interesting and enlightening area of the book, for me, was the autobiographical part of the book which submerged the reader in the the issues faced by the author as she learned to deal with her disability whilst seeking to live a full life. This part of the book dealt with her thought-processes and how she met the challenges and opportunities that life presented her with.
The second, more academic, part of the book did not interest me to the same level as I felt out of my depth and somewhat disconnected from this part of the narrative. But it was still informative in it's own way.
Overall I found the book good but I think it could have been improved with an expanded autobiographical element, and the academic/personal segments could have been better integrated.

The author is a suburban mom though she is not your typical suburban mom since she is a paraplegic and uses a wheelchair to get around. Throughout the book she does talk about her experience in being a wheelchair bound person and the frustration she experiences in living in society. She did marry even though there were those who thought that she wouldn’t be able to find someone who would marry her. In telling about her experience she does give both the pros and cons of being a pregnant paraplegic. She does give enough information so that women with her disability can make an informed decision about whether or not to have children. She is frank and honest about her experience and doesn’t sugarcoat it though she had always wanted to be a mom. She told about giving birth made her feel like a woman, even though she felt that society didn’t see her in that way because of her disability. She did put her health at risk in having her babies, especially her second child. She does need to be open to the possibility that not every woman with her disability wants to put their health at risk in order to give birth to a child, that there are some women who would choose not to have children or doesn’t find a partner that she can bear a child with and that does not make her any less of a woman.

I received an early reviewer's copy of this book and dove right in expecting to be captivated and learn from the author's personal struggle as the title states. She intersperses very technical disablility information with her personal journey documentating two pregnancies/deliveries. I found the personal information very interesting but she bounces back and forth in time so much that it was a bit hard to keep up. Sorry to say that I was not interested as much in the technical parts of the book. Though I admire her courage, a lot of frustration came through....so much in fact, that it sounded like she was using this forum to complain about a lot of things related to disabilities.

I was disappointed, but passed it on to my daughter who is a doula.

Written as an auto-ethnography, Maternity Rolls is very interesting in a human, relateable way, but also thought provoking as a scholarly work on gender identity, disability issues, and motherhood.
Mixing research with personal journal entries, Heather Kuttai opens up her world as a mother and a paraplegic in way that intrigues and carries the reader along. This is not a fast read, because of the detailed research she includes, but it is definitely worth the time and effort!

So much of our world (even in hospitals) is designed for healthy males. Not for anyone who doesn't fit. Heather Kuttai's intensly personal experience of this will resonate with anyone who has ever had to deal with the frustrations of not fitting the norm.

Most of the books I have read on disabilities/handicaps are either narrative OR theoretical. The great value of this book is in the way the narrative is combined with the theoretical. The informed introspection is combined with impressive writing talent. I think I am even more impressed with the courage it must have taken to not only write this as a thesis, but also to then publish it. In a society that treats invalids as invalid, affirming her own validity in this way must have been much harder than the rest of us can comprehend.

I have just finished reading Maternity Rolls and found it to be story of honesty, faith, coping, trials, confrontation, and love. If we too are honest with ourselves, we've always wanted to know just how it is that a disabled person functions and just gets through life. Unless having experienced a similar situation, none of us could imagine what it would be like for a 6 year old girl and her family to face the struggles after experiencing a life altering accident and living your life in a wheelchair.

I thank Ms. Kuttai for this very frank insight into her life, her thoughts, her pain and frustrations, as well as the confidence, the self learning, assertiveness, love, and success as a woman, mother, wife, and athlete. I personally have gained insights into the life of a disabled woman. Our society obviously has a long way to go in terms of equality, so kudos to Ms. Kuttai for this enlightenment.

Thanks also to Fernwood Publishing for providing this book to me via the Early Reviewer program.