{"product_id":"unbound-notes-from-a-reluctant-disability-activist-paperback","title":"Unbound: Notes from a Reluctant Disability Activist - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBen Mattlin\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis insightful and often witty collection of essays charts the making of a reluctant disability activist--including his commentary for NPR, the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e and elsewhere.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBen Mattlin was born in 1962 with spinal muscular atrophy, a congenital and progressive neuromuscular weakness. He never stood or walked but grew up expecting a normal life. In this book of essays, he chronicles that life and also charts his growth as a reluctant disability activist and public intellectual.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMattlin's disability was from birth. Raised in a family that insisted that he be educated in a mainstream setting, he never thought about his disability as being an obstacle until adulthood. It was not until he had graduated from Harvard and could not find a job that he began to understand what disability rights activists were talking about.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese collected short pieces chronicle Mattlin's intellectual coming-of-age including his beginnings, difficult conversations about disability, the social aspects of being disabled in a nondisabled world, and a wider perspective as the author looks back on his sixty years of disability. The book contains a variety of essays intermixed with a few edited podcast transcripts. Some of the pieces are deeply personal; others are stridently political. All of them are guaranteed to make readers see life and the world in a new way.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAltogether, this collection is a frank, unsentimental examination of some of the most important and moving issues of our day--always rendered with intelligence, sensitivity, and a liberal sprinkling of humor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBen Mattlin\u003c\/b\u003e is freelance writer and the author of four books: \u003ci\u003eUnbound: Notes from a Reluctant Disability Activist \u003c\/i\u003e(2025), \u003ci\u003eDisability Pride: Dispatches from a Post-ADA World\u003c\/i\u003e (2022), \u003ci\u003eIn Sickness and in Health: Love, Disability, and a Quest to Understand the Perils and Pleasures of Interabled Romance \u003c\/i\u003e(2018), and \u003ci\u003eMiracle Boy Grows Up: How the Disability Rights Revolution Saved My Sanity\u003c\/i\u003e (2012). A Harvard graduate, Mattlin has published essays in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e, and he's been featured on NPR, \"Here \u0026amp; Now,\" NowThis News, ABC's Prime Time Live, CNN, E! Entertainment Network, and independent radio stations across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, and they have two grown daughters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 292\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 8.9 x 5.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 24, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44805599363174,"sku":"9781958888520","price":27.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0599\/7255\/0758\/files\/N5eoFAS6WW9781958888520.webp?v=1771433603","url":"https:\/\/infinitylightwa.com\/products\/unbound-notes-from-a-reluctant-disability-activist-paperback","provider":"Infinity Light","version":"1.0","type":"link"}