Marta Russell

This was a fascinating collection that really made me chew on questions about possibilities for solidarity and also how we frame possibilities for disabled people around work in particular. Russell was clear and accessible in her writing, even when explaining Marxist theory--I borderline understand Marx now! I think I would have liked a little more context around some of the later pieces; though I appreciated the titles and the sites of original publication at the end, I think having them accompany the pieces would have helped with some context (as a person who was 15 at the end of the Bush administration, and therefore too young to really remember a lot that was happening in the early 2000s, I needed just a touch more background on some of those policy decisions.)

Regardless, I think some of the essays are definitely good for teaching, even as editor Keith Rosenthal resisted them as being read outside of the larger collection (not that I think he opposes it exactly, just that the construction of the book he makes clear is deliberately meant to be read as a whole.) It's clear that Russell's thought on the place of disabled people as a permanent unemployed class is critical in examining the ADA's employment enactments, and serves as a jumping off point for larger questions (especially around international solidarity, which Russell does not address very clearly in these pieces but which I think is a natural next step to consider after reading her work.) I definitely recommend reading this, especially if you are unfamiliar with what life after the passage of the ADA is like, and how the Supreme Court really stripped down what was possible under that law in the name of protecting business (that chapter in particular was deeply enraging!)… (plus d'informations)