Do You Feel This? The Story of a Voice Lost and Reclaimed

Abstract

Do You Feel This? The Story of a Voice Lost and Reclaimed is a memoir about learning to navigate the chaotic landscape of disability, shame, sexuality, faith, family, identity, and finding one’s own voice. Following a three-act structure, this book tells my story as a young, paralyzed girl, grappling with what it might look like to grow into a powerful, independent woman in a wheelchair. Spending the first few years of my life undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, and spinal surgeries, I learned early to silence myself and defer to the more authoritative voices of my mother, medical professionals, and evangelical doctrine. This story-arc follows my struggle to define my identity, make my own choices, and reclaim the powerful voice needed to narrate my own story.