I really appreciated the variety of essays in this collection-- a good mix of theory and experience (the highest compliment from me). I especially enjoyed the poetry. It can be hard to edit a collection this diverse and still have it feel connected. Iantaffi did a wonderful job.

As a Trans and Disabled person, this was a great read that reflected my lived experience in many ways. I didn't agree with everything in it but I got something from everything in it.

As someone who is also trans and disabled, this was a powerful anthology.
Identity can be a more layered thing for many people in those categories. The authors in this collection really captured the complex thoughts and emotions that come with it. Exploring how trans experiences and disabled experiences intersect was very interesting; ranging from the relationship with the body to discrimination to medical trauma to community and more. I cried while reading some of them. The top three standouts for me were:
"Do No Harm" by Eddy Samara - transphobia from medical professionals
"Bathroom buzz cut" by Liz Moore - gender euphoria, queer community, and living with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (A condition that I actually also have)
"What are we worth?" by Lee K Hulme - the anxieties of insecurities of dating when trans/disabled

Trans and Disabled is an anthology of writing and art. This writing takes a wide variety of forms, and is authored by a wide variety of trans and disabled people.

“More than anything, I wanted to be free from the expectation to be anything other than who I was, and to be able to exist in a self that was varied and sometimes incomprehensible to others.”

As a queer and disabled person I adored this collection! I found not only recognition in these pages, but also learnt from all the different points of view covered. I loved the variety in age of the authors, which contributes to the intersectionality of this book. I've collected so many quotes from this anthology, and have talked about it with many queer and disabled friends.

"Despite all of the struggle, there is still such beauty in knowing who you are. In finding the words that slide over you and perfectly click. The labels that fill every nook and cranny, eliminating the void of being unknown to yourself. When we find ourselves, in language and in community, it feels like coming home."

Every piece of writing is different, so not every piece might resonate with you, but you can still learn from every single word written. When I started reading this book I was not as familiar with plurality. Luckily Trans and Disabled opens with information on this topic. It was a great idea to make this the first piece you read, because it lays a foundation for what is yet to come.

I read this anthology a few chapters a day, one at a time, because honestly it can be a lot to be confronted with some of the cruel realities laid bare in these pages. But I also loved taking my time so I could reflect on each story. I also see myself returning to this anthology in the future, because I feel there are even deeper layers that can be discovered upon re-reading.

"If you're reading this as a cisgender and/or an abled person, please do not look for inspiration here or for our courage and resilience; this is not what our lives are for, and neither are these pages. I hope, however, that you can find expansion within your mind and heart through these pages."

I would recommend this anthology to every, single person on this earth that is the appropriate age to read this and can handle the trigger warning topics. It is not only a way for trans and/or disabled people to feel validated, but also an important learning tool for people who do not personally identify with these identities. This marginalized community does not only deserve recognition, they deserve justice. Having more knowledge on these subjects can help cis and able-bodied people help fight for a more equitable world.

TW for a wide variety of topics, including: ableism, child abuse, fatphobia, medical abuse, medical endangerment, medical neglect, PTSD, racism, self harm, suicidal ideation and attempts.

A great variety of different perspectives. There are a few about dissociative identity disorder, and similar disorders, which is fun to see, and that doesn't exist much in more professional literature.
All in all a good read. I could definitely use this as a way to help people understand intersectionality, as that might be a hard concept to grasp, and this book really clarifies that.

As a chronically ill and queer person, I was very excited to get an early review copy of this book, especially because the more I learn about queerness and disability the more the intersection comes into focus. This book goes a long way to sharpen that focus and to provide further nuance when it comes to being gender queer, non-binary or trans. I really enjoyed the diversity of the authors, their disabilities and their queer identities. My favourite story was Bender which happened to have one of the best quotes I've ever read about queerness and disability: "I love the story that my gender and sexuality are bendy, my brain is bendy, my body is bendy - everything is all loose and floppy and resistant to catergorization and arabitrary boxes". A must read for disabled queer people looking for comfort, community and compassion.

Loved this! So grateful that this anthology was put together and that it showcased and uplifted so many trans and disabled voices. I hope that even those who aren’t trans and disabled are able to listen to these voices and gain insight. Truly an incredibly important book and I will definitely get a physical copy

oh what a beautiful book
If you are trans, or disabled, or both, you will find so many relatable emotions and experiences, and you will learn about ones you haven't gone through (or not yet), there are many things I hadn't even considered that now I know I will always be looking out for and advocating for now that I'm aware of how they're an issue

If you aren't any of those, you will learn so so much about the (varied, constant, sometimes unpredictable) challenges that trans and disabled people face, and hopefully gain a new understanding through these perspectives, thanks to the vulnerability the collaborators accepted to share

thank you to all the authors who contributed to this collection, thank you to the editor for getting it all together, thank you NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for allowing me to read an ARC

highly highly recommend

This was a really interesting one. I've read most of the anthologies that Jessica Kingsley Publishers have put out, and I always find them to be expansive and illuminating; they always do a good job highlighting marginalised perspectives and experiences, and have a real commitment to elevating own voices narratives. Big fan, basically.

There was an awful lot to appreciate in this latest anthology. As multiple contributors point out in their essays, the intersections between the trans and disabled communities are vast, both in terms of common lived experiences shared by both communities, such as medical gaslighting and systemic social murder (i.e. unnatural deaths caused by oppressive social policies) and the sheer number of individuals who share both identities. It's a really welcome addition to the canon of queer and crip lit to have an anthology designed to explore that intersection.

This particular anthology seeks to explore a fairly diverse range of topics, from the relationship between EDS and autism, the 'trans broken arm' theory as it intersects with ableism, and plurality as a neuroqueer model for understanding disability and trans experiences. It generally does a good job in avoiding repetition, although I definitely think that the lack of trans femme and specifically trans women contributors is an issue; the majority of contributors to this anthology are AFAB non-binary folk, which may in itself be linked to the increased medical gaslighting experienced by people who are perceived to be women by the medical industry, but which might also just be a bit of an editorial oversight. Either way, I did think that a broader range of experiences and identities could and should have been represented here. The ways that trans women experience transmisogyny in the medical sphere wasn't touched upon at all here, and neither was the specific ways that people of colour are disbelieved in medical contexts, and I did find those omissions to be a little glaring. It undercut the overall goals of the anthology, imo.

As always, some essays were more interesting (and more well-written) than others. Most of them have a really easy to read conversational style, which makes this a fairly quick read. My particular favourites were Meg John Barker's essay on plurality, Finlay Games' essay on the way that society blames his disability on his trans affirmative surgeries, and Milo Cooper's essay to his future self. I also found Root Holden's essay on Saint Sebastian as a queer icon to be incredibly fruitful, but it was so brief - about half a page! - that it felt like a real missed opportunity. There was one piece of writing in particular, which I won't name here, which was genuinely just word salad, and which I think needed a lot more editorial oversight to bring the author's meaning out. Another piece just seemed like an advert for the author's YouTube channel, complete with multiple video links, which I thought was a tad inappropriate. The range of mediums here is also interesting, including essays, prose, poetry, a play, and some artwork, although I do think that the artwork might only really work in the print version of the book.

Overall, a genuinely insightful anthology, and which makes and raises a lot of really interesting points. It's especially relevant now, in our current post-Covid political climate, where more and more people are becoming disabled without any real improvement in society's willingness to accommodate disabilities, and in which trans people are becoming more and more marginalised due to governmental scapegoating. There's a lot in here that should really be more widely known and understood.

Like many essay collections, there's a range of writing quality and depth. What no essay lacks is meaningful insight from trans-disabled people.

As a disabled WoC, I can relate. Prominently: medical professionals discounting our complaints, pain and personhood. All the essayists experience medical trauma from being trans, disabled, or both.

I appreciated Barker's essay on plurality, asserting the neuroqueer feminist model over other disability frameworks. I loved that the book kicked off with an essay on plurality. Both trans and cis people can learn from plural systems.

Jac from GenderMeowster's exploration of online queer/disabled communities during COVID was brief but valuable too. They highlight struggles felt as the world went back to "normal".

The poetry pieces didn't hit for me. It's probably my ADHD brain not vibing with poetry as a reading format. Also, there were barely any trans women voices; the intersection of transmisogyny and disability isn't explored, despite being a topic deserving of a book in itself.

If you want a deeper dive into the trans disabled experience, you won't get it here. Not much was new to me, as a queer disabled person myself. But cishet non-disabled people would likely learn something.

This is a really good collection of transmasc and nonbinary disabled perspectives, which ranged largely between insightful and moving. It's a pretty short read too, and the anthology can easily be picked up and put down for those with limited energy or time.

There were a couple of disappointing essays - a few I found a little basic for my tastes, and one that was basically an advert. I also found myself noticing the lack of transfemme perspectives when the collection was looked at as a whole.

Overall, this is a really strong collection that I would highly recommend to any and all who are at all interested. It's very thoughtful and many of the contributors clearly come from spaces of knowledge and experience. There are so many whose past and future work I'd love to check out after reading this anthology.

This is an amazing anthology from all sorts of trans + disabled people. I recommend this book for everyone. I’ve just gotten a new, depressing, diagnosis and this book was like being surrounded by the people I need right now. I hope all the trans + disabled folks that read it will feel that similar sense of belonging, being seen, and being believed. I will be asking my library to bring in this book and I’ll also be buying a physical copy!!

This book sends a really powerful message as a fellow trans & disabled person and I really enjoyed reading the stories in this anthology. I would recommend this book to the communities I'm connected to, who would likely resonate with it as well.

I think this book is so important in highlighting and addressing the high intersection between the trans and disabled communities.

Anthologies can often be hit or miss, and that's true of this collection. All the pieces in this were insightful glimpses into individual experiences of people who are trans and disabled in a variety of different ways and combinations, and many pieces were particularly engaging or personally resonant. However some just weren't that easy to follow, and one felt more like an advert for the writer's YouTube videos more than a piece of written work with how many times the channel was mentioned. All in all, I think this is a book that people ought to pick up if they have a chance, but some of the content didn't quite feel like it was existing in the same anthology as others.

I will say, I wasn't sure how much I'd like this anthology going in, having not heard of many of the authors, but I wanted to make sure I read it for Under the Umbrella because it felt like it could be an important work to boost up. And I will happily say that I devoured this!! The essays were poignant and meaningful, affected me deeply regardless of the writer's experiences, medium, or style. I came out of it feeling validated regarding my own disabilities. I highly, highly recommend this.

Meaningful and striking, Iantiff collects a vast array of unique, talented voices speaking their individual truths in creative and beautiful ways. This anthology is a genuine delight.

What a fantastic read, would slit so well into a social policy curriculum on a degree program. I enjoyed the topic of intersectionality very much and learning about the topic from varying points of view and the “overlap” or intersection was very informative. Also liked the cover. Great read. Enjoyed very much and have recommended to friends

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. This collection has some really powerful writers & stories! I especially enjoyed "I can't keep meeting me like this". Highly recommend especially for members of the community as this is who this collection was created for.

thank you to netgalley, editor- alex iantaffi, the authors of the stories within the anthology and jessica kingley publishers for the immense privilege it has been to read this as an ARC book- my review is my own.
this book covers an incredible amount of ground and experiences within the disabled sphere. it was a delight to see disabilities similar to my own in such well written pieces such as EDS while also reading stories about other disabilities that differ from my own like RA.
each essay was fantastic which is rare in an anthology like this. i was engaged through the entire book.
this is a must read for other disabled readers, those wanting to learn more about the disabled experience or those looking to read more diverse.

This is a book I need to have a physical copy of just to read through once in a while. 
I found myself in this book in unexpected ways. 
I loved all the different formats and how every person's personality shone through in multiple ways. It felt like a warm hug, even though it's laced with pain and heartbreak.
Community is so so so important.
Genuinely the only downside is it being so short, I'd have loved to read twice as many stories and poems and essays. Thank you for this book and thank you to NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.