I enjoyed a lot of this while also learning a lot. Some of the people featured I had never come across before and am glad I now have.
However, specially at the beginning, it didn't feel focused on the person it was featuring. Additionally, I'm not a fan of the cover. It's a bit confusing and I feel it should focus on the people it features rather than the author.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I'm a queer and disabled person with training as a historian, so this looked like an absolutely ideal read for me. Instead, I would honestly say that this author has been failed in being told this book is publishable as a work of history.

The writing, in the version I received, needed serious editing, from structure to line edits. Much of the content was tenuously linked together, such that this was not a queer disability history but was mostly a history of several individuals who were queer and disabled, with frequent tangents into general queer or disabled history. The tone was entirely unacademic to the point of disparaging the work of historians that the book should have (and only occasionally was) built upon, and was otherwise sarcastic to the point of confusion. Some of the historical facts were wrong, and the historical analysis was next to nonexistent. The sources referenced were of low quality (and often formatted inconsistently), ranging from BBC news articles to podcast episodes, with barely any use of original or academic sources.

Some of the content was interesting, but that's probably the only positive point I can find. I know the author is clearly passionate about the content, but I would instead have encouraged them to do further high-quality research and work on their writing skills without trusting their work to a press that doesn't give their book the editing or cover (seriously, why is the cover a fake tweet by the author?) it deserves. This book would have been much better served by good framing as to what it actually is.

If you think you would like to read a 'popular history' (written for an audience with no academic/historical knowledge or study experience) book which gives the very basics of some queer and disabled history in the US and UK, like books written in a sarcastic tone, and have no trust for any academic historical work, then this book is genuinely for you. I like none of these things and this book was therefore not for me.

Starting off, I loved that the book included a definition for disability at the beginning that was widely inclusive. It is such an interesting premise to dive into history through specific queer Disabled peoples’ lives! Immediately, they touch on how queer Disabled peoples’ identities are often separated into “queer” or “Disabled”, but both aspects are rarely examined together. They also mentioned how their own coverage of the issues may be biased and I appreciated how the author confronted their own biases this way. They did a wonderful job weaving in a lot of basic queer and disabled history to fill out the stories that this book told and it added some interesting context! All together, it made an enthralling read about disabled queer history! #QueerDisabilitythroughHistory #NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the eARC, but it did not affect my review in any way!

CW: use of historical terms for LGBTQ+ people and Disabled people , ableism, homophobia, medical homophobia, talk of suicidal thoughts, medical abuse, pedophilia,

This is an amazing book that focuses on The intersections between several groups, but predominantly those with disabilities that are also lgbtqia+.
Covering topics from Guardianship, Ethics in care, access issues and more it is a definitive guide to understanding these groups intersecting history and I feel should be a mandated read for all.

From platforming icons both known and previously unknown (at least to me) for their contributions to policy, societal change, pride as we know it and so much more it is a fountain of knowledges.
Additionally it highlights Impacts on those in several minorities ie queer and disabled or BIPOC/and disabled.
One event which particularly stuck out to me was the Capital crawl. This being as it was such a visual and un-ignorable representation of the community and the need for Policy around queerness and disabilities to change to better protect them.

This includes fighting against past DSM psychotherapy definitions on homosexuality and transgenderism and ADA policy failing protecting those who were intersectional.
From Deafness to chronic illness, To those disabled by events we see a broad range of disabilities and identities represented and it has an intersection with art as well as policy.

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it has since come out! Today in fact so go get this! This is genuinely a must read. It talks about important queercrips in history and their importance but also connects it with other, queer and/or crip, history. As a queercrip who has talked about historical queercrips in the past, this anti-erasure book gave me so much joy.

Queer disability through history, due to the title and tag line I thought this book was about the struggles and comparisons gay and or disabled people go through and those who have risen above to change the laws social opinion in legislation and it is kind of like that but I found out of the four people she focused on two of them really weren’t activist for disable nor queer communities. I enjoyed reading the story of Frida Kahlo and Lord Byron but when I think of social justice warriors for queer and or disabled people they are not the two I think of but I digress. She also put Dr. John friar in the book who was Dr. anonymous he started ed the gay in lesbian psychiatric foundation in went by the anonymous Moniker, before publicly being gay was okay. She also had a focus on kitty Cohen who I’ve never heard of before but found her story very interesting. As for the rest I DK I did enjoy most of it but found a lot of it had nothing to do with the activism and social change that has happened over the past centuries but at least she is trying I guess? I did find the story about the disabled girl who was locked up to keep her from her girlfriend is sad and I am sure she was just one of many. I was also surprised she didn’t mention Elton John who is legally blind and openly gay and has been for decades I think because her criteria was disabled and queer made for a very small scope I don’t think anything would’ve been wrong with talking about the mini heroes from each community that made great strides whether they fell under one or both categories it’s still benefited everyone included if you know what I am saying. #NetGalley, #PenAndSwordPress, #DaisyHolder, #QueerDisabilityThroughHistory,

This was a really poignant and important read. The way the author structured this book lead the reader through the intersection of disability and queerness -which has not previously been really talked about together even though the term intersectionality has been coined for a while. I liked how the author started with more famous queer folks - Frida and Marsha - and then expanded with other figures that might not have been well known in either the disability or queer communities but are now more understood. This is a great book for anyone who wants to learn more about queer or disability history (and will learn about both).