waist high in the world a life among the nondisabled

Such seemingly simple tasks as taking a shower and fixing a lunch are revealed to be, for her, astonishingly intricate undertakings. Perhaps the most unforgettable adventure, if one can call it that, is a day she spends alone when caretaking arrangements fall apart.

When she and her husband and daughter decide to take a week's vacation in New Mexico in a rental vehicle soon dubbed ''the Camper from Hell,'' the results are both poignant and comic. When she takes part in an undercover operation to gather evidence concerning a scam to bilk thousands of dollars from MS victims, truth and justice are among the losers.

There's a certain amount of adventure here too, for which Mairs's wry tone is wonderfully apt. Among her concerns are sex, language, mobility, the rights of the disabled, caregiving and caretaking, euthanasia, and abortion, especially the implications for the disabled of the right to abort a fetus known to be defective. ''I ask you to read this book,'' says Mairs, ''not to be uplifted, but to be lowered and steadied into what may be unfamiliar, but is not inhospitable, space.'' With wit, wisdom, and candor she contemplates the body and world she inhabits. A bare-bones description of Mairs's situation-she has severe multiple sclerosis that is progressively worsening, and her caretaker husband has cancer with an uncertain prognosis-might well deter the reader anxious to avoid either a depressing soap opera or a sentimental feel-good book. 'About this title' may belong to another edition of this title.Ten more striking essays from the remarkable author of Ordinary Time (1993) and Voice Lessons (1994). The second half of the book covers topics that look outward: women with disabilities, obstacles physical and social, the ethics of selective abortion and euthanasia, the joys and troubles of travel, and more. She begins with subjects close to home: the personal history of her disease, the intimate realities of the body, the moral economy of care and caregiving, life with her husband and children. In between, Mairs gives us a brilliant portrait of an issue and experience too rarely portrayed and talked about. It begins with a disavowal ('I cannot begin to write this book.I don't want to think about my crippled life') and ends with a declaration of hope ('I choose joy'). The result is a brave and beautiful book that will open new worlds for readers. In Waist-High in the World, Mairs explores in her inimitable voice the subject that has always been in the background of her writing, but which she takes on here for the first time at book-length - disability and the way it shapes a life.

Waist high in the world a life among the nondisabled