Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life by Alice Wong

Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life Reviews

• 
  Kimberly

  One description of this book that recurs in reviews is thought provoking. That, I believe, is what is memorable about this book by Alice Wong, who is a disabled disability activist in San Francisco. The internet and social media have greatly expanded her outreach. This is a collection of essays, podcast interviews, art work and even recipes, all of which reflect Ms. Wong's world, and each of which deserves a slow and meaningful read. Highly recommended for everyone.
  
  My thanks to Vintage Books who sent me a copy of this book, and to Goodreads Giveaways, who hosted the giveaway.
• 
  Reading on Wheels

  5 / 5 stars
  
  I’m a big fan of creative nonfiction. I love Disability studies and reading about Disabled culture (I also love being Disabled and chronically ill). I especially enjoy Disabled nonfiction that explicitly denounces inspiration porn and refuses to partake in it. I desperately want to be, as she calls it, a fellow troublemaker alongside Alice Wong.
  
  Basically, I was made for this, sickly bodymind and all. Even if I didn’t tick all those boxes, if I were a nondisabled person who didn’t feel the same pull I do to this, it’s just objectively enjoyable.
  
  Now, I can’t speak on some of the parts covered, especially her sharing her experiences and identity as Chinese American as I am white. They were written very endearingly, and I could physically feel the love, nostalgia, and appreciation she has for these experiences with her family. And that’s really lovely.
  
  I can, however, speak on the Disability content and some of the other related ideas.
  
  The serious subjects – explored in the past, the very recent past, pieces of the present, and the future – are given the respect and discussion they deserve, but the delivery blends them so smoothly with the intimacy of looking into a person’s life and still exemplifies her charming wit and silliness.
  
  And yeah, sometimes it does really suck to live in a nondisabled world as a Disabled person, yet the community we share makes the horrors we have to see everyday somewhat worth it. If it weren’t for my fellow people experiencing ‘Crip Rage’, I don’t know where I would be. I love seeing it so honestly put into words without fear of reprimand; that freedom is a luxury I got to enjoy vicariously while reading.
  
  I have somewhat of a complicated relationship with my chronic illness; I’ve had it all my life but never knew. I found out about a year ago that I could be chronically ill and that chronic illnesses could be disabilities. I’d grown up in a house with Disabled parents and still never realized my own identity.
  
  Regardless, I am not mad at my younger self. The barriers I faced in making this realization were not of my own creation. There were no mental barriers, a refusal to accept that which differentiated me from my peers. I simply didn’t have the words, resources, or knowledge required to come to this conclusion. So I’m mad at the systemic ableism that lies within the roots of our society, the ‘Crip Rage’ I previously alluded to.
  
  Yet, I still have the immense privilege of being born after the passage of section 504. After the ADA. After the Olmstead decision, even. These are immense advantages that my Disabled ancestors fought for in order to give the future generation of Disabled people the chance at equity they never had.
  
  I am grateful for their work. I would never want to fight for such minimal respect as they did. I now have some legal rights as a Disabled person and can use those to continue with their foundation.
  
  I’m also infinitely grateful to Alice Wong and her fellow troublemakers for the work they’re doing in protecting themselves and future generations of Disabled people while still honoring the names of those who came before them. They are the modern Disabled activists that I am lucky to be able to look up to and have protecting me without knowing of my existence.
  
  Thank you to Netgalley and all involved for the ARC.
• 
  Shannon

  REPRESENTATION MATTERS!!
  
  This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 and it sure did not disappoint!! Long-time disability rights' activist Alice Wong has written an incredibly heartfelt and honest memoir+.
  
  More than your typical disability memoir, Alice's book is a collection of essays and interviews that touch on sooooo many important issues. She talks about her early life as a child born to Chinese immigrant parents and diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. She was constantly in and out of the hospital and had to undergo multiple surgeries. She also talks about life as a person dependent on life-saving machines, government assistance and the importance of authentic representation in media.
  
  What I really connected with though was Alice's experiences as a person dependent on a ventilator and later a feeding tube, who was particularly vulnerable during the pandemic. Few people truly understand the precarious position those of us who were under 65 but still incredibly high-risk faced while waiting to get vaccines that could mean the difference between life or death.
  
  In my opinion this was one of the best books about ableism and living with a disability. I particularly enjoyed the essays on her life in high school, being denied theatre classes because the teacher didn't even give her the chance to participate or fighting for funding for necessary support workers.
  
  A must read for anyone who has dealt with similar issues or anyone who wants to better understand what a significant portion of the population has to deal with on a regular basis as funding for people with disabilities continues to decline and come under attack.
  
  Much thanks to @PRHAudio, NetGalley and the publisher for early digital copies of this book in exchange for my honest review!
  
  Favorite quotes:
  "There's something incredibly affirming about seeing yourself reflected in popular culture."
• 
  Danika at The Lesbrary

  I reviewed this on Sept 6th's episode of
  All the Books.
• 
  Ashley Marie

  Brilliant.
  
  Nancy Wu's narration is excellent, although the book definitely lends itself more to being read in print, as it features various interviews and a crossword puzzle.
  
  ATY 2023: A book featuring two languages
• 
  Sarah Cavar

  A marvelous collection of some of Alice’s best and most prescient works, including recipes, coloring pages, and a crossword. Not only is this book funny, wrenching, and thought-provoking (to those new to disability studies and old pros alike!) it’s also an incredible pedagogical tool. As we read, Alice’s lived disability education winds around our own, and we discover again and again what it means to crip life, work, communication, memory, and more. I hope to see/teach this in many a future classroom.
• 
  Daniel Grey

  2.5*
  
  I was quite disappointed with this. Despite a stellar introduction, the rest of the book just kind of wades through the same points and stories over and over. This is largely because of the unconventional structure the author chose to use that included essays, interviews, etc., but that doesn’t make it any more enjoyable. A stronger editing hand could have made this a shorter and much stronger book.
• 
  Bon

  I cried, I raged, I took away some good recipes - what a book. The format and arrangement are a little wonky - it's more like a series of essays, interviews and conversations, interspersed with recipes, texts, and other things - but Nancy Wu did a great narration for this audio version and kept it together for me.
• 
  Kelly

  A beautiful, scrapbook style memoir of the life of an Asian American disabled activist. There are essays, interviews, art, and more, and it's a compelling, engaging, and necessary read from a tremendous voice.
• 
  Ashton

  anyone who knows my reading habits knows that memoirs that are interwoven with politics and advice and liberation are my absolute favourite, and alice wong unsurprisingly does it beautifully. i can’t even pick a favourite section or two because it’s all done so well, but some highlights for me were the introduction, “just say nope” and activist wisdom, the discussions of straws, tech, and the internet as access tools, access is love, storytelling as activism, choreography as care, and all the reflections on the current pandemic. i look forward to someday rereading it.
• 
  Em Ann ♡︎♡︎♡︎ - theglitterybookworm_

  if i love anyone in this world, it’s alice wong <3
• 
  T.J. Wallace

  I feel a little weird reviewing this book, this mosaic of a life lived with such verve, fortitude, and creativity. Who am I to review another person's life? I love reviewing books, but it is harder with memoirs because the line dividing book from an actual human being is so gossamer.
  
  "Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life" is a powerful collage of essays, interviews, email chains, Twitter threads, photographs, art, recipes, and more about the life and activism of Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project and the editor of the acclaimed anthology "Disability Visibility." This unusual format is very creative and was mostly enjoyable to read. There were some very repetitive parts, but I am guessing that was done on purpose to emphasize the repetitive, ongoing nature of activism and of the self-care that Wong must manage. I was made aware of several issues that disabled people deal with that I had never considered (there were a few sections on how the switch to paper straws can be very difficult to people with certain disabilities). I especially loved the very end, where Wong writes a fake obituary that imagines her life into her 90s (as somebody who was not expected to live to adulthood) with wit and imaginativeness.
  
  However, if you are a seeing person, I STRONGLY do NOT recommend the audiobook. I don't think an audiobook is a good vehicle for the unusual format of "Year of the Tiger." It was hard to follow some of the more nontraditional elements, like Twitter threads. And while there is a downloadable companion pdf, I could never get it to download correctly from our library's website. So now I am waiting for the hardcopy, so I can see all the art and pictures described in the book. I also did not love the audiobook narrator. There were many interview transcripts in the book, and I really wished the audiobook could have included the original audio because I felt the narrator delivered the interviews very awkwardly, sometimes in weird, fake voices.
  
  Overall, an important, thought-provoking read.
• 
  Margaret

  Disabled activist and Chinese American Alice Wong's memoir is a collection of ephemera: essays, interviews, transcripts, questionnaires, images, photos, and more. I especially loved reading about her childhood (I tend to in general love people's childhood stories). This is a really important book in terms of disability memoir. So often memoirs are framed as "inspirational" or "overcoming X" or depressing. But in no terms does Wong allow the reader to pity her or find her inspiring because she's disabled. Her disability is part of her identity. She had a happy childhood, she enjoys her adult life. She's pissed about all the ableism and lack of accessibility. We should all be.
  
  Also, I hope she does get that editing job focused on a disability imprint for a major publisher!
  
  Content warnings for ableism, sexism, racism.
• 
  Elena L.

  [4.5/5 stars]
  
  YEAR OF THE TIGER is a collection of original essays, previously published works by Alice Wong - founder of Disability Visibility project and an Asian American disability rights activist.
  
  Wong's voice is undeniable and she is not here solely to please the general public - because this book isn't a typical memoir focused on her disability, but rather an irregular narrative that will certainly impress you. In a reality in which (disability) activism is undervalued, buried under the toxic light of capitalism, white supremacy and ableism, Wong fights for freedom and bodily autonomy. From policy changes to systemic barriers that are rooted in ableism to being deprioritized, the disability community whose works is endless and often frustrating, is as relevant as you and me. Wong makes use of satire in her stories to emphasize the lack of support/accessibility and struggles during pandemic, and these left me enraged. However, in the face of what feels like hopelessness, Wong manifests her resilience through the infinite dreams and small/big celebrations.
  
  Wong's discussion with author Riva Lehrer shines light on my own biases on ableism and how we don't regard disability in its details and complexity (also urged me to read "Golem: a memoir"). The words left me unsettled about how I perceive disability community and my nondisabled privilege, making me more mindful of my lack of knowledge.
  Her memories about Lunar New Year and Hong Kong were one of my favorite parts and recognizing some shared experiences as Chinese American warmed my heart.
  
  Wong also shares valuable tips about interviews, podcasts and writing process; and the different structures (questionnaires, transcripts...) make it easy to engage with the book.
  By channeling writing of great finesse allied with the conversational tone, I was moved by Wong's honesty and vulnerability. It felt like reading a live journal as readers are invited to be part of her life.
  
  There's an urgent need for more institutional changes and ultimately, we are called to advocate disability community. I'd recommend this book to everyone.
  
  [ I received a complimentary copy from the publisher - Vintage archor . All opinions are my own ]
• 
  Ilana

  Overall, I think this was a good book, and challenged some of my views/taught me more about some of the hurdles physically disabled people face (though I’m seeing some of that in real time with my 30 year old sister). That said, I am in disagreement with some of her views, and feel a bit of like cognitive dissonance with others.
  
  My disabilities are not visible like hers, and not as limiting, but it’s still real, and I get that being white will automatically get me better treatment in the US, but I’ve still faced lots of shitty and unhelpful medical people; like I get it’s her memoir and worldview, but some of the overarching disdain towards white people was a bit upsetting to read, like in the intro where she talks about being proud and getting diversity points for reading her memoir and being a “good” ally, and the page spread that just says “STFU white people”.
  
  
  But also the memoir felt too repetitive, hearing the same anecdotes two, three times. I liked the atypical format of not just essays, but I feel like there were too many redundancies. And I skipped the section on the spit cup, bodily fluids skeeze me out (not blood so much, but most everything else). But in the end of the book:
  
  “As with many people who came of age during the 1999
  Olmstead decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Alice lived to see the abolition of carceral institutions such as psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes, and prisons.”
  
  I take umbrage with this bc yes, lots of people were/are institutionalized against their wills, but psychiatric hospitals are also life savers, shout-out to McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Belmont, MA.
• 
  Jamie

  Year of the Tiger is an incredible mosaic-style memoir comprised of essays, interviews, illustrations and memoir vignettes by disability justice leader Alice Wong. Wong’s writing is frank and funny, written in a way that exemplifies the persona of her podcast work. After reading the collection she edited, Disability Visibility, it was such a pleasure to get to know her story, including a childhood of persistence and adaptation, of the denial of admittance to a drama class that fueled her earliest activism, and her supportive family. The interviews included provide important context and detail about her work, as well as current conversations about accessibility. One of my favorite moments of the memoir is when Alice writes of her future self, projects the achievements coming and even the strength of her legacy.
• 
  Jen (Remembered Reads)

  In her introduction, Alice Wong points out the limitations that come with the standard expectations from the nondisabled public for a "disability memoir," and goes on to give us something very different with Year of the Tiger.
  
  Rather than a narrative memoir, this is an anthology of Wong's writing, speeches and interviews, interspersed with art, photos, and quotations. While this means that readers who follow Wong on social media will have read much of the material before (I had, but it was still fantastic to revisit), and there's occasionally a little repetition (an essay and then an interview tell the same childhood story at one point), it also means she's able to avoid most of the "Disability 101" (and "Immigrant family 101") that chronological narrative memoirs encourage.
  
  Definitely one that I'll be giving as a gift to a wide variety of people over the next year!
• 
  Cindy

  So this was not what I was expecting at all. While I appreciate Alice Wong's work, this book is a hodgepodge of different things in seemingly random order, things like essays, recipes, and transcripts of interviews and podcasts. There were some sections I really enjoyed, but overall found it disappointing, especially after reading the compelling introduction.
• 
  Leah Rachel von Essen

  Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life by Alice Wong is a scrapbook-like memoir by a disabled activist and icon, the editor of Disability Visibility and partner in the creation of #CriptheVote, among other achievements. So I was excited to dig into her story.
  
  This isn't what this book is for (remotely), but I did end up confronting some serious internalized ableism of my own as I read, thinking about my own assumptions and thoughts about my future as a chronically ill person. Wong's book digs into the idea that we can't choose whether or not to be an activist when we have a chronically ill, in-pain, or disabled body: politics becomes part and parcel of trying to survive.
  
  Wong's memoir is vividly creative—and she emphasizes, again and again, the power of adaptation and creativity that disabled people have in their day-to-day lives. She also shows how accessibility really is rooted in willingness and openness to listen, to adapt, and to commit to experimenting to help improve the lives of others. Her creativity is vivid in its multi-media memoir that uses so much to add to its story. A beautiful comic chapter illustrated by Sam Schäfer about living like a cat; scanned copies of forms that she uses to struggle to access necessary services from the government or Medicaid; chats, quotes, and photos, all among the essays reprinted and written fresh.
  
  Wong really emphasizes the day-to-day uncertainty of being disabled, including things many of us wouldn't think about—her BPAP ventilator means she's dependent on a machine for oxygen, which makes her terrified of power outages. She digs into the issues of performative mourning, how hard it was for her to get a vaccine, the ableist comments of people who decide her life isn't worth living, and much more. It's an excellent memoir, front to back.
  
  Content warnings for ableism, medical trauma, body shaming, hate crime, violence.
• 
  Mbgirl

  10 stars for all the photo Inserts, memes, funny stuff, and other potpourri.
  
  A very unique memoir by now local MD BiPAP- wearing Chinese disabled activist writer.
  
  Funny at times, okay got it at other times, different topics, W Kamau section needed editing——
  
  Glad I know about it
  
  ABLE-ism!!!
• 
  Danielle | Dogmombookworm

  YEAR OF THE TIGER |
  
  You know Alice Wong from #DisabilityVisability the project she started in response to the fact that StoryCorpus did not include many/any disabled stories.
  
  In YEAR OF THE TIGER, Wong shares a compilation of thoughts, short form essays, doodles, interview and podcast transcriptions, poems, satirical stories, and notes that span 20+ years. What comes to shape is a live journal based in resistance and activism that Wong is forcing readers to think about.
  
  To Wong, storytelling is activism. Telling a story, one's POV, that is markedly so different from what able-bodied people think is a form of resistance, saying I'm here and I'm glad I'm here. You should be glad I'm here as well.
  
  There is a whole gamut of what Wong covers, growing up in Indiana, high school, gritting her teeth despite the lack of support from teachers while experiencing a worsening in her muscular dystrophy. Her memories around Lunar New Year, visiting Hong Kong. Applying for Medicaid. The struggles and continuous vulnerability that the disabled community face with each 'advance' and 'setback' of policy changes. Freedom and bodily autonomy. Living and surviving every damn day, especially during the pandemic. On how much disabled people can teach able bodied people and how we need to provide better access for those currently not included as a form of liberation and justice for all. Also, her love of cats :)
• 
  Audrey

  Illuminating and eye opening, this book challenges all able bodied people about how inaccessible this world is for so many of us. Told through mixed media of pictures, essays and interviews, Alice Wong, with humor, how the world is not accommodating to those who aren't fully able bodied, despite the ADA and "best" intentions. While I'm aware of inaccessible access for many who aren't as physically mobile, this book made me more aware of other issues that I hadn't considered. This is one of the best kind of non fiction reads as it challenged me and made me think more deeply about my own able bodied privilege. #AccessIsLove.
  
  I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own. NOTE: I read an advance copy and some of the print was so, so, so, so tiny. I hope the finished edition is more readable.
  
  ETA: September 2022 staff pick
• 
  Daphyne

  This is an important topic and I learned quite a bit about advocacy in the disabled community. I’m not sure I would label this a memoir but rather a collection of essays and interviews on various topics pertaining to disability from accessibility to the pandemic with the occasional personal story thrown in. I found the interviews more difficult to enjoy than the essays but that’s just personal preference.
  
  It’s has definitely given me food for thought and made me consider ways my ableism harms others.
• 
  chirpingwrens

  "Good shit takes time. Bend time, expand time, crip time."
  
  And so with that, I really took time reading this book. Actually, "reading" is too passive to describe what I've experienced. Following Alice's advice, I folded pages into dog ears, wrote notes like "THIS 1000000%!!!", crammed sticky notes, left unintentional coffee stains (oops), traced artworks, took breaks to google cat images (awwww), worked on Alice's old Chinese homework, and struggled with crosswords.
  
  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. I probably won't shut up about this book, and this review probably won't encompass all the things I want to rave about. This is a disability justice book that I would first recommend my friends to read (along with Disability Visibility, another fabulous book by Alice), rather than nuanced academic works that delve into theories often stemming from white viewpoints. But I also don't want to whittle this down to be a mere disability justice book, because it's so much more than that. Her stories - ranging from broad, awesome imaginations that showcase Alice's charismatic wittiness to detailed documents illuminating political aspects of disabilities - provided me with profound introspection of my own disabled, queer, Korean immigrant identity.
  
  Alice tells her readers to "stay angry," which I resonated with 1000%. Because we ARE angry. On Goodreads, I often see reviews on disability books say shit like "the author sounds too angry" and leave negative reviews, to which I'm like ???. Like... do you know how much ableist bullshit we deal with everyday? We are angry because people like you keep on silencing our words and ignoring us. Good job on not getting the message I guess. What the hell do you expect us to feel when you keep laboring to erase our existence? Anyways.
  
  "Who are nerds if not those left out, ridiculed, neglected, and undervalued by dominant society?" Alice is unapologetically geeky and creative. Alice begins the book by talking about Cripton, which honestly I would read a whole book on lol. It also reaffirmed this thought for me: creativity for disabled people is a necessity, not a commodity. In a world that's perniciously laboring us out of existence, we have to willfully dream of disabled futures, in which we are accepted, celebrated, and welcomed. I think my desire on reading more about Cripton is due to my attachment of dreaming as a disability justice tool.
  
  Another part of this book that struck with me was Alice's interview with her mom. The interview didn't explicitly talk about disability, but I read this interview a week after my own mom sent me a lengthy email asking me to keep out of disability justice and just focus on work. Maybe because my own relationship with my Korean parents are laden with ableism and homophobia, I think I was jealous of Alice's relationship with her mom. I know in no way does this interview show every aspects of Alice's relationship with her parents, but Alice's family traditions during Lunar New Year reminded me of my own past, during Korean new year, when my family would gather in our living room to cook, eat, and pray to our ancestors for good fortune. Am I stuck too far in nostalgia? Is nostalgia dangerous? I don't know. I'll probably journal about it later.
  
  Climate change is a pressing issue in our world. However, Alice's story about the politics of plastic vs. biodegradable straws illuminate the reason why environmental justice and centering marginalized experiences is extremely important in activism. I think some activists may ignorantly believe that what they are doing is purely "ethical and good," but environmental activism (and other types of activism) can still be ableist and discriminate on various bodyminds. Critical theory and thinking, as it turns out, are essential in activism!!
  
  On a more academic note, Alice calls her readers "troublemakers" several times in her book. This reminded me of "queering" or troubling that many queer theorists discuss and prompted my thinking about practical aspects of how I could incorporate queercrip methods in dreaming of desirable futures. Like, I think storytelling is definitely one of them, but what other ways could I use my design and tech knowledge to disrupt ableism and heteronormativity? Moreover, from a designer point of view, Alice's tips on conducting interviews was very helpful in how I can conduct more equitable interviews and co-design sessions moving forward.
  
  Alice explicitly says that she's become uncomfortable with the way that people perceive her over the years. She deliberately outlines potentially problematic labels of "role models" and the asymmetrical power dynamics that it can produce.
  
  Her feelings are completely valid. With that in mind, I would sincerely like to thank her for empowering me to start telling my own stories and be an activist in my own ways.
  
  I just rambled on, but this is probably one of my favorite books I read so far. I just ordered my Access Is Love and Ableism Is Trash t-shirts lol. If you loved this book, check out Disability Visibility project!
• 
  Vi Son

  I was at a local book shop in Santa Cruz few weeks ago and stumbled upon this cover, “year of the tiger”. I am embarrassed to say that I never heard of Alice Wong before and was intrigued about a book that was titled after my chinese zodiac. I figured I wouldn’t do this year justice if I continue through 2022 not reading this book and unleashing my “inner tiger” haha (also am trying to incorporate more asian american authors in my reading repertoire as well). And so when I picked up this book at my local library and read the first couple of pages, I was immediately drawn in. The book exceeded my expectations, particularly because it was such a personal and intimate record of someone who dedicated their life in trying to bring visibility within the disable community. Which led me to my next point, and that is if you’re a nurse or someone who is in healthcare—I think this book should be required part of your reading. For someone who has worked with disabled folks, there was so much I didn’t know—particularly on their day to day needs and concerns. Alice Wong writing keeps it transparent, authentic, and also comedic. She doesn’t pull back on any punches, really sticks the proverbial middle finger to the “man”, white patriarchal ableist mindset and institution, as well as helping me understand and empathize more on what needs attention regarding our healthcare system as a whole. She also challenges readers that the mainstream mindset of disable bodies are “misfortunate” and “not in tune with their body” when in fact it’s the opposite. She argues that people with disability are “magical”, someone who have intimate mind-body connection and awareness of how their body works, a generative force oracle if you will. For example, in one of her essays “as I lay breathing” she writes in explicit detail of what’s it like for someone living with muscular dystrophy breathe, which i thought was beautiful and scary at the same time.
  
  Her writing style varies throughout the book, as you can find mostly essays, podcast transcripts, zines, and random activities like coloring books and crossword puzzles. Her writing is voracious, fearless, passionate, banded with a strong sense of Justice and humor to keep serious topics light and approachable— ironically qualities of the tiger zodiac. Some of my favorite moments in the book are when she describes what her writing process looks like in the essay “about time” elaborating how the process of writing can be messy, often times stems from hours of procrastination—but becomes euphoric when “words pour out, dribbling, splattering in messy direction like a melted hot fudge sundae”. That writing doesn’t have to solely base on fulfilling word counts and societal expectations but rather a need for self preservation. Another essay that stood out for me was her detailing the grueling process of scheduling for her COVID vaccine. On how vaccine equity is lackluster when the state assigned age 65+ as only high risk criteria when in fact people with disability were completely erased from the picture.
  
  Some of the challenges readers may experience are particularly terms that you may not be familiar with if you haven’t worked with disable communities or if social activism may be new to you. She uses terms like “ableist” and “crip” , as well as names of key activist figures that I did not know. Which honestly, is a blessing in disguise because it invites readers to do their own homework and research your own, really indulge in your curiosity and commitment for health equity advocacy. Also, some of her work is not chronologically in order so it can be confusing at times, as you’re trying to piece together Alice Wong’s life and achievement. But then again, this challenges the perception that time isn’t linear, doesn’t flow in one direction but rather cyclical and continuous…which I think Alice Wong can appreciate because she does pride herself as a sci-fi nerd which readers will find throughout this book. Many sci-fi /fantasy references as her experience living with disability. She light-heartedly calls herself a cyborg equipped with non-invasive ventilators and powered wheelchair like the honorable X-men founder Prof Xavier.
  
  Recommended everyone to check out this book.
• 
  Amber

  YEAR OF THE TIGER is a collection of original essays, previously published work, transcribed conversations, and photos. Powerful and thought-provoking, YEAR OF THE TIGER explores disability and ableism in our society. Through the lens of Wong's experiences, the book delves into how disabled individuals are often invisible yet visible in public spaces. For instance, some people avert their gaze when talking to her, while others give unsolicited advice about how lucky she is or how Jesus can save her.
  
  One of the most striking aspects of YEAR OF THE TIGER is the emphasis on the pervasiveness of ableism in our society, particularly the structural barriers that disabled people face in voting, living, moving, and working. This ableism is also evident in the way that non-disabled actors are cast to play disabled characters, and in the narrow range of voices that are typically featured on public radio.
  
  YEAR OF THE TIGER also addresses the ethics of rationing and triaging medical supplies during the pandemic, and the impact this policy had on disabled individuals who rely on ventilators to survive. Similarly, Wong explores how using CRISPR-Cas9 to eliminate genes associated with disabilities is another act of eugenics and ableist actions.
  
  YEAR OF THE TIGER is a must-read for anyone looking to better understand the challenges and experiences of disabled individuals. Wong encourages the readers to ask: Who is missing in the space we're inhabiting, and why? How do we become more creative to make room for diverse bodies?
• 
  Kirsti

  This book is called Year of the Tiger because it was published the year the author turned 48, her fourth Tiger Year under the Chinese zodiac and far longer than many people expected her to survive. Wong is a disability rights activist, writer, visual artist, and enthusiastic consumer of ice cream. This is a collection of her essays, letters, podcast appearances, and art, plus writing and art she commissioned from others. Some pieces are serious, while others are playful. Wong contends that just because she's publishing a memoir doesn't mean she's a zoo animal. The rest of us don't get to peer at her and learn everything about her just because we invested a little time and/or money in her. Wong is writing another book, this one about sexuality.
  
• 
  Ekmef

  Everything you'd like in a memoir.
  
  The cool thing is that it isn't just a first person narrative, but the story is told through documents and key essays. You get shown rather than told how you grow into being an activist. The email exchanges regarding the coronavirus vaccine were chilling, the casual dismissal of concerns is all the more obvious in its original form.
  I think I love the ending most - daring to imagine a future where disabled people thrive.
  
  This is a very valuable book that has something to offer to everyone, disabled or not.
• 
  Carolyn

  We give cat people 5 stars.
  
  No really, Alice Wong's memoir is fierce, comforting, funny, sad, envigorating, eloquent, and thought-provoking. She is a powerhouse who is sharing her brilliant, full life with us. We are so lucky to have her.