02727cam a2200301 i 4500 441299961 TxAuBib 20201102120000.0 200410s2020||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2020012800 9781984820303 HRD 30.00 1984820303 HRD 30.00 TxAuBib rda Lehrer, Riva, 1958- Golem girl. Golem girl [BOOK] : a memoir / Riva Lehrer. First edition. New York : One World, [2020] xv, 424 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 25 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier What do we sacrifice in the pursuit of normalcy? And what becomes possible when we embrace monstrosity? Can we envision a world that sees impossible creatures? In 1958, amongst the children born with spina bifida is Riva Lehrer. At the time, most such children are not expected to survive. Her parents and doctors are determined to "fix" her, sending the message over and over again that she is broken. That she will never have a job, a romantic relationship, or an independent life. Enduring countless medical interventions, Riva tries her best to be a good girl and a good patient in the quest to be cured. Everything changes when, as an adult, Riva is invited to join a group of artists, writers, and performers who are building Disability Culture. Their work is daring, edgy, funny, and dark—it rejects tropes that define disabled people as pathetic, frightening, or worthless. They insist that disability is an opportunity for creativity and resistance. Emboldened, Riva asks if she can paint their portraits—inventing an intimate and collaborative process that will transform the way she sees herself, others, and the world. Each portrait story begins to transform the myths she’s been told her whole life about her body, her sexuality, and other measures of normal. Written with the vivid, cinematic prose of a visual artist, and the love and playfulness that defines all of Riva's work, Golem Girl is an extraordinary story of tenacity and creativity. With the author's magnificent portraits featured throughout, this memoir invites us to stretch ourselves toward a world where bodies flow between all possible forms of what it is to be human. Provided by publisher. 20201102. Lehrer, Riva 1958- Health. Spina bifida Patients United States Biography. Artists with disabilities United States Biography. People with disabilities Biography.