Living Where the Nights Jive

Inspired by the author's own experiences of "disability" as a deaf child 40 years ago, this novel tells the stories of 12 disabled women, ranging in age from 20s to 60s, all of whom are involved in the arts—whether as writers, visual artists, performers, or administrators. Expressing the idea that disabled women have still not been given many chances in today's inclusive, diverse, 21st-century world, the narrative shows their history as rich, awful, funny, and fabulous. Despite seeming invisible, these women reveal themselves to be part of the fabric of society as they help friends, raise families, earn a living, lay out the dead, sew quilts, paint, sing, and create for all they are worth.