What an inspiring memoir about a woman who rides the bus (every day for many hours) with her sister in Pennsylvania. She writes about her sister's troubles and triumphs living on her own with a disability. When I emailed the author (another Bryn Mawr alum) about my love for the book, she informed me that her sister's boyfriend (also with a disability) voted today for the first time. It was such a great message to receive back from her. ( )

What an inspiring memoir about a woman who rides the bus (every day for many hours) with her sister in Pennsylvania. She writes about her sister's troubles and triumphs living on her own with a disability. When I emailed the author (another Bryn Mawr alum) about my love for the book, she informed me that her sister's boyfriend (also with a disability) voted today for the first time. It was such a great message to receive back from her. ( )

I work with people with intellectual disability pretty much all day every day. By doing so, I've learned that there's a the range of people and personalities among those with ID is no smaller than that in the typical population. However, in the public conscious and most media, people with ID are children, or the object of Important Lessons, or benevolent figureheads. So I found Rachel Simon's memoir about the time she spent with her sister Beth, an adult with ID, a beautiful and nuanced story. Beth is passionate about buses, bull-headed, hates racism, is man-crazy and matter-of-fact. And Rachel pulls no punches, being completely transparent with the reader about Beth's peaks and valleys and about Rachel's own flaws in her ability to deal with Beth patiently. I really appreciated Rachel's honesty about her worries, frustrations and impatience with Rachel -- I think it's important to share our dark times.

The book is organized into 12 months, each of which has a chapter about Beth and the bus, a chapter about Rachel's introspections and a chapter about their past. The middle of these was by far the weakest, and felt kind of shoehorned in. Examples include one and a half pages about person-first language. A personal revelation that she should make more friends and becomes the Giver of Wisdom to the bus drivers, over two pages. Beth is really the life of the book. But I think this was overall a touchingly sincere book about a rarely discussed topic. ( )

I finished this book yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. It makes you think about life, that's for sure. It was quite an easy and fast read, too. Interesting true story and people.
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For the most part, I found this book to be interesting, if a little slow in places. I worked in the special education world until very recently, with a population that is much more severely affected than Beth was. The young adults that I taught were nonverbal and completely unable to care for themselves or live independently. All through the book, I thought about how the parents of my students would have loved having their child as independent as Beth. I understood a lot of what was happening and what Rachel was learning. I do have some issues with self-advocation, but that is nothing that is geared towards the author or this book. I understand that it is law. It's hard to have laws that apply equally to such a diverse group of individuals. I have heard more than one parent share a bad experience that involves the laws Rachel learned about. I would recommend any reader to understand that there are adults out there that you never see, who have to have constant care. They are entitled to a free education, and that is where I was involved. I learned that a lot of people think of those with Downs and those individuals who compete in Special Olympics when they think of self-contained special education. Please have a heart and think of those who have severe and profound intellectual disabilities. Those families need all the love and support that your communities can give them. ( )