As a trans (not quite disabled, but also not quite not disabled - still figuring it out) person with many trans and disabled friends I knew I had to pick this book up and I knew it would make me cry. I also did tear up a bit already reading the introduction, which especially mentions the way oppression grew during the Covid-19 pandemic as certain lives where once again declared “expendable”. As someone who finally dove into Disability Studies during exactly this time, this is a sentiment I have already seen reflected all around us and so it just started off very strong and emotional for me.
I truly love the cover and I was super excited to dive into this anthology. As a very personal collection of works by and for trans and disabled creators this certainly delivers an interesting collection of short memoirs, essays, poems and artwork of creators who are both transgender and disabled. While the quality of the pieces differs, as does the length and genre (we have some poems that are barely a page long and some rather academic essays in here as well as some very personal musings on the intersection of systems of oppressions) there weren’t any pieces I actively disliked. There were some where I couldn’t take as much with me as I had hoped I would, but most of them described quite interesting experiences and either left me thinking about it or felt relateable to me. I also enjoyed how many different disabilities where features in this anthology (from various neurotypes and plurality to invisible disabilities like ME/CFS to diabetes and various mobility aid users there’s a lot here). My favorite pieces where Loving with defiance: breaking a binary, not a b1n0ry by Kitty Lu Bear, I am transgender and my disability is not a cautionary tale by Finlay Games, Mimicry by Jonathan Eden, What are we worth? by Lee K Hulme and Who fights for us… by Lior Effinger-Weintraub.
Unfortunately, this book missed a crucial opportunity by not including the voices of disabled trans women and only featuring one person that identifies as transfeminine. Discussions of transmisogyny and how it related to medical mistreatment of disabled trans women was thus not featured at all, which I feel is a great oversight, as that is a field of medical misogyny that is rarely examined and should have rightfully belonged in this anthology. All texts that focus on medical maltreatment focus instead on afab transgender people and while this form of sexism in medicine needs to be examined, it does not feel right to me to read an anthology that claims to provide an insight into the experiences of transgender people, when a huge percentage of them doesn’t even get a place to speak. I also think a deeper examination on race and its compounding effect on marginalizations could have been intriguing, as that was only mentioned in very few pieces. This has cost it a star in my rating and so only manages to achieve a 3 star rating.
All in all, I enjoyed this anthology despite its shortcomings and I do hope for more examinations of the overlaps of being transgender and disabled and how these two aspects of identity can compound oppressions we face.

Plural, trans and disabled by Meg-John Barker: The first essay is both very academic and very personal, examining the way different and overlapping disabilities can make it hard to differentiate certain symptoms and aspects of disabilities. It also draws parallels between being plural, trans and disabled and functions as a really interesting introductory text to this anthology.
Embodying (in)valid identities: balancing betwixt and between being “enough” by Shanna Katz Kattari: A short text examining the author’s existence as an autistic nonbinary trans fat femme, with a focus on joy through fashion and self-expression and the overlap between autistic joy, trans joy and disability accessibility of certain types of clothes. It was really interesting and something that I sometimes witnessed for the disabled femmes in my life.
Intersectionalities by Jeong Eun Park: This essay explores various the discriminations faced as a disabled, agender, Asian person and how varying levels of (in)visibility influence their daily life. It is very personal and very interesting in giving a short view into Jeong Eun Park’s life, but it doesn’t manage to really tie the various parts it brings up together and so felt unfinished to me.
Ordinary by Atlas Oggún Phoenix: This piece features both an introduction to and the actual text to a piece of performance art about identity and skin. I really enjoyed reading this and I really enjoyed imagining the way it must look performed.
I can’t keep meeting me like this by Coltan J. Schoenike: This essay explores uncovering new parts of yourself, grieving for the time you lost by not realizing it sooner, but also embracing it and looking to the future with hope.
Beast of Burden by Silas Bourns: A short poem about a transmasculine person/trans man, about personhood and how it can change by leaving the societally instructed role of womanhood. Intriguing, but it is only a single page long and I wish there had been a bit more.
*FAV* Loving with defiance: breaking a binary, not a b1n0ry by Kitty Lu Bear: A really interesting and personal text about being trans and disabled in a multitude of ways. I found the part about using they/them pronouns especially to express plurality fascinating, but I also quite enjoyed this text otherwise, the way it plays with language and incorporates mathematics and just feels delightfully transMad in its use of language. Definitely one of the highlights of this anthology for me!
Self-portrait by Mya Saracho: A short text about identity and embracing yourself, including a stunning self-portrait for the author.
Liminal by Alex Iantaffi: This text explores the author’s identity, particularly their gender and disability and I especially found their inclusion of their experience with fatphobia interesting and important.
Do no harm by Eddy Samara: A heartbreaking poem about misgendering in a medical context and the balance act disabled trans people have to thread when you have to choose between being respected and receiving medical care.
*FAV* I am transgender and my disability is not a cautionary tale by Finlay Games: In this text the author examines the way people sometimes blame a trans persons’ disability on the choices they made to transition. I also enjoyed how he examined the various things cis people have said to him to discredit his gender, while examining the extra risk trans people face in medical settings and the way transphobia makes trans people more likely to develop chronic illnesses.
TW for discussions of suicide and self harm
Swimming westward away by Lawrence Lorraine Mullen: a very short poem
Bathroom buzz cut by Liz Moore: A text about changes in hairstyle as influenced by queerness, gender and disability, the joy and grief of it.
What I remember by Maxwell Colletti Vonraven: In this essay the author examines his experiences post brain surgery and how he and his partner were (mis)treated by the medical system. This is an absolutely enraging text and I just felt so happy to read that at least the author had his partner by his side a lot of times. As someone who knows the trans broken arm syndrome already, I am glad that this text also explained the syndrome to people who may not be familiar.
New disease by Nova Larkin Schrage: A really intriguing poem about gender and disability and falling outside of binaries
COVID-19, self-revelations and the resilience of intersectional online community by Jac of Gendermeowster: This essay explores the ways people formed online communities during the beginning of the pandemic, various coming outs during the initial lockdown and the way online spaces are often uniquely accessible to disabled and queer people.
Deeply plussed by T Boris-Schacter: In this essay the author explores growing up with Diabetes Type-1 and how their aversion to technology to handle it due to bad experiences when they were a kid have finally started to change as well as their steps towards gender affirming surgery.
Do I qualify for love by Atlas Oggún Phoenix: In this essay the author examines their experience of childhood abuse and their experiences with love. This was really heartbreaking.
TW: suicide attempt, childhood abuse
*Fav* Mimicry by Jonathan Eden: This essay examines the cost of trying to fit in, the reasons for doing so, but also the dangers of having to engage in mimicry as the author calls it. There’s also some really cool art in this piece and I enjoy the exploration of the overlapping experiences of having to pass as cis and non-disabled.
Give us our roses by Ollie Millerhoff: As a person who still masks in order not to get sick while having to work retail this is a deeply relatable essay. It examines being disabled now when most people have taken off their masks and the topic of early death with both disproportionally affects transgender and disabled people.
The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Root Holden: A short look at an art piece of Saint Sebastian and a reclamation of him as a figurehead for queer and disabled people. Interesting and I enjoyed the art.
*Fav* What are we worth? by Lee K Hulme: This is mostly a love letter to the caring and supportive partner of a trans and disabled person and I think it is an incredibly touching essay. A relationship like that should be common, but obviously, way too many trans and disabled (and especially if it overlaps) people are told they are too much or otherwise undesirable, so reading this was very lovely.
A love story by Milo Cooper: A love letter to a future self, very emotional and touching and sweet
Bender by H Howitt: A short essay examining the overlap of EDS, AuDHD and being transgender. I found it very interesting to consider EDS as a potential form of Neuroqueerness due to how often it overlaps with queerness and neurodivergence.
*FAV* Who fights for us… by Lior Effinger-Weintraub: This essay examines the (in)accessibility of many protests, especially now past covid and how draining it can feel to try and be active against oppression when various oppressions intersect and make certain forms of activism inaccessible for you.

Wow, This is a breathtaking and informative anthology on what it means to be transgender and disabled. Everybody's story is so impactful and well-written. As a disability advocate who is chronically ill and NOT TRANS, I related to this. There were some uncomfortable parts that I skipped. However, I was so thankful for trigger/content warnings. I also appreciate the beginning note that states that this anthology is also for able-bodied and cis gender reads.

This was a very important book to read and really eye opening as someone who is both trans and disabled. It helped open my eyes to my own struggles and helped me feel less alone. It was great to get so many different perspectives and differing art forms to tell these tales. The cover is also absolutely stunning.

This was such an eye opening read and very interesting. I think non fiction books are not always something for me but this subject interests me so I was happy to read this. Every story and voice is so different yet it works well together. I loved reading about everyone's thoughts and experiences and I think a lot of people should read this book.

* I received an arc from the publisher and netgalley and wrote this review voluntarily.

Books exploring the intersection between transness, disability and neurodivergence are super important right now and reading from different voices and experience on this topic was really interesting. I also liked the inclusion of poetry as well as more academic essays. Wish there had been a trans women contributor. Overall an amazing collection of contributions

As all anthologies, some contributions resonate more than others. Still, the overall collection challenges conventional narratives of normalcy, and serves as a reminder that those who exist at the intersection of transness and disability deserve to exist fully, expansively, and unapologetically.

A set of strong, resilient essays, monologues and poems by people who are trans and disabled along complex continua, often not in a gender binary identity, often with invisible disabilities, always threatened by intersectional misunderstandings or worse. I was moved to see in these reviews that people living similar lives felt seen and represented by these pieces, and they also offer a valuable learning experience to those of us who are cisgendered and not (yet) living with disabilities.

While the lived experiences are varied, there are some overarching themes - the fear or experience of not being trans enough or disabled enough, a lack of interest or understanding from others, a horrible tendency of those in medical professions to either blame disability on trans status or to take unecessary details (the piece where someone who was undergoing complications after brain tumour surgery was asked about their gender affirming surgery not their brain surgery was horrible), but also good communities and positive lives, which is why I've used the positive quotation above. Powerful and moving and an important contribution.

Reviewed on my blog: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2025/01/05/two-netgalley-reads-caryl-phillips-another-man-in-the-street-and-alex-iantaffi-ed-trans-and-disabled/

DNF @ 64%

So the reason I DNF'd the books is because I'm back at uni for my final year of my undergrad degree and it's just consumed me. but from what I read (and what i can remember), I liked that it brought together different experiences of being both trans and disabled despite not fully relating myself as I'm cis

A really beautifully written anthology that explores topics extremely close to me. As a trans and disabled reader, I felt extremely seen when reading this.

What an incredible collection of works showing the diverse range of experiences trans and disabled people live through. As with most collections like this, there were definitely pieces I enjoyed much more than others (unfortunately a lot of the ones I didn't resonate with as much seemed very frontloaded, which meant it took me quite a while to work through this book). The middle and last sections were my favourites!

I particularly loved "Loving with defiance: breaking a binary, not a b1n0ry" by kitty lu bear, which is filled with mathematical metaphors and beautiful, flowing writing. Other stand out works include "Bathroom buzz cut" by Liz Moore, "Mimicry" by Jonathan Eden, and "Self-portrait" by Mya Saracho.

I recommend this book to any trans and disabled readers who feel alone in their experiences. I recommend it to able bodied, cis people who want to understand more about the intersectionality of gender and ability. Really, any readers would take away something from reading this, whether it's a new understanding or a feeling of not being so alone in their experiences.

Thank you to Netgalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the eARC!

This collection of essays is a stunning peek into the experiences of trans and disabled people. As someone who is trans and disabled themselves, reading this felt like a lovely hug of support from my community. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I related to every single piece in this book. Some brought forward feelings I hadn’t been able to vocalize myself. It brought me so much comfort and joy reading about my community. I hope everyone reads it because I think that it offers a window into our lives and could foster a lot of compassion and understanding for trans and disabled people.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the eARC, but it did not affect my review in any way!

I thought this was going to be essays by trans disabled people about navigating that intersectionality in a transphobic and ableist world and I guess overall that’s what it was. Some of the essays were just incredibly heady and hard to follow and these were all at the front so it made it very hard to stay engaged.

The second half was much more approachable and easier to read so I wish the editor had chosen to mix in the heady essays rather than pack them all at the beginning because these perspectives are all important and I don’t want them to be missed.

Summary: With three focal points – ‘Who We Are’, ‘Being (Treated) Differently’, and ‘Loving Ourselves and Each Other’ – this anthology explores the intersections of transness, disability, and neurodivergence. It discusses how trans identity affects treatment and care for disabilities and vice versa, how trans, disabled, and neurodivergent identities collectively shape an individual’s relationship with their body and sense of self, the way ableism and sanism feed transphobia and transphobia feeds back into them in turn, and many other ways transness and disability impact each other. It opens the floor to varied voices and experiences exploring broad definitions of trans and disabled identity in the varied media of essays, poetry, plays, and visual art.

Reflections: As with most collections and certainly one with such variety in style and tone, this had its ups and downs. With 25 pieces (plus the introduction), there were some that I could not engage with, whether I felt the metaphors to be shoddy or the ideas underdeveloped or they just didn’t click with me. I do imagine, with the vast variations in trans and disabled experiences and even vaster and more complicated ways in which they intersect, that there is somebody who would relate to, be moved by, or learn from each piece.
To keep it simple, I’ll highlight just a few that I enjoyed:

“Plural, trans and disabled” by Meg-John Barker was one of the sections with one of the more academic lilts to it. It addressed some of the frameworks for understanding disability and its place within social justice movements. Mixing in a personal perspective, they also show how plurality opens up different viewpoints on understanding gender and the ‘self’ in its entirety.

Through the lens of hair styling “Bathroom buzz cut” by Liz Moore explores the balancing act that can come from seeking comfort with one's body as a disabled person and euphoria in one's expression as a trans person as well as assumptions that come from people seeing only pieces of the equation. Specifically, I was struck by their portrayal of the emotions around one’s abilities to self-express changing or restricting.

In the poem “Do No Harm” by Eddy Samara, Samara demonstrates how engaging with the healthcare system often leads to more instances of one’s identity being invalidated or dismissed and creates an environment where the patient's vulnerability makes asserting themself or correcting this behavior especially difficult or dangerous.

My one real disappointment with this collection is the noticeable lack of trans women contributors. I can give leniency in understanding that one short, indie anthology cannot encompass every corner of the gender spectrum or every experience of disability, but trans women are such a prominent part of the trans community that I cannot find myself extending this excuse that far. This absence might not subtract from the value or my appreciation of any piece within this collection, but to me, it does take away something from the anthology as a whole.

Trans and Disabled connects experiences across both continents of life, the interactions and multiplicities within. A great, short read that keeps you engaged.

Trans and Disabled, edited by Alex Iantaffi is a collection of essays, poetry, artwork, and other pieces by people who fall into the identities of 'trans' and 'disabled,' however each creator personally defines and experiences those terms. It is divided into three parts: "Who we are," "Being (treated) different," and "Loving Ourselves and Each Other."
These pieces are intended for and written about those who fall under the 'trans and disabled' umbrella, allowing us to feel seen, heard, loved, and in solidarity with others who can truly understand the struggles and joys of these lived experiences. This is a short book, but each piece is poignant.

However, I did not necessarily enjoy every entry. As a non-binary, disabled and neurodivergent person, I could definitely relate to a lot of the writing, and truly loved a fair few pieces and lines. But I am a young adult, and a lot of these entries are written by people who are 30-50, so a lot of the language almost seems to get lost in translation, terms that I don’t like are used and there is a lot of stereotypically queer aspects that I, as a young person, find to be what straight, abled people ridicule us for, (the usage of colour and glitter to describe queerness, assigning neo pronouns to cats, etc)

It is difficult to put a rating to real peoples' true struggles and authentic stories, so I can only offer my gratitude to and appreciation for these creators, and will be rating it highly for it’s diversity and readability. Vulnerability is something to be praised, especially in the current political climate.
Thank you for sharing your stories, and for paving the way for those to come.

It is worth a read, regardless of your gender, sexuality, ability and neurodiversity.

Thank you to Jessica Kingsley Publisher’s and Netgalley for the ARC.

This was an incredibly insightful book into those life’s of transgender and disabled, being disabled I was able to indentifiy with so many parts of it while also learning about those who are trans, 5/5 star read, I love it

Trans and disabled - both categories that are made invisible and are silenced.

An important collection of essays surrounding disability, being trans and other categories of marginalization. The authors give insight into their personal lived experiences and/or research. Even though it’s is well known that academic research is mainly white, non-disabled and cis-gendered.

Especially given the political environment (worldwide) this book should be a must read.

"Trans and Disabled" is a great anthology to present ideas of intersectionality, with a particular focus in gender and disability but also including race, class, and other minority groups. The anthology itself is as diverse as its authors, filled with fiction, non-fiction essays, and poetry, as well as art.

As someone who is also trans* and disabled, it was difficult at times to get through this book--sometimes the feelings reading created were too much, and I had to take frequent breaks. I don't think of this as a detriment, however; these raw accounts of how life is for those of us that have multiple minority divisions give us a voice, even for those who can't speak for themselves. I was an editor in college for one of my school's yearly student publications, specifically geared toward Women's and Gender Studies, and this is the kind of anthology I would have created myself.

Thank you, to both Alex Iantaffi and the contributors, as well as JKP, for presenting just a few of the many stories trans* and disabled people live every single day.

4.5 stars!

This was a really well done anthology. I loved the diverse breadth of stories within this collection, because even in something seemingly as specific as “trans and disabled”, there is still so much diversity within the community, and the authors have done a wonderful job of showcasing that. Not only was there a spread of people based on their identities, but there was a spread of emotions through the pieces. Some were very loving and comforting, some were harsh and pessimistic, and many acknowledged both sides and the many emotions that come with these identities. It was refreshing to not feel like our lived experience was being sanitized into something palatable.

Most of these essays were the perfect length, not over-staying their welcome, nor being too short. They also all held a unique voice, and touched on a unique topic. The first essay that discusses trans identity and being multiple has really stuck with me, along with the theatre piece (although that’s because I’m a theatre practitioner). This collection is great for both those who aren’t trans and/or disabled, AND those who also hold both these identities. It speaks on the authors’ experiences in a way that is eye opening to those outside, and affirming for those inside.

This is a pretty short read, with a collection of poignant and evocative poems, artwork and essays in it. I enjoyed quite a few of the works, but the inclusion of others left me scratching my head as they didn't seem well edited or clear in the message or meaning they were trying to communicate. Some of the essays read like unedited responses to a survey prompt and were not nearly as compelling as others.

Given the importance of the subject matter and the sensitivity of it, I loved the inclusion of the essays that made it into this collection and there are some real gems here, but ultimately felt that it could have been much longer and could have used some better citation and editing.