Title: Able: Gold Medals, Grand Slams & Smashing Glass Ceilings
Author: Dylan Alcott
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Australian authors, Biographies, Disability, Sport
Pace: Slow
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2018

I added this to my shelves on a bit of a whim and because it was an Australian author on Kobo Plus. But man, did I not want to put this down! The first chapter was admittedly really difficult to read and had me in tears a few times. I’m a mother and I can’t imagine watching my newborn go through the medical difficulties that Alcott faced from the very beginning of life. But, once I overcame that emotionally fraught hurdle, I did not want to put this down. Alcott’s passion and drive made me feel a little like a lump to be honest, but I loved the way they leapt of the page and made me feel inspired.

Even though I found reading about the start of Dylan’s life to be really difficult. I found it difficult as a mother of two and wondering how I would’ve handled this situation. Even though Dylan is disabled, there was no point in this entire biography that I felt pity for him. He writes with such love and a sparkling joy of life that pity or any kind of negative feeling is the furthest thing from my mind. That’s not to say that he doesn’t highlight the different restrictions and difficulties he’s had to face due to society, a lack of access and just all round ignorance, but there was no negative emotions leaping off the page at me, so how could I feel them whilst reading about his journey?

Admittedly, I know pretty much nothing about basketball or tennis. I have a rough idea of how they are each played, but honestly, no idea whatsoever of how tennis is even scored. It did make parts of this a little more difficult to read, because I wasn’t really sure the importance of some of Alcott’s tennis scores. But I did understand that it was impressive. I also very quickly understood the depth of dedication and joy that Dylan is able to feel from playing these sports. The fact that he is one of the few dedicated and skilled enough to be a multi-sport Paraolympic gold medalist. That is an accomplishment that I both admire and can’t even fathom.

Through all of Dylan’s accomplishments and adventures (like wheelchair crowd surfing), Dylan is constantly and actively promoting the normalisation of disabilities and celebrating our differences. Rather than always highlighting the limitations that being Differently Abled can place upon a person, he promotes the ways in which people can live their best lives. Even though Alcott is constantly highlighting his love for his life and his self, he also constantly talks about the journey that he had to go on to love himself. Everybody has a hard road at times in loving and accepting themselves, and it was nice to read about how someone else negotiated this in their own lives.

Image source: Booktopia