Book Review “Disability Etiquette” by Jane Hatton

Jane Hatton is the Founder and Director of Evenbreak, a not-for-profit social enterprise, which she founded in 2011. It is run by disabled people for disabled people. Her three aims are as follows: 1) to help companies to attract more talented disabled people. 2) To help disabled people to find job opportunities who will value their skills. 3) to promote the business benefits from employing disabled people.

Jane Hatton considers her main skills as having the gift of the gab, a determination to promote fairness, and finding great people to work for Evenbreak. Due to her degenerative spinal condition, she mostly works lying down with a laptop suspended above her. You can check out Jane Hatton’s corporate website at http://www.Evenbreak.co.uk and follow her on Twitter @Evenbreak.In this article I would like to share the 8 things that I loved about her book Disability Etiquette — Being confident around disabled people.

Jane Hatton, Founder and Director of Evenbreak

“Disability Etiquette”: 8 Things I love about it

# 1 — The cover of the book “Disability Etiquette” caught my immediate attention. I found it brilliant. Two smiling women sharing a tablet, one of them is a wheelchair-user. It sends straight away an important message: using a wheelchair doesn’t mean that a person cannot be tech savvy too.

Disability Etiquette Book by Jane Hatton

# 2 — What I loved the most about the book were the personal experiences that the author shared from her personal life. In that sense, she did not just provide a list of do’s and don’ts about this topic, but enriched it considerably with personal episodes. We all know that every book and every speech that includes stories will be perceived as so much better. The author succeeds in this regard by adding personal experiences which make the content of the book so much more interesting, educational and memorable at the same time.

# 3 — The cartoons which have been added in each chapter. An interesting and creative approach of getting the message across in a more visual, as well as memorable, way.

# 4 — “Communication” is crucial when dealing with people who have various types of disabilities. There are several practical examples that demonstrate how to get it right. Unfortunately, no school, no employer and often also parents don’t teach you this kind of stuff, so here you will get some very useful advice.

# 5 — In Chapter “Physical access” the reader will find out how disability-friendly a company is. The questions provided can be used as a checklist.

# 6 — The book covers many different types and degrees of disabilities which need to be addressed differently. Jane Hatton did a great job in telling the reader what you should say and not say, how you should act and not act on various occasions.

# 7 — Even though I know a lot about disability etiquette there were some topics which I was not familiar with. Some examples: how to deal with people with Tourette, people with short stature or people who look differently. Other topics also focused on how to cope with people who have seizures, autism spectrum disorder or learning disabilities.

# 8 — The last page provides some very useful (time-saving) resources for all those who want to learn more about it or need some further information.

My personal recommendation for the book “Disability Etiquette”

I find the book “Disability Etiquette” highly recommendable and a MUST read. I wished educational institutions as well as companies would provide training to their students and employees in this regard. It would help people to feel more confident when interacting with people with disabilities. I consider it as a life skill and would suggest that everyone should have it on their personal bookshelf. No matter what their gender, age, nationality, religion, educational background or social status is. And one more thing, isince n life you never know….. Imagine one of your close relatives or friends is suddenly affected by a disability, would it not be great knowing exactly how to deal with this new situation? Knowing how to do it in a considerate and respectful way right from the beginning, without feeling insecure or embarrassed? Knowing how to be confident around disabled people, might give you the edge that others don’t have. This book can be beneficial for your personal as well as professional life! — Karin Schroeck-Singh

Title: “Disability Etiquette — Being Confident around disabled people”

Book Author: Jane Hatton

Illustrations by Dave Lupton (also known as “Crippen”)

Year of Publication: October 2013

Number of pages: 45

Format: Kindle Edition, 1400 KB

Publisher: HLS Publishing Solutions

Price: $8.27 at Amazon (Kindle), Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more

Content:

Introduction

The Basics

Terminology

Physical Access

Attitudinal Barriers

Communication

What NOT to say to disabled people

Being helpful to disabled people

Engaging with people with sensory impairments

Helping people with visible impairments

Helping people with hidden impairments

Further information

If you know someone who could also benefit from this book, please feel free to recommend it. Thanks for spreading the word about it!