‘Urgent and beautiful, this book shows how our treatment of disability mirrors our treatment of nature. Essential reading’ ― Katherine May, author of Wintering
‘A passionate call for an inclusive countryside – nature for all and all for nature’ ― Jack Cornish, author of The Lost Paths
Since childhood, Bethany Handley has always felt most at home out in the wilds of the Welsh countryside. This all changed when Bethany became a full-time wheelchair user in her twenties and suddenly found herself padlocked out of the landscapes she belonged to.
Today, nearly one in four people are Disabled in the UK. Yet, public rights of way are blocked in 32,000 places across England and Wales. My Body is a Meadow writes into this troubling landscape, delivering a galvanising call for us to rethink how we live among nature and each other.
Join Bethany as she wheels through the British countryside exploring ableism, climate justice and what nature means to her. On this journey we discover the feral boar of the Forest of Dean; how the metal and rubber of a wheelchair can become just as much a part of your body as skin and bone; why swifts rarely land and how maps tell a story of exclusion. Exploring how land ownership, privatised healthcare, biodiversity loss and social marginalisation intertwine, Bethany shows why we must learn from nature’s model of shared survival – and urges us to work together to make it open for all.
‘A change making book’ ― Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean
‘A stunning exploration of longing for freedom, finding a home in your body and walking your own path in life’ ― Pippa Stacey, author of How to Do Life with a Chronic Illness
‘A passionate call for an inclusive countryside – nature for all and all for nature’ ― Jack Cornish, author of The Lost Paths
Since childhood, Bethany Handley has always felt most at home out in the wilds of the Welsh countryside. This all changed when Bethany became a full-time wheelchair user in her twenties and suddenly found herself padlocked out of the landscapes she belonged to.
Today, nearly one in four people are Disabled in the UK. Yet, public rights of way are blocked in 32,000 places across England and Wales. My Body is a Meadow writes into this troubling landscape, delivering a galvanising call for us to rethink how we live among nature and each other.
Join Bethany as she wheels through the British countryside exploring ableism, climate justice and what nature means to her. On this journey we discover the feral boar of the Forest of Dean; how the metal and rubber of a wheelchair can become just as much a part of your body as skin and bone; why swifts rarely land and how maps tell a story of exclusion. Exploring how land ownership, privatised healthcare, biodiversity loss and social marginalisation intertwine, Bethany shows why we must learn from nature’s model of shared survival – and urges us to work together to make it open for all.
‘A change making book’ ― Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean
‘A stunning exploration of longing for freedom, finding a home in your body and walking your own path in life’ ― Pippa Stacey, author of How to Do Life with a Chronic Illness
Reviews
A painfully honest assessment of how the damage done to Disabled people mirrors that being done to the environment, the barriers both encounter and in turn how these barriers could be overcome
Handley is a natural storyteller whose writing bursts with vitality and beauty. My Body is a Meadow is essential reading. A passionate call for an inclusive countryside - nature for all and all for nature
Urgent and beautiful, this book shows how our treatment of disability mirrors our treatment of nature. Essential reading
In My Body is a Meadow, Bethany Handley guides us through the wilder places of Cymru while vividly describing how inaccessible they remain to Disabled people. My Body is a Meadow moves through rage, laughter, grief and joy and makes it resoundingly clear that access to the outdoors must mean access for all. With a poet's skill and a naturalist's understanding, Bethany Handley celebrates the way in which disability can deepen a connection with nature and leaves us in no doubt that ecocide and societal violence towards marginalised people have the same root cause. Bethany Handley's writing is a blast of fresh air in the world of nature writing and My Body is a Meadow is a change making book
An important, perspective-shifting book which made me think about access and our relationship to the natural world anew. Handley's writing challenges and interrogates the status quo, and comes from a place of deep connection and love for nature
A stunning exploration of longing for freedom, finding a home in your body and walking your own path in life even when physical and social barriers can make it seem like an impossible feat. Handley's writing powerfully dismantles the idea that interdependence is something we should fear, and instead shows us how the human condition is intertwined with the natural world and reflects its own fight for survival during these pivotal years
Part memoir, part manifesto, part social and natural history of land access and disability, My Body Is A Meadow is an essential celebration of interdependence and interconnectedness. Beautiful, informative and urgent, this is a book that should change conversation and possibilities both for nature and for humans, and how we live together and care for each other in a more just world.
Important, inclusive, and beautifully written, this memoir details the life of a Disabled writer as she explores the links between disability and nature