Book Review: Career Success of Disabled High-flyers

The title of this should really be Career Success of Physically
Disabled High-flyers. In it, Sonali Shah examines the factors
that have influenced 31 physically disabled people who have
achieved success, either politically, financially, artistically or
academically, writes Simon Heng.

Reporting their personal experiences, views and reflections, this
is primarily aimed at inspiring disabled people who want to become
high-flyers.

By examining subjective factors like ambition (determination,
response to disability and personal definitions of success)
alongside objective measures (educational achievement, social
status and financial success), Shah provides a useful framework for
us to look at how all disabled people can be integrated into
mainstream society.

Many of the stories are about struggles with adversity, either with
disability or institutional discrimination, but my overall
impression was of people who had confidence in their abilities, who
had set themselves high but realistic targets, and had worked hard
to achieve them.

Instructive for anyone who works with disabled people in education,
employment and society in general, this book is a thorough piece of
social research. Although this makes for heavy reading, the book is
both thought-provoking and inspirational.

Simon Heng is physically disabled, works on service user
issues and writes for Community
Care