Simon, Rachel, Riding the Bus with my Sister: A True Life Journey (Tenth Anniversary Edition). New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2013, 978-1-4555-2616-1.
Review by Tim Vermande.

This year has seen a burst of books about disabilities. Some are academic texts, but many are narratives of life experiences. One of these narratives is an anniversary edition of Rachel Simon's Riding the Bus with my Sister: A True Life Journey. Ten years ago, it was a ground-breaking book, a real-life portrait of a person and family living with a disability. It soon became a movie. Although romanticized, the movie also carried home points about difference, exclusion, and the joy of finding oneself.

The story line of Riding the Bus with my Sister is simple enough: author Rachel decides, over the course of a year, to visit her sister Beth once a month and spend time with her. Beth lives with a developmental disability and is several hours away by car. Although Beth has held jobs from time to time, she spends most of her days riding the local bus system, talking with the drivers and anyone else who will join the conversation. As Rachel joins with Beth, she learns about Beth's life, and recalls incidents from their lives as children, which focus on Beth's diagnosis and family struggles that include keeping Beth as a member, even as the family falls apart and finds itself again.

As we move through the story, we come to realize that Beth is among the first to fulfill the ideals of the independent living movement. Her life is the story of change. In the original book, Beth was "retarded." These words remain in the new edition, in part to show us how things have changed. And it's not just Beth who changes; as Rachel joins in this life, she learns to open herself to others. This isn't "inspiration porn," as some disability activists refer to syrupy stories of learning to love God. It's gritty, in-your-teeth real life, and it brings up many questions. Like the book of Ruth, God is behind the scenes, prodding us to move ahead toward love, patiently awaiting the time when we will join the journey.

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1 May 2013