Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation

Unless disability and animal justice are incorporated into our other movements for liberation, ableism and anthropocentrism will be left unchallenged, available for use by systems of domination and oppression.

Sunaura Taylor is an American painter, writer and activist, both in the fields of disability and of animal rights. She was born with arthrogryposis, a disability that affects her articulations (and doesn’t keep her from being a painter, writer and activist, quite the contrary!)

In this book, she shows us readers the parallels between speciesism and ableism, the similarities to be found between humans who consider animals to be worthless and able-bodied people who consider disabled people the same way. She argues that the two movements, animal liberation and disability rights, are intrinsically connected and have to move forward together. One cannot ignore the other to make its own advances, and vice versa.

While I am also an animal lover (to a lesser extent than her though—for one thing, I’m not a vegan) as well as disabled, I was not entirely sold on the idea that the two movements are, in the way she describes it, one and the same. However, I did enjoy the book (although it was difficult to read at times, as someone who does not enjoy seeing or reading about animal suffering) and learned many interesting things. Would I recommend it to others? If you’re interested in the topics, go ahead, but I won’t say it’s an essential read.