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Reimagining Success as a Disabled Achiever
by Eddie Ndopu
A memoir penned with one good finger, Ndopu writes about being profoundly disabled and profoundly successful.
Global humanitarian Eddie Ndopu was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare degenerative motor neuron disease affecting his mobility. He was told that he wouldn't live beyond age five and yet, Ndopu thrived. He grew up loving pop music, lip syncing the latest hits, and watching The Bold and the Beautiful for the haute couture, and was the only wheelchair user at his school, where he flourished academically. By his late teens, he had become a sought after speaker, travelling the world to address audiences about disability justice.
Ndopu was ecstatic when he was later accepted on a full scholarship into one of the world's most prestigious schools, Oxford University. But he soon learns that it's not just the medical community he must thwart—it's the educational one too.
In Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw, we follow Ndopu, sporting his oversized, bejewelled sunglasses, as he scales the mountain of success, only to find exclusion, discrimination, and neglect waiting for him on the other side. Like every other student, Ndopu tries to keep up appearances—dashing to and from his public policy lectures before meeting for cocktails with his squad, all while campaigning to become student body president. Privately, however, Ndopu faces obstacles that are all too familiar to people with disabilities, yet remain unnoticed by most people. With the revolving door of care aides, hefty bills, and a lack of support from the university, Ndopu feels alienated by his environment. As he soars professionally, sipping champagne with world leaders, he continues to feel the loneliness and pressure of being the only one in the room. Determined to carve out his place in the world, he must challenge bias at the highest echelons of power and prestige. But as the pressure mounts, Ndopu must find his stride or collapse under the crushing weight of ableism.
Written with his one good finger, this evocative, searing, and vulnerable prose will leave you spellbound by Ndopu's remarkable journey to reach beyond ableism, reminding us of our own capacity for resilience.
"In his sharp, illuminating debut memoir, South African disability rights advocate Ndopu chronicles his trials and triumphs as a disabled gay Black man enrolled at Oxford University...Wryly detailing the costs and complications of his attendance at Oxford, Ndopu shines a light on ableism both conscious and unconscious...This raw yet triumphant tale should be required reading." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"One of Ndopu's greatest strengths as an author is his ability to carry any reader as a collaborator and confidant without neglecting the appropriate indictments of the countless slights, assumptions, and micro- and macroaggressions that he faces. The text also serves as a powerful, personalizing context for Ndopu's advocacy work with the U.N. and other international organizations. An unflinching memoir of determined self-actualization." —Kirkus Reviews
"Written in a funny, accessible, and remarkable voice that will captivate readers, Ndopu's book will resonate with disabled and nondisabled readers alike....Sipping Dom Pérignon through a Straw is a vital window into not taking no for an answer and encourages disabled readers to pursue their dreams." —Booklist
"Sipping Dom Perignon Through a Straw is essential reading for anyone who's ever wondered how they can do right and do better by disabled people. Eddie has provided a template for allyship while remaining uncompromising in his self-worth. He is a masterful writer poised for even more great success." —Forest Whitaker
"An incredible and riveting story that leaves an indelible mark on your heart. Eddie Ndopu invites us to imagine a more audacious life—and then to live it. How lucky are we to witness this kind of genius, this kind of glamor." —Alok Vaid-Menon, author of Beyond the Gender Binary
"Eddie Ndopu is a brilliant, courageous and imaginative soul with the kind of conviction that can change the world. We will all benefit from his story." —Imani Perry, National Book Award winning author of South to America
This information about Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Described by TIME magazine as "one of the most powerful disabled people on the planet," Eddie Ndopu is an award-winning global humanitarian and social justice advocate. He serves as one of the UN Secretary-General's SDG Advocates and sits on the board of the United Nations Foundation. Ndopu has been featured in Forbes, Global Citizen, Rolling Stone, Guardian, OkayAfrica, and more. He lives in New York City.
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