Roll With It

“When Mom still hasn’t come in by the credits, I push back from the table and roll into the hallway.”

This is the first description provided by Sumner of Ellie’s disability. Readers have hitherto been introduced to several other elements of Ellie’s character, so her disability has not been placed at the forefront of her characterization. This shows the author’s recognition that individuals with disabilities are individuals first, a point that Ellie Cowan frequently addresses throughout the novel.

“I very slowly pour it down the sink. The purple finds the drain in a thick swirl. Twice a day since I was six. Twice a day Mom had to use the dropper to feed me these antiseizure meds like a baby bird. But after today’s all clear, never again.”

Immersing readers in colorful, tangible imagery, Sumner displays what it is like to use medication long-term—in this case, seizure medication. It is a moment of relief and victory.

“I look down at my chair. That’s the first thing people see anyway. I had a pink sparkly one when I was little. But this one’s black with purple racing stripes I stuck on to jazz it up. There’s really not much in between – you get either My Little Pony or the kind you see old people wheeled around in at the airport.”

This quote establishes the awareness that Ellie has about her disability, which is that people most often see the wheelchair before they see her. She provides imagery here of her wheelchair, black with purple stripes, which is juxtaposed with the childhood image of a “pink sparkly” scheme. The colors exemplify the Common Challenges Faced by People With a Disability: Ellie is coming-of-age as an adolescent when the representations of disability around her do not account for this transitional period.