Opinions on Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern (2014)

I knew that eventually I had to say something about Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern, because I am outraged. The story follows Amy, and seventeen year old who has Cerebral Palsy, and on a quest to make friends, hires students to be her caretaker for the day. I think the story wouldn’t have really bothered me if I was able-bodied, but I have Cerebral Palsy, and could not stand how warped Cammie McGovern made my life out to be. Not only is McGovern completely able-bodied, she thinks that because she’s worked  with “special needs”, she has an automatic pass to write from the perspective of and represent people with Cerebral Palsy. Let me tell you Cammie McGovern: YOU do not represent me, nor do I want you to.

In the premise itself, I have a major problem. It’s horrendously non-realistic to paint a situation that a person with a CP doesn’t have friends, and furthermore needs to bribe people with community service hours to be friends. This storyline is continuing something I call glorifying average people for doing anything for the non average. Basically, it’s saying the someone deserves reward for hanging out with someone with a disability. Not only does giving a reward or bribe make the person who’s getting the reward feel superior, it creates the stereotype that a person with a disability is so unlikable that there’s no way someone should hangout with them without reward. Also, by making them specifically be her caretaker, it assumes the role that their “friendship” is all about her disability, instead of putting in on the back-burner. This statement is especially hurtful to people like me, because it’s already a stereotype that someone’s disability completely defines them, which translates into a friendship. If someone who is thinking about becoming my friend reads this book, it only encourages any fear they have of accidently becoming my caretaker.

My second problem with this book I didn’t even realize was a problem until I started reading reviews on Say What You Will. I began to read an overwhelming opinion that Amy was selfish, simply because she cared about herself, and put herself first in the situation. There was especially criticism when she did the with, Matt, who was her main student caretaker. It seemed that the people who were reviewing this book thought that because that she owed loyalty and overwhelming gratitude to the people who helped her. I’ll tell you right now: it’s depressing to know that you need a caretaker to get through the day. But honestly, I don’t think I, or anyone else, owes a caretaker. A caretaker is getting paid, in this case with volunteer hours, and for that reason alone, I don’t owe a caretaker anything, because you know, she/he’s benefiting off of my struggle. Now, don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate you helping me out, but that doesn’t mean that I then have to overly nice to you for the rest of my life. I’m sorry if I’ve hurted you for whatever reason, but just because you’ve helped doesn’t mean I owe you anything.

My favorite topic while discussing disability is dating and sex, simply because I think that a lot of people assume that people with disability don’t do either of those two (which we do). So, when I realized this dealt with both of those topics, I was pretty excited. However, like all other aspects of this book, I was pretty disappointed, mainly with how Amy’s first sexual experience was portrayed as. Basically, she gets pregnant. At first, I thought it was actually cool that McGovern put Amy in this situation, because it was putting Amy in any girl’s situation. However, this is one of the only books that I’ve ever came across that’s told from the point of view of someone with Cerebral Palsy, especially dealing with sex, so anything she says about the topic becomes a pretty big statement. Since getting pregnant is usually seen as something as negative, Amy’s story has the potential of becoming an unnecessary stereotype, basically claiming that if you have sex with someone with Cerebral Palsy, something will go wrong.

Lastly, as I’ve stated before, McGovern doesn’t even have a disability, let alone Cerebral Palsy. Rather, she is has worked with people with “special needs” (literally the most condescending term) as her bio says, along with a son who has autism. So she must know what it’s like to live with a disability right? So, so wrong. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone who knows someone with a disability think they know what it’s like to actually live with a disability. In reality, they know of the struggles of someone with a disability, but not the struggles of the actual disability. This goes for any situation. If McGovern really wanted to put her personal “knowledge” of disability in story, she should've written from the perspective of a person who has a loved one who has a disability, a position she can actually relate to.

Again, because this is one of the only books published about a teenage girl living with CP, every situation Amy is in has the potential of making a statement about my community. Unfortunately, as I’ve seen in many reviews, this story made the wrong impression, and will probably end up affecting how people see me. I need my voice to be heard, but I need it to be heard from me, not someone who has no idea about what I’m going through.