On The Whole: A Story of Mothering and Disability

By: Ona Gritz

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Synopsis: Ona Gritz has had cerebral palsy all her life, but until she gave birth to her son, she didn&’t really understand what it meant to be disabled. Her cerebral palsy affects her coordination and balance but not enough to have ever truly hindered her. &“For the most part, I considered my disability a cosmetic issue,&” she tells us in On the Whole. &“Just how obvious is it? Do people see me as pretty despite the limp?&” But now she&’s got a new baby to care for, and no one has warned her what a physical job she has taken on. She can&’t bathe her son by herself or carry him up or down a flight of stairs. Nor can she feed herself or even open a refrigerator with a baby in her arms. And her baby will settle for nothing less than being in her arms. With lyricism and candor, poet Ona Gritz shares her son&’s first years with us, a time when she wanted nothing more than what all of us want—to be the perfect mother, only her imperfections kept getting in the way.