Book Out of My Past - Poster Child - Emily Rapp

At the end of Emily Rapp’s memoir Poster Child, thethe author writes of her participation in an international conference to address the needs of disabled women throughout the world.   Emily was born with a congenital bone-and-tissue disorder that would eventually force doctors to amputate one of her legs just below the hip.  She’s sitting at a table with six other disabled women when she is handed a piece of butcher paper and asked to illustrate a timeline of her life. By this time in the book, we know about Emily’s childhood and her religious background.  We know of her inner strength that drove her to overcome any obstacles that ever got in her way. 

When she draws herself on the paper, we see her in front of a mirror without any legs.  She’s devoted her life to holding her head high.  Emily Rapp is the “Poster Child.”  When she was six years old, the March of Dimes put her image on their posters and calendars.  She would proudly proclaim to her audience, “I might have one leg, but I’m not disabled.”

Poster Child is a portrait of courage. Emily Rapp tells us of things we areafraid to know.  When I first read her, I learned of the smell of her stump.  She was traveling through Africa, and at night she would have to take her leg off to rest.  She couldn’t handle the odor of burning rubber and stale sweat.  In Poster Child, she describes  her operations and challenges with intimate detail.  She grew up and grew out of one prosthesis after another.  The sockets were too tight.  The legs too short.   As normal as she tried to become, she often bled with the friction of movement.  Much of her childhood was spent hopping one-footed around various medical centers while doctors disappeared with her leg.   Much of her teen years were spent assembling her leg and her spirit to cope with her changing body.  In more than a few chapters, Emily shares her fear and apprehension of her first sexual encounters.  I mean, she is a “poster child.”  Very attractive, but is there a man out there that wants to sleep with a disabled woman.  Will she leave the leg on, or take it off?

I thought it was pretty cool that Emily worked her way towards the international conference at the end of her memoir, as if she was writing a mystery, and the conference would reveal the truth.   By this time we know two things: one, Emily is a very intelligent and determined young woman; and two, this book isn’t all about her.   Somewhere along the way, she has decided to stop hiding her disability but share it with others to set them free.