Accidents of Nature -- Harriet McBryde Johnson

1970.  North Carolina.  August.

17-year-old Jean has always considered herself to be part of the regular world.  Though she has cerebral palsy and has to use a wheelchair to get around, she goes to normal school -- as her father says, "With honors, I might add.  Beta Club.  Key Club ... perfect attendance for seven years in a row" -- and has a group of normal friends.  While she's participated in lots of telethons, she's never really known anyone else who's disabled.

Her ten days at Camp Courage change everything.  There, she meets the brilliant and angry Sara*:

"Therapists, teachers, relatives--everyone--they all think walking is such a wonderful thing.  And we don't question that.  We believe it must be worthwhile, or they wouldn't torture us for it.  And then, finally, you get up on your feet, take a few halting steps--pardon me, I mean courageous and determined steps--and the cameras flash, and everyone's inspired.  But then you find out walking is a lousy way to move from place to place.  And as you get bigger, it's worse.  When you fall down, you have farther to go.  When you start to think for yourself, you realize a wheelchair is a better way to get where you're going."

Super-fantastic.  Funny, harsh and honest, all at once. 

Here's an example:  A well-meaning Youth Chorale goes to Camp Courage to give the campers an evening concert.  So what do they sing?  What song do they choose to sing to this group of people, many of them who are in wheelchairs for life?  Yep.  You've got it.

Rogers and Hammerstein's You'll Never Walk Alone.

The irony is lost on the Youth Chorale.  And that pales in comparison to the bizarre and horrifying behavior of the camp counselors at the camp dance.  (A bit more about that in the comments, for anyone who has already read the book.)

It's far more than the coming-of-age story of a disabled teen.  It also deals with gender, with race, with sexuality, and more than anything else, with power.  I'll be recommending it all over the library.

*Who, judging from this article, is quite a lot like the author.