A World Without Martha: A Memoir of Sisters, Disability, and Difference explores the hidden cost of institutionalizing children with intellectual disabilities in mid-20th-century Canada. In the 1960s, following medical advice and social norms, a young family in Ontario sends their two-year-old daughter Martha to a distant, overcrowded institution.
Her older sister Victoria grows up in a home marked by Martha's absence and by a society that excludes and dehumanizes people with disabilities. As she matures, she begins to question the beliefs, policies, and fears that shaped her parents' decisions and her own understanding of what it means to live a "normal" life.
This frank and emotionally layered memoir traces a family's long journey through guilt, grief, loyalty, and love. It also follows the broader shift in attitudes toward disability and difference, as new possibilities for community, inclusion, healing, and self-discovery slowly emerge.
Inside this memoir
- First-hand account of institutionalization in 1960s Ontario
- Reflection on disability, family bonds, and social stigma
- Insight into changing policies and ideas about inclusion
- A nuanced portrait of trauma, resilience, and long-term healing
