All the Ways You Taught Us

In 1950, with a new PhD in theoretical physics, but no job, Mort Gordon is going blind from retinitis pigmentosa. Bernice Rubinstein, an uncommon woman with a college degree, walks with a limp from spina bifida and isn't expected to earn a living. In All the Ways You Taught Us, A Memoir of Ability, Disability and the Pursuit of Meaning, Janet Gordon chronicles the hopefulness of her parents' love story. Soon, with Bernice as his dedicated reader, Mort overcomes barriers to his...
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In 1950, with a new PhD in theoretical physics, but no job, Mort Gordon is going blind from retinitis pigmentosa. Bernice Rubinstein, an uncommon woman with a college degree, walks with a limp from spina bifida and isn't expected to earn a living. In All the Ways You Taught Us, A Memoir of Ability, Disability and the Pursuit of Meaning, Janet Gordon chronicles the hopefulness of her parents' love story. Soon, with Bernice as his dedicated reader, Mort overcomes barriers to his "decreased vision" to become a professor and design particle accelerators. Over decades, his calculations help physicists "see" atomic particles and understand the largest forces in the universe. All the Ways You Taught Us probes how Bernice and Mort succeed as parents and give the author important gifts: curiosity and the commitment to pursue meaning in literature, in Jewish culture and ritual, in science, in political action. When they can no longer manage daily activities alone, Janet moves closer- with consequences for the whole family. A memoir about the limits of simple distinctions between ability and disability, this family portrait explores what we can do for each other and what we gain from the doing.