Where Do You See Yourself, by Claire Forrest

Effie wishes that the world would see her as the capable young woman that she feels she is.  But as the girl in the wheelchair she finds she has to fight for just about everything that comes easily to others.  From teachers to her parents, no one seems to expect much from her and she finds her wishes written off.  And that includes where she'll go to school.

When she graduates, her parents expect her to go to college somewhere nearby, but Effie has her eye on a mass media program in New York City.  Life in NYC will be challenging for a person in a wheelchair and her parents try to discourage her.  So to prove that she can handle it, she takes some brave steps to stand up for herself at her high school.  And when that goes well, her parents relent.  But when she gets to New York on a school visit, she's disappointed to find that the same old struggles for accommodation await her there.

Effie is a protagonist with an exciting voice and interesting insights on being a teen with a disability.  There's a lot of serious matters discussed here, but Effie approaches them with strength and a sense of humor that makes her a real winner to the reader.  In a time when caring for the needs of others has become so politically charged, having a bit of a grounding here is good for the soul.  And it's a beautiful story about finding out what is important in one's life and becoming the things that you want.