Celebrate Disability Pride Month
Disability Pride Month celebrates the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in July of 1990. The celebration honors achievements in disability visibility and culture, while recognizing the ongoing need for comprehensive support and progress.
Purchasing and discussing Disability Pride Month books featuring characters with disabilities are important! Even if you don’t identify as a member of the disability community, throw your support – emotional and financial— behind books that help challenge the negative stereotypes that still hamper full inclusion.
Such a Pretty Girl: A Story of Struggle, Empowerment, and Disability Pride
by Nadina Laspina
A memoir by a disability rights activist
Nadina contracted polio as a child in her native Italy. As a result of her family’s move to America and access to advanced medical care, Nadina spent a good portion of her life in hospitals. She felt that her body no longer belonged to her. She took her anger and channeled it into activism in the disability rights movement.
This is a journey to find one’s way in an ableist world where disability is often processed only through negative terms. Nadina not only defies those stereotypes, she shows how society’s focus on a “cure” to “fix” disabilities is a form of prejudice. She does not need anyone’s pity.
Nadina grows into a rebellious activist fighting against exclusion to appreciation for disability arts and culture. Don’t miss this intimate book, one of the first memoirs by an immigrant to focus on activism in America.
A Room Called Earth
by Madeleine Ryan
"A resolute deep dive into an inner self, a transcendent character study, and a timely reminder that there's an entire universe inside of everyone we meet. You will be moved." --Matthew Quick, New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook
A young woman is getting dressed for a party. It promises to be an ordinary night to most people, which means it will be extraordinary for our narrator.
She wants to say so much but struggles to sort through thoughts and feelings in real time, during an actual conversation. When she meets someone and experiences genuine romantic connection, she feels that it simply a miracle. She invites him home. Maybe not such an ordinary night after all!
Author Madeleine Ryan was in the process of writing this very book when she herself was diagnosed as an adult with autism. She learned as much about herself during the development of this novel as our narrator learns about herself!
Me Before You
by Jojo Moyes
USA Today's top 100 books to read while stuck at home social distancing
This book, more than any other in the recent past, did SO MUCH to raise awareness by putting a wheelchair bound rich boy front and center. The movie starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin as Will, a jet-setting world traveler who was left paralyzed after a terrible accident, sent the story into the stratosphere, so we had to include it here.
Louisa has never left her tiny village. She loves her life there! Steady boyfriend, supportive family…why would she ever leave? Her world is expanded when she becomes a carer for a wealthy man who cannot see a future from his wheelchair. Louisa won’t treat him with kid gloves, and as the two forge an authentic relationship that results with the pair falling for each other. This heartbreaking book showcases physical and emotional struggles but also dives into topics like consent and bodily autonomy in a wrenching way.
Sick Kids in Love
by Amy Melissa Bentley - Hannah Moskowitz
Isabel has one rule: no dating. It's easier--it's safer--it's better--for the other person. She's got issues. She's got secrets. She's got rheumatoid arthritis. But then she meets another sick kid. He's got a chronic illness Isabel's never heard of, something she can't even pronounce. He understands what it means to be sick. He understands her more than her healthy friends. He understands her more than her own father, who's a doctor. He's gorgeous, fun, and foul-mouthed. And totally into her. Isabel has one rule: no dating. It's complicated--it's dangerous--it's never felt better--to consider breaking that rule for him.
Isabel has one rule: no dating. Isabel also has a secret: she has rheumatoid arthritis. But when she meets a gorgeous, foul-mouthed boy that has a chronic illness that she’s never even heard of, Isabel realizes that love and romance are, in fact, for her. She breaks her rule, and things start to get complicated.
This was written for YA readers, but the story and message are so nuanced and lovely. If you are a fan of John Green, don’t miss this one!
Fortune Favors the Dead: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery
by Stephen Spotswood
Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw: Reimagining Success as a Disabled Achiever by Eddie Ndopu
Globally active humanitarian Eddie Ndopu wrote this memoir using his one good finger! He was born with a rare degenerative disease that targets mobility. His parents were told that
He wouldn’t live beyond the age of five. But instead, he became a popular speaker, traveling the world to talk about equality, equity, and disability justice.
Ndopu was accepted on a full scholarship to Oxford University. But he soon realizes that it isn’t just the medical community that underestimates him. The academic community underestimates him as well, and he spends his educational journey sipping champagne (yes, through a straw) with world leaders while feeling alienated by the lack of support, visibility, and access for people with disabilities at Oxford. He is determined to forge a path forward, so through the mounting pressure, Ndopu must adapt to situations that should adapt to him.
Thank goodness that, thanks to audiobooks and other advances, reading Disability Pride Month books are available to everyone. There are a lot of books on this topic, so don’t stop when our list does!