20 Must-Read Fiction and Nonfiction Books about the Disability Experience

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Grace Lapointe’s fabrication has been published successful Kaleidoscope, Deaf Poets Society, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, and is forthcoming successful Corporeal Lit Mag. Her essays and poesy person been published successful Wordgathering. Her stories and essays—including ones that she wrote arsenic a assemblage student—have been taught successful assemblage courses and cited successful books and dissertations. More of her enactment is astatine https://gracelapointe.wordpress.com, Medium, and Ao3.

View All posts by Grace Lapointe

As a disabled writer myself, I deliberation determination isn’t a singular disablement experience. These books are arsenic divers arsenic their authors, and each idiosyncratic has a unsocial position connected their ain disabilities. Even radical with the aforesaid disabilities person vastly antithetic opinions and experiences. I’m ever funny successful speechmaking different disabled writers. While determination are large subject fabrication and phantasy books by disabled authors, I privation to absorption this database connected fabrication and nonfiction that explores disablement successful a much realistic way.

Many of these books see circumstantial trigger warnings; for example, substance maltreatment disorder, intimate and systemic violence, suicide, surgeries and different aesculapian decisions, oregon episodes of psychosis. For respective reasons, disablement lit whitethorn incorporate words considered slurs today. Some of these were erstwhile aesculapian presumption and are presented successful their humanities context. Disabled authors whitethorn besides reclaim slurs oregon picture incidents of ableism verbatim. Many books by disabled authors creatively blur format, incorporating ocular art, diary entries, aesculapian records, oregon literate analysis.

Some authors straight admit their privilege successful their books, which mightiness see entree to acquisition oregon costly treatments. For disabled radical from the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) allowed america to entree schoolhouse and different aspects of nationalist beingness for the archetypal time. Some of these authors retrieve these civilian rights laws being passed oregon connection opinions connected ways they could beryllium updated.

Awards and Literary Journals

There are respective awards and literate journals which item disabled writers and their work. These see The Barbellion Prize, a British literate prize for disabled authors unfastened to planetary entrants. Here successful the U.S., the Schneider Family Book Award honors kids’ and YA books depicting disability.

Literary magazines by and for disabled authors and editors see Deaf Poets Society, Kaleidoscope, and Wordgathering. I’m arrogant that each 3 of these magazines person published immoderate of my work, but I don’t person immoderate fiscal stakes successful them. To marque them much accessible, Wordgathering and Deaf Poets Society person posted audio recordings of written pieces since astatine slightest 2016.

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Nonfiction

Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life By Alice Wong

Alice Wong was calved successful 1974, the Year of the Tiger successful the Chinese Zodiac. Her memoir was published successful different Year of the Tiger, 2022. In the introduction, she describes herself arsenic “a mutant from satellite Cripton,” tying her consciousness of wit unneurotic with her lifelong emotion of subject fabrication and fantasy. She particularly loves the divers worlds of Star Trek and X-Men. Born successful Indiana to Chinese migrant parents, Wong moved to California for grad school, wherever she recovered much accessibility and a larger Asian American community. In June 2023, she played a cartoon, fictionalized quality of herself connected Netflix’s bid Human Resources.

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong

This fantabulous anthology from a divers radical of disabled contributors, includes essays connected usher dogs, balancing spiritual obligations with a disability, and the marginalization of Indigenous radical successful predominantly achromatic disablement spaces. The publication centers connected topics that are inactive stigmatized oregon not discussed often, adjacent successful disabled communities, specified arsenic asexuality, incontinence, encephalon injury, and cognitive disabilities. Alice Wong founded the Disability Visibility Project. Its blog and podcast cod disabled people’s written and oral narratives.

Golem Girl by Riva Lehrer

Lehrer, an activistic and ocular artist, begins her memoir with etymologies of the connection “monster.” As a kid with spina bifida, she related to Frankenstein’s monster successful movie adaptations. Her book’s rubric comes from the story of the golem, created by a rabbi to support his congregation from persecution. The rubric ties unneurotic her individuality arsenic some Jewish and disabled. Her parent was a caregiver astatine Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, who advocated for her surgeries and medications. Lehrer attended a schoolhouse for disabled students successful the 1960s, earlier entree to nationalist schoolhouse successful the U.S. for disabled students was legally protected. As an adult, she worked arsenic a assemblage creation teacher and painted portraits of chap activists.

A Face for Picasso by Ariel Henley

The writer and her duplicate sister, Zan, were calved with Crouzon syndrome, a craniofacial condition, and had respective life-saving surgeries arsenic children. The rubric comes from a illustration of the twins arsenic children, successful which a writer wrote, “Their faces resembled the enactment of Picasso.” Henley became fascinated with Picasso’s creation and biography. The memoir discusses Western quality standards and their accent connected proportions and symmetry, marginalizing radical with facial differences. It besides follows Henley’s puerility successful California and becoming much autarkic by attending assemblage successful Vermont.

Mean Baby by Selma Blair

The rubric “mean baby” reflects however adults enforce narratives connected children, who are excessively young to modulate their emotions. Blair has had a palmy acting vocation since the 1990s, including the movies Cruel Intentions and Legally Blonde. In 2018, she was diagnosed with aggregate sclerosis. In 2019, she walked down the reddish carpet astatine the Oscars utilizing a customized cane, a infinitesimal that was meaningful to galore chap disabled people. Her 2022 memoir covers her childhood, career, and diagnosis.

Such a Pretty Girl by Nadina LaSpina

Nadina LaSpina was calved successful Sicily successful 1948 and contracted polio arsenic a child. Around property 13, she and her household immigrated to the U.S. At an NYC infirmary aft surgery, she wore a assemblage formed for astir a year. She besides utilized a wheelchair and made friends with disabilities for the archetypal time. Like galore different disabled authors, she recovered some experiences freeing. As an adult, she participated successful protests with galore chap disabled activists, which led to the transition of the ADA and its precursor, Section 504.

Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma

Disability rights advocator and lawyer Haben Girma wrote successful the instauration to her memoir: “Communities designed with conscionable 1 benignant of idiosyncratic successful caput isolate those of america defying their constrictive explanation of personhood.” She was calved successful California to Eritrean migrant parents. In 2013, she became the archetypal Deafblind postgraduate of Harvard Law School. She describes moving with her usher dog, communicating with assistive technology, and volunteering to assistance physique schools successful Mali.

The Pretty One by Keah Brown

This effort postulation is simply a superb operation of idiosyncratic reflection and popular civilization analysis. Brown explains increasing up with cerebral palsy and her relationships with her duplicate sister and adjacent friends. She analyzes her popular civilization favorites portion acknowledging however racism and ableism negatively impacted her self-image. She’s besides published fabrication books: Sam’s Super Seats is simply a representation publication illustrated by Sharee Miller and The Secret Summer Promise is simply a queer YA romance. Both books person young, Black protagonists with cerebral palsy.

Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure by Eli Clare

Cure is simply a complicated, fraught taxable successful the disabled community. Each idiosyncratic has a antithetic position connected it. This publication explores the related concepts of personhood, bodily autonomy, and consent, which systemic oppression often denies marginalized people. This publication provides humanities discourse connected the intersection of racism, anti-LGBTQIA hate, and ableism. Examples see the ableist and racist past of circus sideshows and the maltreatment of Ota Benga, a Mbuti antheral abducted and displayed successful the Bronx Zoo against his volition successful 1906.

Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann with Kristen Joiner

Judith Heumann was a lifelong activist. Her parents — some orphaned by the Holocaust — defied a doctor’s proposition to institutionalize her. Her parents advocated for her to entree school. At Camp Jened, aboriginal profiled successful the documentary Crip Camp, Huemann honed her skills arsenic an organizer and met galore different aboriginal activists. In 1970, she sued the authorities of New York and became its archetypal teacher who utilized a wheelchair. Her protests contributed to the transition of Section 504 successful the 1970s and the ADA successful 1990. She died successful 2023 astatine property 75. Being Heumann and Disability Visibility, mentioned earlier, person besides some been adapted into versions for young readers.

Sick: A Memoir by Porochista Khakpour

Born successful Tehran, Iran, Porochista Khakpour is simply a novelist and essayist. In her memoir, she describes moving crossed the U.S. and trying supplements and frustrating treatments connected the agelong travel to her late-stage Lyme illness diagnosis. She besides experienced misdiagnosis, aesculapian racism, and sexism. She describes feeling alienated from her ain body: “To find a location successful my assemblage is to archer a communicative that doesn’t exist.”

The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde

In 1980, Lorde, an activist, poet, and professor, published her relationship of surviving bosom cancer. The publication combines poesy and idiosyncratic essays with her diary entries. It explores however her diagnosis affected her individuality arsenic a Black, feminist, lesbian woman. Bodily autonomy is an important theme; for example, she discusses her idiosyncratic determination not to deterioration a bosom prosthesis aft a mastectomy. Many aboriginal examples of feminist and disablement lit would besides research these themes.

Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation by Hannah Gadsby

Like galore different authors connected this list, Gadsby describes penning a memoir arsenic a mode of regaining power implicit their ain narrative. The queer, autistic, Australian comedian is simply a versatile, award-winning performer known for their Netflix drama specials and ocular creation shows. They premix dry, self-deprecating wit and societal critiques of systemic anti-LGBTQIA bias, sexism, and ableism. Gadsby describes the toll autistic masking took connected them, particularly arsenic a teen.

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

This effort postulation incorporates diagnostic criteria, the author’s emails to her doctors, and idiosyncratic reflections. Her superior psychiatric diagnosis is schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, but arsenic the rubric suggests, diagnoses tin overlap oregon change. She acknowledges that immoderate radical find diagnoses unnecessary, but for her, they are a reminder she’s not alone. Schizophrenia has been peculiarly stigmatized passim past and described arsenic evil, witchcraft, oregon possession. In her effort “Yale Will Not Save You,” Wang describes being pushed retired of Yale owed to her intelligence illnesses successful the aboriginal 2000s. Colleges often dainty disabled students arsenic liabilities alternatively of accommodating them nether the ADA. This is particularly existent of intelligence illnesses.

Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism by Elsa Sjunneson

Sjunneson is an pedagogue and speculative fabrication writer and editor. Her debut memoir analyzes ableism successful popular civilization and however inaccurate and stereotypical portrayals impact however Deafblind radical are treated successful mundane life. At her erstwhile favourite bar, a bartender calls her usher canine a “pet” and tries to unit them some to leave, successful usurpation of the ADA. She writes that this civilian rights instrumentality from 1990 should beryllium updated. For example, it should use to online accessibility and beryllium easier to enforce.

Fiction

Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson

Johnson, who died successful 2008, was a legendary disabled lawyer and activist. After philosopher Peter Singer said parents should person the ineligible close to euthanize their disabled infants, she debated him successful person. Her 2006 YA novel’s protagonist, Jean, a teen with cerebral palsy successful 1970, has ever tried to acceptable successful with her non-disabled classmates. When she attends a campy for disabled kids, she becomes portion of a disabled assemblage for the archetypal time. Sara, a longtime camper, introduces Jean to the basics of the disablement rights movement. Sara’s “telethon to stamp retired normalcy” is an incisive satire of fundraisers that pity disabled kids. Yet Jean besides feels that Sara manipulated her chap campers into acting retired her ain ideas.

Good Kings Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum

This caller follows a radical of employees and young residents astatine a nursing location successful Illinois. The characters are diverse, some racially and successful their disabilities, and each has a chiseled communicative dependable and storyline. Joanne, an worker who was paralyzed arsenic an adult, relates to the residents and introduces them to disablement past and activism. Overcrowding and under-staffing alteration maltreatment and death. The residents recognize they tin protestation their corrupt, abusive institution. This caller won the 2012 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. The writer was besides a playwright who reworked her best-unproduced play into this novel.

True Biz by Sara Nović

Set successful a boarding schoolhouse for Deaf students, this novel’s characters see Charlie, a caller student, and February, an alumna and headmistress trying to prevention the school. It besides contains tons of inheritance connected Deaf civilization and illustrations of American Sign Language. Some of the students, similar Austin, travel from Deaf, signing families, portion Charlie comes from a proceeding family. Growing up without entree to motion connection was socially isolating for Charlie. Her communicative besides shows that galore Deaf radical don’t privation cochlear implants. In Charlie’s case, her implants are dangerous. She crews for a schoolhouse accumulation of Peter Pan and joins a diverse, rebellious radical of friends.

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp

This 2018 YA anthology is divers successful the styles and subjects of the stories and the authors’ and characters’ identities. The stories scope from subject fabrication and phantasy worlds to realistic, modern stories astir dating. These are dynamic characters, whose relationships with different characters — and with their ain disabilities — are analyzable and sometimes change.

Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester

The rubric of this YA caller has a imaginable treble meaning: taking a heavy enactment earlier anesthesia oregon earlier swimming. Veró, the protagonist, is simply a Peruvian American teen miss with hep dysplasia, who wants to enactment arsenic a performer astatine a mermaid-themed amusement park. She besides has a crush connected her neighbor. For disabled kids, scheduling surgeries tin beryllium daunting and wholly disrupt schoolhouse and different plans. This caller shows that surgeries, ableist harassment, archetypal love, and archetypal jobs person a immense interaction connected teens.

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