Happy Disability Pride Month! To celebrate, I wanted to create a list of books with disability representation so everyone can diversify their reading. I encourage everyone to pick up at least one of these books this July!
Looking for specific representation? Ctrl-F this page and search for it!
Disclaimers:
I am currently unable to mark whether the author is disabled due to my own limitations and also not wanting to define whether an author is disabled or not if they don’t post about it publicly.
Please look up the trigger warnings and content of books before you read them! Some of these books are dark, have high spice levels, etc. While I cannot currently sort the books into subgenre, I hope to do so at some point.
Everything on this list was either something I have read, or it was recommended to me by someone on Threads or in my editing groups.
I am also unable to personally read and vet every single one of these books. If there is harmful representation, please let me know so I can correct this post. Thank you!
Click these to fast-track to what you're looking for!
Want to work with me? More information can be found here:
Nonfiction:
Being Heumann by Judith Heumann
Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Different, Not Less: A neurodivergent's guide to embracing your true self and finding your happily ever after by Chloé Hayden
Disability Visibility edited by Alice Wong
How to be Sick by Toni Bernhard
Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price
Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig
The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang
The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Songs, and Mourning Notes by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness by Meghan O’Rourke
The Long Covid Survival Guide: How to Take Care of Yourself and What Comes Next, edited by Fiona Lowenstein
The Pretty One by Keah Brown
What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt by Tessa Miller
Fiction:
A Daughter of the Trolls by McKenzie Catron
Wheelchair user
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
Synesthesia
A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
Anxiety, chronic migraine
A Smile in a Whisper by Jacquelyn Middleton
Chron's disease, anxiety
Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
Autism
All the Right Reasons by Bethany Mangle
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
Arcadia Project Trilogy by Mishell Baker
Prosthetic limbs, borderline personality disorder
Back to Me by Katie Duggan (releases in September)
Type 1 diabetes, ADHD, depression
Beautiful Malady by Ennis Rook Bashe
Chronic pain
Behind Closed Doors by B A Paris
Down's syndrome
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Blind main character
Bladesmith Duology by Tricia Levenseller
Anxiety
Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester
Hip dysplasia
Business Casual by B.K. Borison
Migraines
Chaos & Flame by Tessa Gratton & Justina Ireland
Visual disability
Downpour by Maggie Gates
Wheelchair user
Finding Home by Melissa Whitney
PTSD (releases July 2nd)
First Earth Series by Cami Murdock Jensen
Chronic pain, series was inspired by the author’s daughter who has POTS
Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood
Multiple sclerosis
From the Start by Katie Duggan
Autism, PTSD
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Chronic pain
Gilded Blood series by Rachel Rener
Undisclosed neurodivergence (new release!)
Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
Amputation, deaf character
His Tesoro by Emilia Rossi
Ehlors-Danlos syndrome
History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera
OCD
How to Climb the Eiffel Tower by Elizabeth Hein
Cancer
How to Dance by Jason B. Dutton
Walker user
In the Hello and in the Goodbye by Melissa Whitney
Autism
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Chronic pain, PTSD
Just a Pinch of Magic by Alechia Dow
Borderline personality disorder
Life After Death by S.C. Muir
PCOS, endometriosis
Lilies and Anxieties by Anik Bellefleur
Agoraphobia
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Type 1 diabetes
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Series by Rick Riordan
Deaf character (and his friends learn sign language!), dyslexia
My Heart to Find by Elin Annalise
Lyme disease, encephalitis-induced OCD
Never the Wind by Francesco Dimitri
Blind character
Once Upon a Time, a Sparrow by Mary Avery Kabrich
Dyslexia
One Two Three by Laurie Frankel
Autism, AAC device, wheelchair user
On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis
Autism
Perfect Imperfections by Mariah Ankenman
OCD
Please Read This Leaflet Carefully: Keep This Leaflet. You May Need to Read It Again by Karen Havelin
Endometriosis, chronic pain
Puppy Love by Elle Sprinkle
OCD, anxiety, adjustment disorder, service dog
Ravenswood Series by Talia Hibbert
Autism, depression, anxiety, anger
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Cane user
Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner
Asthma
Strike the Zither by Joan He
Chronic illness
Taxonomy of Love by Rachael Allen
Tourette syndrome
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Depression
The Fall of Whit Rivera by Crystal Maldonado
PCOS
The Falls Mysteries Trilogy by J.E. Barnard
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)
The Gentleman by Dianna Roman
OCD
The Girl in Question by Tess Sharpe
Endometriosis
The Girl Who Wasn't There by Penny Joelson
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Autism
The Long Way To a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Autism, dwarfism, and prosthesis
The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)
The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison
Muscular dystrophy
The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani
Chronic pain, limp
The Thirteenth Hour by Trudie Skies
Arthritis, asthma, chronic pain, PTSD
The Unbroken by CL Clark
Cane user
To Catch a Firefly by Emmy Sanders
Autism, situational mutism
To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
Selective mutism, autism
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
Deaf character
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
OCD
Unseelie by Ivelisse Housman
Autism
Unsteady by Peyton Corinne
Anxiety, PTSD
Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliott McLemore
Chronic pain
Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Depression
Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest
Cerebral palsy, wheelchair user
You, Me, and Our Heartstrings by Melissa See
Cerebral palsy
For Children:
The Pixie Series by Joan Didion
Mission Inclusion Series by Megan Craft
And that's all I have for now!
I hope you find enjoyment and feel seen from these books. I hope to update this list continually, so check back often to find more representation!
Are you an author? Contact me to have your book put on this list!
I also offer sensitivity/authenticity reading services as a disabled woman. More information about booking with me:
Thank you for reading and, again, Happy Disability Pride Month!
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