Americans celebrate Disability Pride Month each July, commemorating the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990.
The road to enacting the ADA was a long one, including the 1988 Gallaudet University student week-long “Deaf President” protests and the 1990 “Capitol Climb,” in which Americans with physical disabilities crawled up the Capitol steps without mobility aids to demonstrate the impact of inaccessible buildings. 34 years after this landmark civil rights law was passed, the fight for disability rights continues.
Books about people with disabilities
In books, representation matters. Seeing characters who have the same disability as you can be empowering. For able-bodied readers, July is a great time to learn. Whatever your genre, here are 10 books to read during Disability Pride Month.
“True Biz” by Sarah Novich
True Biz follows the story of first love, loss, and injustice for the principal and students of River Valley School for the Deaf. It tells the story of three main characters and several supporting characters who have different relationships with sign language and deaf culture from different perspectives. Charlie, the rebellious new student, has never met a deaf person before. Austin is the king of the campus and is the fifth generation deaf. Principal February is a CODA (child of a deaf person) trying to keep the school afloat and her marriage afloat. This book is easy to read and immersive, with ASL instructional lessons at the end of most chapters.
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Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Talia Hibbert’s Brown Sisters trilogy all feature disabled characters. The protagonist of “Get a Life, Chloe Brown” is a chronically ill computer geek with a mission of rebellion and a checklist for success. The perfect person to achieve this goal is Redford “Red” Morgan, a tattooed, motorcycle-riding handyman by day and artist by night.
“Take a Hint, Dani Brown” is an equally charming romantic comedy about fake dating, with the protagonist Dani also suffering from anxiety, and “Live Your Age, Eve Brown” features several characters on the autism spectrum.
Making Disability Visible, edited by Alice Wong
This collection of contemporary essays by disabled writers is edited by Alice Wong, disability activist and founder of the Disability Visibility Project. Each piece highlights the complexity and diversity of the disabled experience and celebrates 21st century disability culture.
Out On a Limb by Hannah Bonham Young
Both protagonists in this contemporary romance are disabled. In “Out On a Limb,” fiercely independent Winifred “Win” McNulty accidentally becomes pregnant after a one-night stand with charming stranger Beau – and isn’t sure it’s a problem she should deal with on her own. When Beau unexpectedly addresses the issue, the two decide to get to know each other as friends, but will it develop into something more?
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
In Seven Days in June, two accomplished writers meet by chance at a New York black literary panel, 20 years after a week of mad, teenage romance. Over the next seven days, Eva and Shane reunite and retell the passionate romance of their youth. But can Eva trust the man who once broke her heart?
Tia Williams’ contemporary romance explores modern motherhood, chronic pain, and the romance of starting over.
“The Turtles All the Way Down” by John Green
“Turtles All the Way Down” tells the story of teenage best friends Aza and Daisy as they search for a fugitive billionaire with a $100,000 bounty on his head. Their first step is to reunite with the billionaire’s son, Davis.
But while Aza tries to play detective, she also juggles being a good daughter, friend and student, among other things, all while dealing with the overwhelming whirlwind of thoughts that come with living with anxiety and OCD.
Cemetary Boys by Aiden Thomas
This young adult novel follows a transgender teenager named Yadriel, whose family won’t accept him for who he is, much less allow him to perform the family ritual that will send his soul safely to the next life. He decides to take matters into his own hands and prove himself by finding the ghost of his murdered cousin. However, the ghost he actually summons is Julian Diaz, a delinquent classmate who refuses to die quietly without knowing what happened to him.
In this fantasy and science fiction novel, one of the characters suffers from ADHD.
“Two Wrongdoings Make One Right” by Chloe Liese
After a terrible first meeting and failed date, Jamie and Bea conclude that they just aren’t compatible with each other. They decide to have a fake relationship (complete with a dramatic break-up) to get back at their meddling friends. This romantic comedy is a reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” with fake dates, revenge plots and an unexpected romance at its heart. “Two Wrong Turns” explores both autism and anxiety.
SK Ali’s “Love from A to Z”
In this young adult novel, the protagonist Zayneb stands up to her Islamophobic teacher, but her activist friends are targeted, she gets suspended from school, and ends up on a plane to her aunt’s house in Qatar for an early spring break.
Wracked with guilt for embarrassing her friend, Zeyneb looks forward to a brief period of anonymity when, in a twist of fate, she meets Adam on a plane. Adam is grappling with personal transitions, figuring out how to cope with the death of his mother and a recently diagnosed multiple sclerosis that he hides from his grieving father. Critics have called this meet-cute love story “heartwarming and powerful.”
Alone With You in the Ether by Olivi Blake
This literary novel begins with a chance meeting at the Art Institute of Chicago and finds two characters balancing on the edge of their precarious worlds: Aldo is a doctoral student who deals with his destructive thoughts through an obsession with time travel; Regan is a bipolar forgery artist undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. Will their meeting be enough to change the direction of their lives?