Disability Books and Resources List

All disabled people deserve to see themselves reflected in literature—not as objects of pity or inspiration, but as complex humans living full lives. This list centers disabled authors and authentic representation.

About This List

This list prioritizes Own Voices (disabled authors writing about disability), authentic representation, and diverse global perspectives. It’s always growing—suggest additions via How to Contribute.

Labels used below (after an entry):

Own voices — the author has disclosed a disability
Global South — author or setting outside the Western/Anglophone mainstream
Essential — a strong place to start

Essential Reading
Nonfiction
Memoir & Biography
Fiction
Young Adult
Middle Grade
Children’s Books
Poetry
By Disability Type
By Identity
By Region
Academic & Research

Essential Reading

Start here. These are foundational texts for understanding disability rights, culture, and justice.

Nonfiction Essentials

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century – Alice Wong, ed. (2020). 37 essays by disabled writers covering diverse experiences. “A galvanizing collection” published for the ADA’s 30th anniversary. The single best introduction to contemporary disability experience. Own voices, Essential.
Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (2018). Essays exploring disability justice as framework centering sick and disabled queer, trans, Black, and brown people. Maps “access as radical love” and collective care practices. Own voices, Essential.
No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement – Joseph P. Shapiro (1993). The foundational text illustrating “the new thinking by disabled people that there is no pity or tragedy in disability, and that it is society’s myths, fears, and stereotypes that make being disabled difficult.” Essential.
Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally – Emily Ladau (2021). Accessible guide covering etiquette, language, and avoiding common pitfalls. Excellent entry point for allies and newly disabled people. Own voices, Essential.

Memoir Essentials

Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist – Judith Heumann with Kristen Joiner. Life story of the legendary activist who had polio, led the Section 504 sit-in, and pushed through the ADA. Heumann devoted her life to “subverting the presumption that disability is a tragedy.” Own voices, Essential.
Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law – Haben Girma. First Deafblind Harvard Law graduate shares her journey, arguing that disability is an opportunity for innovation. Rejects pity, highlights “resilience and advocacy.” Own voices, Essential.

Fiction Essentials

Good Kings Bad Kings – Susan Nussbaum. Novel set in Chicago institution for disabled youth, narrated through multiple disabled teen voices. Nussbaum, a disability rights activist and wheelchair user, writes with “remarkable authenticity”—potentially “chang[ing] forever the conversation” about disability. Own voices, Essential.
An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon. Space opera with Black autistic protagonist whose neurodivergence is woven “seamlessly and nonexploitatively” into the plot. Character explicitly rejects “cure.” Own voices, Essential.

Nonfiction

History & Disability Rights Movement

Overviews

No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement – Joseph P. Shapiro (1993). [See Essential Reading] Essential.
A Disability History of the United States – Kim E. Nielsen. Sweeping survey positioning disabled people at the center of American history from colonial times to present. Covers disabled veterans, freak shows, eugenics, and the disability rights movement. Unearths hidden narratives including enslaved people with disabilities and Deaf communities in Martha’s Vineyard.
The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation – Doris Zames Fleischer & Frieda Zames. Comprehensive history by disability activists covering key legislation and grassroots organizing. Own voices.

Specific Movements & Events

Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights – History of the 504 sit-in.
Deaf President Now! – John B. Christiansen & Sharon N. Barnartt. Account of the 1988 Gallaudet University protest. Own voices.
The Capitol Crawl and the Americans with Disabilities Act – Documentation of the 1990 action.

Institutionalization & Eugenics

The State Boys Rebellion – Michael D’Antonio. Investigation of the Fernald State School.
Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck – Adam Cohen. History of Buck v. Bell and American eugenics.
Ugly Laws: Disability in Public – Susan Schweik. History of laws that criminalized disabled people’s presence in public.

Global History

Disability in the Global South – Shaun Grech & Karen Soldatic (eds.). Critical perspectives on disability in majority world contexts. Global South.
Disability and the Politics of Education: An International Reader – Susan Gabel & Scot Danforth. Global South.

Disability Justice & Theory

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (2018). [See Essential Reading] Own voices, Essential.
Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People – Sins Invalid. Disability justice primer from the performance collective that developed the framework. Own voices.
Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure – Eli Clare. Explores the politics of cure, drawing on Clare’s experiences as a disabled, genderqueer activist. Own voices.
Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability – Robert McRuer. Academic text on intersections of queer and disability studies.
The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability – Elizabeth Barnes. Philosophical argument that disability is neutral difference.
Disability Rhetoric – Jay Dolmage. How rhetoric and language shape disability experience. Own voices.
Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness – Da’Shaun L. Harrison (2021). Argues anti-fatness and anti-Blackness are inseparable, tracing how policing, medicine, and desirability politics endanger fat Black people. Winner of the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction. The clearest bridge here between fat liberation and disability studies. Own voices. CN: police violence, medical fatphobia.
The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (2022). A pandemic-era, crip-futurist companion to Care Work, asking what it means that the future majority may be disabled—and why that isn’t a tragedy. Own voices. CN: death, grief, suicide.

Guides & Practical

Demystifying Disability – Emily Ladau. [See Essential Reading] Own voices, Essential.
Disability Etiquette: Tips on Interacting with People with Disabilities – United Spinal Association. Free practical guide.
A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability – A. Andrews. Illustrated guide. Own voices.

Anthologies & Essays

Disability Visibility – Alice Wong, ed. [See Essential Reading] Own voices, Essential.
Disability Visibility: 17 First-Person Stories for Today – Alice Wong, ed. Young adult adaptation. Own voices.
Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People – Frances Ryan. UK-focused essays. Own voices.
Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment – James Charlton. Global South.

Memoir & Biography

Physical Disability

Being Heumann – Judith Heumann. [See Essential Reading] Own voices, Essential.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Jean-Dominique Bauby (France). Poetic memoir composed entirely through eye blinks after a stroke left Bauby with locked-in syndrome. His imagery-rich reflections offer an intimate look at disability from the inside, without pity. Own voices.
I’m Walking as Straight as I Can – Geri Jewell. Memoir by actress with cerebral palsy, first disabled person in a recurring TV role. Own voices.
My Body Politic – Simi Linton. Disability studies scholar’s memoir. Own voices.
Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body – Rebekah Taussig. Own voices.
Golem Girl: A Memoir – Riva Lehrer (2020). An illustrated memoir by a painter born with spina bifida, reproducing her collaborative portraits of disabled, queer, and trans subjects alongside her own life and political awakening. Doubles as an accessible introduction to disability aesthetics. Own voices. CN: medical trauma, repeated surgeries.
The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me – Keah Brown (2019). Warm, funny essays on being Black and disabled, from the creator of the #DisabledAndCute hashtag. Explicitly rejects inspiration and pity narratives. Own voices.

Chronic Illness

Mean Baby – Selma Blair (2022). Unflinchingly honest memoir about life with multiple sclerosis, addiction, and self-discovery. Blair calls her MS diagnosis a “surprising salvation” and “engag[es] with her MS starkly and movingly.” Own voices.
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness – Susannah Cahalan. Autoimmune encephalitis initially misdiagnosed as psychiatric illness. Own voices.
The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness – Meghan O’Rourke. Own voices.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing

Haben – Haben Girma. [See Essential Reading] Own voices, Essential.
The Story of My Life – Helen Keller (1903). Classic autobiography of the Deafblind author and activist. Keller describes learning language by touch, dispelling myths about “incapacity” of Deafblind people. Own voices.
Deaf Utopia: A Memoir—and a Love Letter to a Way of Life – Nyle DiMarco. Celebration of Deaf culture. Own voices.
Train Go Sorry: Inside a Deaf World – Leah Hager Cohen. Own voices.
Touch the Future: A Manifesto in Essays – John Lee Clark (2023). Born Deaf into an ASL-signing family and blind by adolescence, Clark writes from the Protactile movement—a touch-based language created by and for DeafBlind people. Argues it is the sighted-hearing world that is impoverished. Own voices.

Blind Rage: Letters to Helen Keller – Georgina Kleege. Own voices.
And There Was Light – Jacques Lusseyran. French Resistance member. Own voices.
Touching the Rock – John Hull. Own voices.

Neurodivergence

Thinking in Pictures – Temple Grandin. Classic autism memoir. Own voices.
Look Me in the Eye – John Elder Robison. Own voices.
The Reason I Jump – Naoki Higashida (Japan). Nonverbal autistic teenager explains his inner world. Own voices, Global South.
Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking – ASAN anthology. Own voices.
Driven to Distraction / ADHD 2.0 – Edward Hallowell & John Ratey. Own voices.
The Secret Life of a Black Aspie: A Memoir – Anand Prahlad (2017). A lyrical memoir of growing up Black and autistic in the American South, by a writer diagnosed at 57. A rare own-voices account at the intersection of race and autism. Own voices.

Psychiatric Disability

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness – Kay Redfield Jamison. Psychiatrist’s account of bipolar disorder. Own voices.
The Collected Schizophrenias – Esmé Weijun Wang. Own voices.
Prozac Nation – Elizabeth Wurtzel. Own voices.
Madness: A Bipolar Life – Marya Hornbacher. Own voices.

Intellectual & Developmental

Count Us In: Growing Up with Down Syndrome – Jason Kingsley & Mitchell Levitz. Own voices.
Lost in a Desert World: The Autobiography of Roland Johnson – Roland Johnson, as told to Karl Williams (1999). The life story of a self-advocate who spent 13 years institutionalized at Pennhurst, was released after the Halderman v. Pennhurst litigation, and became a founder of Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE). A cornerstone first-person text of the self-advocacy movement. Own voices. CN: institutionalization, abuse.

Fiction

Literary Fiction

Good Kings Bad Kings – Susan Nussbaum. [See Essential Reading] Own voices, Essential.
Get a Life, Chloe Brown – Talia Hibbert (UK). Contemporary romance featuring Black British heroine with fibromyalgia. Chronic pain naturally woven into love story—Chloe remains vibrant and desirable with her disability. Hibbert drew on her own fibromyalgia. Own voices.
So Lucky – Nicola Griffith. Literary thriller following nonprofit director diagnosed with MS. Refuses pity, explores internalized ableism and empowerment. Griffith has MS. Own voices.
Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe (Nigeria). Classic African novel that critiques traditional stigma against disability in Igbo society, showing how disabled infants were cast out. “Promotes compassion for all people.” Global South.
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath. Semi-autobiographical novel tracing mental illness and 1950s psychiatric treatment. Frank, empathetic depiction was groundbreaking—invites readers inside rather than judging. Own voices.
Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes. Classic about intellectual disability. [Note: some find problematic; included for cultural significance]
Freshwater – Akwaeke Emezi (2018). A semi-autobiographical debut narrated by the multiple selves (ogbanje spirits) inhabiting Ada, a young Nigerian woman, reframing what Western readers might call mental illness through Igbo cosmology. Own voices, Global South. CN: self-harm, sexual assault, suicidal ideation.
Hunchback – Saou Ichikawa, tr. Polly Barton (Japanese 2023; English 2025). A fierce, funny, sexually frank novel narrated by a woman with severe spinal curvature who uses a wheelchair and ventilator. Ichikawa, who has congenital myopathy, is the first author with a physical disability to win Japan’s Akutagawa Prize. Own voices, Global South. CN: sexual content.
Call Me Ahab: A Short Story Collection – Anne Finger (2009). Stories that reimagine real and literary disabled figures—Helen Keller, Frida Kahlo, Captain Ahab—with wit and political bite. A rare example of disability-centered literary short fiction. Own voices.

Speculative Fiction

An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon. [See Essential Reading] Own voices, Essential.
Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo. Fantasy heist with protagonist Kaz Brekker who has permanent leg injury and uses cane. Never “cured”—“his cane became a declaration” of resilience. Kaz explicitly refuses magical cure. Bardugo has osteonecrosis. Own voices.
On the Edge of Gone – Corinne Duyvis (Netherlands). Dystopian YA with autistic heroine during comet impact. Duyvis (autistic, founder of #OwnVoices) centers autistic perspective without stereotype—Denise’s skills defy others’ low expectations. Own voices.
Unseelie – Ivelisse Housman. Fae fantasy with autistic Latina changeling. Housman (autistic Puerto Rican author) crafts neurodivergence as identity, not problem. Own voices.
The Vela – Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, Rivers Solomon, SL Huang. Own voices.
A Spindle Splintered – Alix E. Harrow. Own voices.
The Witch King – Martha Wells. Own voices.
Defying Doomsday – ed. Tsana Dolichva & Holly Kench (2016). An anthology of apocalypse and post-disaster stories whose protagonists are disabled or chronically ill—directly answering the trope that disabled people die first when the world ends. Winner of the 2017 Ditmar Award. Own voices.
The Colony – Jillian Weise (2010). A speculative, satirical novel set among research subjects on a genetics colony, skewering the science of “fixing” disabled bodies. Own voices.

Romance

Get a Life, Chloe Brown – Talia Hibbert. [See Literary Fiction] Own voices.
Act Your Age, Eve Brown – Talia Hibbert. Autistic heroine. Own voices.
The Kiss Quotient – Helen Hoang. Autistic heroine by autistic author. Own voices.
The Bride Test – Helen Hoang. Own voices.
A Duke by Default – Alyssa Cole. Hero with dyslexia. Own voices.
Not So Nice Guy – R.S. Grey. Own voices.

Mystery & Thriller

Section in development. Suggest additions via How to Contribute.

Historical Fiction

Show Me a Sign – Ann Clare LeZotte. [See Middle Grade] Own voices.
Accidents of Nature – Harriet McBryde Johnson. [See Young Adult] Own voices.

Young Adult

Contemporary YA

Sick Kids in Love – Hannah Moskowitz. Teen romance between two chronically ill protagonists. “They don’t die in this one.” Deliberately subverts tragedy narrative—teens managing illness, finding love, joking about hospital visits. Own voices.
Accidents of Nature – Harriet McBryde Johnson. Set at 1970 camp for disabled teens. Johnson (disability rights attorney with neuromuscular disability) uses fiction to “uncover the need for a disability rights movement.” Includes satirical “Telethon to Stamp Out Normalcy.” Sharp dialogue, challenges internalized ableism. Own voices.
Five Feet Apart – Rachael Lippincott. CF romance. [Note: some controversy over accuracy] Own voices.
Turtles All the Way Down – John Green. OCD protagonist. Own voices.
History Is All You Left Me – Adam Silvera. Own voices.

Fantasy & Sci-Fi YA

On the Edge of Gone – Corinne Duyvis. [See Speculative Fiction] Own voices.
Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo. [See Speculative Fiction] Own voices.
Unseelie – Ivelisse Housman. [See Speculative Fiction] Own voices.

YA Anthologies

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens – ed. Marieke Nijkamp. Short stories across genres, all by disabled authors, all featuring disabled teen protagonists. Fantasy, sci-fi, contemporary—from autistic girl entering high school to wheelchair-using fencer in Musketeer-era France. Own voices.

Middle Grade

A Kind of Spark – Elle McNicoll (Scotland). Autistic 11-year-old campaigns for witch-trial memorial. McNicoll (autistic) dedicates book to “all children with happy, flapping hands.” Proud, positive autism portrayal—Addie refuses to change who she is. Own voices.
Show Me a Sign – Ann Clare LeZotte. Historical fiction set in 1805 Martha’s Vineyard Deaf community. Mary Lambert has grown up where nearly everyone signs—never felt isolated. “Mak[es] you forever question your own ideas about what is normal.” LeZotte is Deaf. Own voices.
Out of My Mind – Sharon M. Draper. Melody, 11, has CP and cannot speak—but has brilliant mind and photographic memory. Shows CP “limits her body, but not her mind.”
Wonder – R.J. Palacio. Auggie, 10, has craniofacial difference. Focus on humanity rather than condition. [Note: author not disabled; some criticism of film casting]
Roll with It – Erin Entrada Kelly. Own voices.
Can You See Me? – Libby Scott & Rebecca Westcott (2019). Co-written with autistic young author Libby Scott (11 when it drew on her own diary entries), this follows autistic eleven-year-old Tally navigating school and masking. The diary sections render an autistic inner voice directly. ~ages 9–12. Own voices.
Frankie’s World – Aoife Dooley (2022). A graphic novel by autistic Irish comedian Aoife Dooley about Frankie, who feels different at school and goes searching for answers. ~ages 8–12. Own voices.
Song for a Whale – Lynne Kelly (2019). Deaf twelve-year-old Iris, gifted with technology, sets out to reach a whale who sings at a frequency no other whale understands. A warm novel about communication and belonging. ~ages 8–12.
A Time to Dance – Padma Venkatraman (2014). A novel in verse about Veda, a classical Bharatanatyam dancer in India who relearns to dance with a prosthetic leg after an amputation. Treats disability as a full life, not a tragedy. ~ages 10–14. Global South.

Children’s Books

Picture Books

I Am Not a Label – Cerrie Burnell (UK). 34 short biographies of notable disabled people—Frida Kahlo, Stevie Wonder, Judith Heumann, etc. “Stylish” and empowering, written for kids in stigma-free way. Burnell is disabled former CBeebies presenter. Own voices.
Susan Laughs – Jeanne Willis. Child does everything other kids do; wheelchair only revealed at end.
My Brother Charlie – Holly Robinson Peete & Ryan Peete.
Emmanuel’s Dream – Laurie Ann Thompson. Ghanaian cyclist born with one leg. Global South.

Early Readers

Section in development.

Graphic Novels

El Deafo – Cece Bell. Graphic memoir using bunny characters. Young Cece imagines her “Phonic Ear” hearing aid as superhero power. “Hugely enjoyable for children and adults”—hearing readers “wince at the mistakes” hearing characters make and learn from them. Bell is Deaf. Own voices.

Poetry

Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability – ed. Sheila Black, Jennifer Bartlett, Michael Northen. Own voices.
Cripple Poetics – Petra Kuppers & Neil Marcus. Own voices.
The Collected Poems of Vassar Miller – Vassar Miller. Own voices.
The Perseverance – Raymond Antrobus (2018). A celebrated debut on d/Deaf experience, grief, British-Jamaican heritage, and language; the first poetry collection to win the Rathbones Folio Prize, also winner of the Ted Hughes Award. Own voices.
The Amputee’s Guide to Sex (2007) / The Book of Goodbyes (2013) – Jillian Weise. Frank, funny, formally inventive poems about disability, desire, prosthetics, and ableism; The Book of Goodbyes won the James Laughlin Award. Own voices.
The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded – Molly McCully Brown (2017). A debut collection giving voice to residents of a real Virginia eugenics-era institution, braiding disability, faith, and the history of institutionalization. Own voices. CN: institutionalization, eugenics.
Deaf American Poetry: An Anthology – ed. John Lee Clark (2009). A landmark anthology of Deaf poets writing in English from the 19th century to the present, edited by a DeafBlind poet. Own voices.

By Disability Type

Autism & Neurodivergence

Fiction:

An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon Own voices.
On the Edge of Gone – Corinne Duyvis Own voices.
The Kiss Quotient – Helen Hoang Own voices.
A Kind of Spark – Elle McNicoll Own voices.
Unseelie – Ivelisse Housman Own voices.
Act Your Age, Eve Brown – Talia Hibbert Own voices.

Nonfiction:

Thinking in Pictures – Temple Grandin Own voices.
Look Me in the Eye – John Elder Robison Own voices.
Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking – ASAN Own voices.
The Reason I Jump – Naoki Higashida Own voices, Global South.

ADHD

Driven to Distraction – Hallowell & Ratey Own voices.
ADHD 2.0 – Hallowell & Ratey Own voices.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing

Haben – Haben Girma Own voices.
El Deafo – Cece Bell Own voices.
Show Me a Sign – Ann Clare LeZotte Own voices.
Deaf Utopia – Nyle DiMarco Own voices.
The Story of My Life – Helen Keller Own voices.
Deaf President Now! – Christiansen & Barnartt Own voices.

Haben – Haben Girma Own voices.
The Story of My Life – Helen Keller Own voices.
Blind Rage – Georgina Kleege Own voices.
Touching the Rock – John Hull Own voices.

Chronic Illness & Pain

Get a Life, Chloe Brown – Talia Hibbert Own voices.
Mean Baby – Selma Blair Own voices.
So Lucky – Nicola Griffith Own voices.
Sick Kids in Love – Hannah Moskowitz Own voices.
The Invisible Kingdom – Meghan O’Rourke Own voices.

Physical Disability & Mobility

Being Heumann – Judith Heumann Own voices.
Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo Own voices.
Good Kings Bad Kings – Susan Nussbaum Own voices.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Jean-Dominique Bauby Own voices.
Out of My Mind – Sharon Draper

Psychiatric Disability

The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath Own voices.
An Unquiet Mind – Kay Redfield Jamison Own voices.
The Collected Schizophrenias – Esmé Weijun Wang Own voices.
Madness – Marya Hornbacher Own voices.

Intellectual & Developmental

Count Us In – Kingsley & Levitz Own voices.
Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes [historical]

Multiple Disabilities

Haben – Haben Girma (Deafblind) Own voices.
The Story of My Life – Helen Keller (Deafblind) Own voices.

By Identity

Black Disabled Authors

An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon Own voices.
Haben – Haben Girma Own voices.
Care Work – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Own voices.
Get a Life, Chloe Brown – Talia Hibbert Own voices.
The Pretty One – Keah Brown Own voices.
The Secret Life of a Black Aspie – Anand Prahlad Own voices.
Belly of the Beast – Da’Shaun L. Harrison Own voices.
Freshwater – Akwaeke Emezi Own voices.

Indigenous Authors

Section in development. Suggest additions via How to Contribute.

Latinx Disabled Authors

Unseelie – Ivelisse Housman Own voices.

Asian Disabled Authors

The Reason I Jump – Naoki Higashida Own voices, Global South.
The Collected Schizophrenias – Esmé Weijun Wang Own voices.
Hunchback – Saou Ichikawa (Japan) Own voices, Global South.

LGBTQ+ Disabled Authors

Care Work – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Own voices.
An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon Own voices.
Brilliant Imperfection – Eli Clare Own voices.
Freshwater – Akwaeke Emezi Own voices.
Belly of the Beast – Da’Shaun L. Harrison Own voices.

By Region

United States

Most entries on this list are US-based. This section highlights US-specific history and context.

No Pity – Joseph Shapiro
A Disability History of the United States – Kim Nielsen
Being Heumann – Judith Heumann

United Kingdom

Get a Life, Chloe Brown – Talia Hibbert Own voices.
Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People – Frances Ryan Own voices.
I Am Not a Label – Cerrie Burnell Own voices.

Canada

Care Work – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Own voices.

Australia & New Zealand

Section in development.

Africa

Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe (Nigeria) Global South.
Emmanuel’s Dream – Laurie Ann Thompson (Ghana) Global South.
Disability in the Global South – Grech & Soldatic (eds.) Global South.

Asia

The Reason I Jump – Naoki Higashida (Japan) Own voices, Global South.
Hunchback – Saou Ichikawa (Japan) Own voices, Global South.

Europe

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Jean-Dominique Bauby (France) Own voices.
On the Edge of Gone – Corinne Duyvis (Netherlands) Own voices.
A Kind of Spark – Elle McNicoll (Scotland) Own voices.

Latin America & Caribbean

Section in development.

Academic & Research

Disability Studies Foundations

The Disability Studies Reader – ed. Lennard Davis. Standard anthology.
Crip Theory – Robert McRuer.
Extraordinary Bodies – Rosemarie Garland-Thomson.
Enforcing Normalcy – Lennard Davis.
Claiming Disability – Simi Linton.

Medical Humanities

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down – Anne Fadiman.

Education

Disability and the Politics of Education – Gabel & Danforth.

Policy & Law

Americans with Disabilities Act Handbook

Sociology & Anthropology

Section in development.

Contributing

This list is always growing. To suggest additions:

Prioritize Own Voices (disabled authors)
Note author’s disability if known
Explain why representation is positive/authentic
Note any concerns about problematic elements

See How to Contribute

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Have lived experience or expertise that could strengthen this page? We especially welcome perspectives on models not well represented here, including those from the Global South and Indigenous communities.

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This page centers disabled people’s expertise and is informed by disabled-led organizing globally. For questions or to suggest additions, see How to Contribute.

Disability Books and Resources List

About This List

Contents

Essential Reading

Nonfiction Essentials

Memoir Essentials

Fiction Essentials

Nonfiction

History & Disability Rights Movement

Overviews

Specific Movements & Events

Institutionalization & Eugenics

Global History

Disability Justice & Theory

Guides & Practical

Anthologies & Essays

Memoir & Biography

Physical Disability

Chronic Illness

Deaf & Hard of Hearing

Blind & Low Vision

Neurodivergence

Psychiatric Disability

Intellectual & Developmental

Fiction

Literary Fiction

Speculative Fiction

Romance

Mystery & Thriller

Historical Fiction

Young Adult

Contemporary YA

Fantasy & Sci-Fi YA

YA Anthologies

Middle Grade

Children’s Books

Picture Books

Early Readers

Graphic Novels

Poetry

By Disability Type

Autism & Neurodivergence

ADHD

Deaf & Hard of Hearing

Blind & Low Vision

Chronic Illness & Pain

Physical Disability & Mobility

Psychiatric Disability

Intellectual & Developmental

Multiple Disabilities

By Identity

Black Disabled Authors

Indigenous Authors

Latinx Disabled Authors

Asian Disabled Authors

LGBTQ+ Disabled Authors

By Region

United States

United Kingdom

Canada

Australia & New Zealand

Africa

Asia

Europe

Latin America & Caribbean

Academic & Research

Disability Studies Foundations

Medical Humanities

Education

Policy & Law

Sociology & Anthropology

Contributing

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Contribute to This Page