These 10 books can help you celebrate
Every year in July, Americans celebrate Disability Pride Month, commemorating the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990.
It was a long road for the ADA to become law, including protests such as the week-long “Deaf President Now” protest by Gallaudet students in 1988 and the “Capitol Crawl” in 1990, in which disabled Americans crawled up the steps of the Capitol without walking aids to demonstrate the impact of inaccessible architecture. Although 34 years have passed since the passage of this landmark civil rights law, the fight for disability rights still continues.
Books depicting disabilities
Representation is important in books. Seeing a character with the same disability as you can be empowering. For non-disabled readers, July can be a great time to learn. No matter what genre you enjoy, here are 10 books to check out this Disability Pride Month.
“True Biz” by Sara Nović
True Biz follows a principal and her students at River Valley School for the Deaf through their first love, loss, and injustice. The split perspectives cover three main characters and several supporting characters who have different relationships with sign language and deaf culture. Charlie, a rebellious exchange student, has never met another deaf person. Austin is campus queen and fifth-generation deaf. February, the principal, is a CODA (child of deaf adults) trying to keep the school open and keep her marriage from falling apart. This book is a quick, immersive read with instructive ASL lessons at the end of most chapters.
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Talia Hibbert’s entire Brown sisters trilogy features people with disabilities. In Get a Life, Chloe Brown, the title character is a chronically ill computer geek with a mission to rebel and a checklist to help her achieve it. The perfect person to help her achieve that goal is Redford “Red” Morgan, a tattooed, motorcycle-riding handyman by day and artist by night.
“Take a Hint, Dani Brown” is a similarly charming romantic comedy with a fake dating cliche. The main character, Dani, also suffers from anxiety. “Act Your Age, Eve Brown” has several characters on the autism spectrum.
“Disability Visibility” edited by Alice Wong
This contemporary collection of essays by disabled writers is edited by Alice Wong, a disabled activist and founder of the Disability Visibility Project. Each work explores the complexity and diversity of disabled experiences and celebrates disability culture in the 21st century.
“Out On a Limb” by Hannah Bonam-Young
Both main characters in this contemporary romance have limb differences. In Out On a Limb, hyper-independent Winnifred “Win” McNulty becomes unplanned pregnant after a one-night stand with Bo, a charming stranger. It’s a challenge she’s not sure she can handle on her own. When Bo shows up unexpectedly, the two decide to get to know each other as friends – but will it become more?
“Seven Days in June” by Tia Williams
In Seven Days in June, two celebrated authors meet by chance at a New York panel of black writers, twenty years after spending a week in the clutches of their teenage love. Over the next seven days, Eva and Shane grow closer and rekindle the passionate romance of their youth. But can Eva trust the man who once broke her heart?
Tia Williams’ contemporary romance novel explores modern motherhood, chronic pain, and second-chance love.
“Turtles All the Way Down” by John Green
Turtles All the Way Down follows 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 reconnect with Davis, the billionaire’s son.
But while Aza tries to play detective, she juggles countless other things – being a good daughter, friend and student while also dealing with the overwhelming thought spirals that come with living with anxiety and OCD.
“Cemetary Boys” by Aiden Thomas
This young adult novel follows Yadriel, a transsexual teenager whose family doesn’t accept him for who he is, much less allow him to perform the family rituals that allow ghosts to pass 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. But the ghost he actually summons is Julian Diaz, an evil classmate who won’t go quietly to his death without finding out what happened to him.
In this fantasy and science fiction novel, one of the characters suffers from ADHD.
“Two wrongs make a right” by Chloe Liese
After a disastrous first meeting and a date gone wrong, Jamie and Bea decide they are absolutely not suited for each other. They decide to fake a relationship (including an over-the-top breakup) to get revenge on their pushy boyfriends. This romantic comedy reimagines Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing – fake dates, a revenge plot and an unexpected romance at the center of it all. Two Wrongs Make a Right deals with both autism and anxiety.
“Love from A to Z” by SK Ali
In this young adult novel, the main character Zayneb stands up to her Islamophobic teacher, only to find that her activist friends are being targeted, she herself is suspended from class, and boards a plane to spend spring break with her aunt in Qatar.
Wracked with guilt for getting her friends into trouble, Zayneb is looking forward to a little anonymity until fate intervenes and she meets Adam on her flight. Adam is grappling with his own changes – figuring out how to deal with the death of his mother and a recent multiple sclerosis diagnosis, which he is hiding from his grieving father. Critics describe this sweet love story as “heartfelt and powerful.”
“Alone with you in the ether” by Olivie Blake
This literary novel begins with a chance encounter at the Art Institute of Chicago, where two people balance on the edge of their own precarious worlds. Aldo is a graduate student coping with his destructive thinking by exploring time travel. Regan is a bipolar art forger undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. Could their encounter be enough to change the course of their lives?
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