Celebrate Disability Pride Month!
Looking for some great reads to celebrate Disability Pride Month? These recommended reads center disabled voices – perfect for celebrating all year long!
What does it mean to live a hyphenated life?
So many folks are forced to toggle across the multiple layers of who they are, and across the diverse spaces they occupy. They may be children of immigrants, 1.5 gen, of color; they may be disabled, neurodivergent, or queer. Regardless of how they identify, they exist in an in-between space while also trying to fit into the dominant culture. With a foot in multiple worlds, belonging fully to none, it can be hard to figure out where they fit in.
Dr. Han Ren, licensed psychologist and a hyphenate herself, seeks to offer solutions for those with intersectional identities to fully express who they are in any and every environment. The Hyphenated Life is an intersectional, inside out excavation of how existing in marginalized bodies affects the ways folks show up in dominant culture and predominantly white spaces.
Offering tools, stories, conversations, solutions and insights, this book will resonate with anyone who is navigating the intricacies of their multicultural identity development.
According to the Center for Disease Control, 194 million Americans—or 76.4% of the population—have at least one chronic illness, and half of them are women. While many of these individuals finally have a diagnosis, and are no longer “sick”, they’re still not “well.” They’ve gone through the treatments, taken the medications, and yet still find themselves suffering.
So, what do you do after you’ve discovered the root of your condition, and you’re still not healed? How do you move past the trauma of being diagnosed (which often takes years for many patients), as well as the trauma of now living with this condition. More importantly, what is this limbo between sick and well that so many patients find themselves in?
The answer is Medical Trauma Brain, a phrase Health coach and patient advocate Amy Kurtz coined after years of research into her own challenges with misdiagnosed Lyme disease. Medical Trauma Brain is the trauma that hangs on pervasively even after the patient is “cured” keeping them stuck in the hell between sick and well. It’s the most overlooked but crucial part of healing, and in But You Look Fine, Amy shares the exact plan she used to move through this integral part of recovery so others can finally break free from their own bridge between sick and well.
“Amy Kurtz exposes a common occurrence that until now has gone unnamed and undiscussed by doctors and patients alike. Not only does she reveal this roadblock to wellness, but she also offers solutions, ones that we can all apply to our lives whether chronically ill, newly diagnosed, or labeled ‘cured.’ This is a paradigm shifting book and a must-read.” —Mark Hyman, MD
Friendship can be hard for many Neurodivergent adults. There is an assumption that good, worthwhile friendships “should” come easy. However, for Neurodivergent adults, there are brain-based reasons why friendship can feel less intuitive. From differences in the parts of the brain that are vital to managing the logistics of a fulfilling social life to difficulty with self-regulation, the way neurodiverse individuals experience social bonding and connection can feel unintuitive.
Friendship Skills For Neurodivergent Adults is a guide to navigate these differences, broken into three parts:
1. How friendship works
2. How to find your people
3. How connecting will get you in motion
With the guidance of Friendship Skills For Neurodivergent Adults, readers will feel less alone, and have the tools to understand the unique way neurodiverse individuals can approach friendship.
In the summer of 2019, journalist Melissa Blake penned an op-ed for CNN Opinion. A conservative pundit caught wind of it, mentioning Blake’s work in a YouTube video. What happened next is equal parts a searing view into society, how we collectively view and treat disabled people, and the making of an advocate.
After a troll said that Blake should be banned from posting pictures of herself, she took to Twitter and defiantly posted three smiling selfies, all taken during a lovely vacation in the Big Apple:
Her tweet went viral, attracting worldwide media attention and interviews. Now, in her manifesto, Beautiful People, Blake shares her truths about disability, writing about (among other things):
- the language we use to describe disabled people
- ableism, microaggressions, and their pernicious effects
- what it’s like to live in a society that not only isn’t designed for you, but actively operates to render you invisible
- her struggles with self image and self acceptance
- the absence of disabled people in popular culture
- why disabled people aren’t tragic heroes
“No matter what kind of body we move through the world in, Melissa’s warmth is a welcome invitation to join her in recognizing the beauty we each possess.” ―Jessica Slice and Caroline Cupp, authors of Dateable: Swiping Right, Hooking Up, and Settling Down While Chronically Ill and Disabled
“In prose that is clear, warm, and always laced with humor, Melissa draws you in, making you a part of her world. With her trademark wit, pop culture references, and ability to tackle challenging topics with seeming effortlessness, Beautiful People is a book with heart and is an absolute delight to read.”―Erin Khar, author of Strung Out
For parents of disabled children, navigating the systems, services, and supports is a daunting, and often overwhelming, task. No one explains to parents how to figure out the complex medical, educational, and social service systems essential to their child’s success. Over and over, parents are being asked to reinvent the exact same wheels.
According to the CDC, “Every 4 ½ minutes a baby is born with a birth defect in the United States.” That’s 1 in 33. There’s no handbook for how to do this. Until now.
Presented with empathy and humor, Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child: Your Guide to the Essential Systems, Services, and Supports gives parents the tools to conquer the stuff, so that they can spend less time filling out forms, and more time loving their children exactly as they are. With over a decade of experience navigating these systems for her own child, author Kelley Coleman presents key information, templates, and wisdom alongside practical advice from over 40 experts, covering topics such as diagnosis, working with your medical team, insurance, financial planning, disability rights and advocacy, and individualized education plans. Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child gives parents the tools they need to stop wasting unnecessary time, money, and stress. If you need to know how to actually do the things, this book is for you.
Disabled people date, have casual sex, marry, and parent. Yet our romantic lives are conspicuously absent from the media and cultural conversation. Sexual education does not typically address the specific information needed by disabled students. Mainstream dating apps fail to include disability as an aspect of one’s identity alongside race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The few underutilized disability-focused apps are paternalistic and unappealing. Bestselling dating books do not address disability, and the few relationship books marketed to disabled people focus on the mechanics of sex rather than the complex interactions that create the conditions for it.
In Dateable, disabled authors Jessica Slice Caroline Cupp team up to address the serious gap in the dating space. Dateable is the first book on disabled dating and relationships; it’s a dating guide made especially for disabled and chronically ill people, that also calls in nondisabled readers. Jessica and Caroline take on everything from rom-com representation and dating apps to sex and breakups with a strong narrative underpinning and down-to-earth advice. The book is as much a practical tool as it is an empowering guide.
White Supremacy Is All Around arrived as America’s racial reckoning had left readers searching for voices they could trust. BIPOC, disabled people, and other intentionally ignored Americans wanted to feel heard and empowered; organization leaders and allies invested in dismantling white supremacy wanted a framework for how best to contribute. Dr. Akilah Cadet speaks to all these needs, drawing from her life experiences and work helping leading brands build inclusive and equitable cultures to offer an informed perspective that prioritizes belonging.
In a series of personal stories told with her trademark candor and wit, Dr. Cadet explores the long-term work required to combat structural oppression from her unique vantage point as a Black disabled woman. She tackles everything: from the 2020 “summer of allyship” and depression caused by workplace discrimination to navigating disability and building a consulting business, all with a little inspo from Beyoncé.
A powerful call for true accompliceship for non-Black people, and a way for Black people to see and celebrate themselves, White Supremacy Is All Around ushers in a new voice that is timely, urgent, and essential—and a vision we all need now.
“With masterfully relatable prose, Dr. Cadet equips us with the knowledge to recognize the insidious nature of systemic racism. White Supremacy Is All Around is more than a book—it’s a necessary chapter in the narrative of our society, written by a woman whose life’s work champions the empowerment of the marginalized and the reimagining of the institutions that bind us.” ―Frederick Joseph, New York Times bestselling author of Patriarchy Blues
From a bestselling author and psychologist, an exploration and celebration of neurodivergence, completely revised with the most up-to-date research and insights.
From ADHD and dyslexia to autism, the number of diagnosis categories listed by the American Psychiatric Association has tripled in the last fifty years. With so many people affected, it is time to revisit our perceptions of people with disabilities.
Thomas Armstrong illuminates a new understanding of neuropsychological disorders. He argues that if they are a part of the natural diversity of the human brain, they cannot simply be defined as illnesses. Armstrong explores the evolutionary advantages, special skills, and other positive dimensions of these conditions, including: autism, ADHD, dyslexia, schizophrenia, anxiety, intellectual disabilities, and mood disorders.
With an emphasis on positive niche construction for each area, The Power of Neurodiversity is a manifesto as well as a keen look at disability, as well as a must-read for parents, teachers, and anyone who is looking to learn more about neurodivergence.
Tiffany Yu takes readers on a revelatory examination of disability—how to unpack biases and build an inclusive and accessible world.
“A powerful journey, merging personal narratives with collective insights to confront and dismantle ableism. As someone deeply immersed in the study of prejudice, including the often-overlooked discrimination faced by people with disabilities, I find that Yu delivers a timely and indispensable guide.” -Amy Cuddy, New York Times bestselling author of Presence
As the Asian American daughter of immigrants, living with PTSD, and sustaining a permanent arm injury at age nine, Tiffany Yu is well aware of the intersections of identity that affect us all. She navigated the male-dominated world of corporate finance as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs before founding Diversability, an award-winning community business run by disabled people building disability pride, power, and leadership, and creating the viral Anti-Ableism series on TikTok.
- Organized from personal to professional, domestic to political, Me to We to Us, The Anti-Ableist Manifesto frames context for conversations, breaks down the language of ableism, identifies microaggressions, and offers actions that lead to authentic allyship.
- How do we remove ableist language from our daily vocabulary?
- How do we create inclusive events?
- What are the advantages of hiring disabled employees, and what market opportunities are we missing out on when we don’t consider disabled consumers?
With contributions from disability advocates, activists, authors, entrepreneurs, scholars, educators, and executives, Yu celebrates the power of stories and lived experiences to foster the proximity, intimacy, and humanity of disability identities that have far too often been “othered” and rendered invisible.
At the age of four, Joshua Miele was blinded and badly burned when a neighbor poured sulfuric acid over his head. It could have ended his life, but instead, Miele—naturally curious, and a born problem solver—not only recovered, but thrived. Throughout his life, Miele has found increasingly inventive ways to succeed in a world built for the sighted, and to help others to do the same. At first reluctant to even think of himself as blind, he eventually embraced his blindness and became a committed advocate for disability and accessibility. Along the way, he grappled with drugs and addiction, played bass in a rock band, worked for NASA, became a guerilla activist, and married the love of his life and had two children. He chronicles the evolution of a number of revolutionary accessible technologies and his role in shaping them, including screen readers, tactile maps, and audio description.
Connecting Dots delivers a captivating first-person perspective on blindness and disability as incisive as it is entertaining, and ultimately triumphant. Joshua Miele’s story is one of one ordinary blind life with an indelible impact.
Roderick Sewell II was born without the tibia in both of his legs. Before he turned two years old, his mother, Marian, made the tough choice to have his legs amputated so that he could continue wrestling with his cousins and climbing his grandmother’s good furniture. But when Marian’s modest income couldn’t cover the prosthetics Roderick needed to attend school, she made another impossible decision: to leave her job so that California Children’s Services would pay for Roderick’s prosthetic legs.
Roderick and his mother were left homeless, keeping their long stays in shelters a secret while he learned to swim at the YMCA. All the while, Marian instilled in Roderick the lessons of gratitude, love, and patience to build his confidence in his disability, his identity as a Black boy, and his true passion, sports.
Roderick was still homeless when he met coaches from the Challenged Athletes Foundation. They gave him his running legs, and his life quickly changed for the better. He learned how to challenge his body to become a fierce competitor and athlete—with his mom cheering from the sidelines all the while.
Iron Will is the story of an athlete with an indomitable spirit and proof that a winner’s mindset is about more than physical and mental endurance. It’s about the unique places you can find love, and the rewards of conquering your fears.
A memoir penned with one good finger, Ndopu writes about being profoundly disabled and profoundly successful.
Global humanitarian Eddie Ndopu was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare degenerative motor neuron disease affecting his mobility. He was told that he wouldn’t live beyond age five and yet, Ndopu thrived. He grew up loving pop music, lip syncing the latest hits, and watching The Bold and the Beautiful for the haute couture, and was the only wheelchair user at his school, where he flourished academically. By his late teens, he had become a sought after speaker, travelling the world to address audiences about disability justice.
Ndopu was ecstatic when he was later accepted on a full scholarship into one of the world’s most prestigious schools, Oxford University. But he soon learns that it’s not just the medical community he must thwart— it’s the educational one too.
In Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw, we follow Ndopu, sporting his oversized, bejewelled sunglasses, as he scales the mountain of success, only to find exclusion, discrimination, and neglect waiting for him on the other side. Like every other student, Ndopu tries to keep up appearances—dashing to and from his public policy lectures before meeting for cocktails with his squad, all while campaigning to become student body president. Privately, however, Ndopu faces obstacles that are all too familiar to people with disabilities, yet remain unnoticed by most people. With the revolving door of care aides, hefty bills, and a lack of support from the university, Ndopu feels alienated by his environment. As he soars professionally, sipping champagne with world leaders, he continues to feel the loneliness and pressure of being the only one in the room. Determined to carve out his place in the world, he must challenge bias at the highest echelons of power and prestige. But as the pressure mounts, Ndopu must find his stride or collapse under the crushing weight of ableism.
Written with his one good finger, this evocative, searing, and vulnerable prose will leave you spellbound by Ndopu’s remarkable journey to reach beyond ableism, reminding us of our own capacity for resilience.