Lists
by Powell's Staff, July 5, 2023 12:13 PM
On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. To commemorate, we celebrate Disability Pride Month every July — a month dedicated to uplifting the stories, voices, and experiences of disabled persons. So we've pulled together 14 titles that we recommend reading this month (and every month!) — books that talk about conditions often “shrouded in mystery and prejudice,” that untangle “critical theories of folklore and disability,” that subvert stereotype and explore identity. These books are haunting and beautiful and illuminating, incisive and vivid and luminous.
Happy July! Happy Disability Pride Month!
by Adina Talve Goodman
In this posthumous collection of essays, Adina Talve-Goodman writes about being born with congenital heart issues, having a heart transplant, and then experiencing years of health before being diagnosed with a rare lymphoma. This collection is a true act of love, from it being edited by Talve-Goodman’s sister and the author Tinti, to Talve-Goodman’s open and honest accounting of the compounding difficulties her body faced. Heartfelt, heartbreaking — incredible. — Kelsey F.
by Esmé Weijun Wang
Although I do not share Esmé Weijun Wang's diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, I too have wondered how to separate my brain from my true self — is there even any distance at all? In this riveting collection of essays, she documents the realities of living with a stigmatized diagnosis and explores the elusive nature of identity. Translated literally, "schizophrenia" means split mind and Wang struggles to reconcile the sum of her parts into a cohesive whole. Page by page, this book illuminates a condition too often shrouded in mystery and prejudice. Because it is both hauntingly beautiful and painfully vivid, The Collected Schizophrenias has a permanent place on my bookshelves. — Lauren P.
by Lyndsey Medford
Author Lindsey Medford is living with a rare autoimmune disorder. In My Body and Other Crumbling Empires, she writes about living with a chronic illness and working toward healing while surrounded by a society that is sick in its own ways — racially, socially, economically. Well-written and deeply informative, Lyndsey Medford’s My Body and Other Crumbling Empires is an important, timely book. — Kelsey F.
by Amanda Leduc
Disfigured marries Leduc's medical and personal history as a woman with cerebral palsy with the critical theories of folklore and disability. She dissects the fairytales of Western tradition: moralized stories that have long championed straight white ability while equating disability with defectiveness, punishment, and evil; stories we absorbed intravenously, blindly as children. Leduc is a luminous writer and thinker, and her Disfigured represents the very best of what autotheory (a vogue genre that considers lived experience through the prisms of philosophical-theoretical discourse) can be. — Annabel J.
This blurb has been adapted from bookseller Annabel J.’s incredible Five Book Friday: Writing the Body.
edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter and Rocky Callen
This YA collection is very special: 16 stories about mental health disorders, written by 16 diverse authors who have firsthand experience. There are stories about ex-boyfriends, angry outbursts, and uncontrollable crying. In addition to stories, Ab(solutely) Normal also includes poems, a graphic comic, free verse, and a play. There is so much to love in this collection. It’s filled with hope, stereotype subversion, and life-affirming support. — Kelsey F.
by Greg Marshall
Reading Marshall's memoir reminded me of why I love this genre in the first place. You go into the book expecting one thing (a coming-of-age story alongside Marshall's coming-out story) and then you finish the book examining what it meant for him to have to come out twice: the second time as a gay man with cerebral palsy, which is something that his parents decided not to tell him about, instead telling him that his limp and other various conditions were due to his "tight tendons." By the end of the book, you'll love Greg and his kooky family like your own because there's really something so special and loving about them. This one is perfect for fans of David Sedaris! — Katherine M.
by John Hendrickson
John Hendrickson is the writer of the very popular and very good 2019 article about then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s stutter. In Life on Delay, Hendrickson goes long on stuttering, writing about his own experiences growing up and facing prejudice, as well as interviews with other people who stutter. Life on Delay an incredibly informative and expansive memoir, both educational and inspirational. — Olive C.
by Chloé Cooper Jones
Chloé Cooper Jones continually makes incisive observations about the world, her relationships, and herself. By the time I was halfway through reading Easy Beauty, I started telling everyone I knew how I excited I was about her writing. She mixes philosophy, memoir, music, sports and travel writing in service of exploring her own experiences with gender, race, and disability. Easy Beauty acknowledges pain and discomfort, but insists that we find ways to see each other and find beauty in life. — Adam P.
by John Cotter
In his debut memoir, John Cotter writes about losing his hearing while in his 30s, how that loss transformed his relationship to the world around him, and how our country’s medical system failed him. What started as a roaring, ringing in his ears turned into a series of misdiagnoses and dismissive doctors — all while Cotter did his best to adjust to his new set of circumstances: "Following my visit to Fort Lyon, learning firsthand the way bad luck can alter the chemistry of the brain, I came to understand how this condition, the force of it, had denatured me.” A devastating, necessary read. — Olive C.
edited by Eliza Hull
We’ve Got This is an important anthology, edited by Eliza Hull, filled with stories from twenty-five parents with disabilities. These parents have had to face discrimination and questions about their suitability as parents, all while working to build a life for themselves and for their kids, using their resourcefulness and the communities around them. These are fantastic, eye-opening stories. — Lucinda G.
by Alice Wong
This anthology, edited by Alice Wong, the founder of the Disability Project, pulls together firsthand accounts from disabled persons navigating the world today. This collection is as diverse and passionate as the community it celebrates, and the way the book is organized — into four sections, “Being,” “Becoming,” “Doing,” and “Connecting” — really synthesizes the words, wisdom, and experiences of the disables persons that the collection centers. Educational, inspirational, and thoughtfully put together. — Lucinda G.
by Sara Novic
Set at a school for the deaf, True Biz (a phrase in A.S.L. that means “real talk”) is a coming-of-age novel that follows Charlie, a deaf teenager who was raised by parents who believed that teaching her A.S.L. would only stunt her learning. Now, Charlie’s surrounded by other deaf teens who are fluent in A.S.L., and her world is thrown into tumult as she works to learn this new language, as well as what it means for herself and her place in the world. Sara Novic’s novel explores community and language, disability and identity. — Kelsey F.
by Selma Blair
We are so lucky to have this incredible memoir from the incredible Selma Blair! Blair writes openly and honestly about her life, including her struggles with alcoholism, her difficult relationship with her family, and her multiple sclerosis diagnosis. The photos, poems, and drawings that fill are just the cherry-on-top of this delicious, important sundae. — Olive C.
by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha
The subtitle for Care Work — “Dreaming Disability Justice” — says it all. This is an thoughtful look at disability justice, a form of disability activism that specifically centers intersectionality and groups that have historically been excluded from these conversations. Care Work is here to dismantle your ableism and make you refresh the way you look at the world around you and the ways you’re capable of interacting with it, where others may not have the same abilities. This is a challenging, important book. — Olive C.
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You can find more book recommendations for Disability Pride Month here.
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