5 Books To Read This Disability Pride Month
Every July, the US celebrates Disability Pride Month, recognizing both the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in July of 1990 and the long legacy of disability-centered activism leading up to the ADA and since. This year, we’re also thinking about how the response to the current pandemic has demonstrated the ableism still deeply entrenched in our society. We want to highlight Disability Pride Month as a moment to center disabled stories and voices, and to invite readers to reflect on how disability literature fits into your reading year round. These five books are a great place to start as you explore the canon of disability lit!
—Julia
True Biz by Sara Novic
True Biz follows three different characters at a residential school for the deaf: Charlie, who grew up in a hearing family and whose cochlear implant is failing; Austin, the golden boy of the school; and February, their headmistress who is trying to save both the school and her own marriage. This book beautifully explores themes of community, activism, family, and communication, and it’s a book that transforms the reader—it will teach you something, it will make you laugh, it will make you think about language in new ways. Both an intimate coming-of-age story and a deeply political look into the Deaf community, True Biz is not to be missed!
Body Language, edited by Nicole Chung and Matt Ortile
I gobbled up this incredible anthology in just one weekend! Body Language brings together dozens of writers approaching the theme of bodies and embodied identities from their own unique perspectives. Essays range in topics from disability, fertility, eating disorders, fatness, gender transition, navigating the medical system, and more. Each piece can stand on its own, but what struck me most about this collection is just how cohesive it is. Body Language is a beautifully curated and expansive book that is sure to start conversation.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
It’s hard to put into words how much I loved this novel. It’s a story about friendship and how it changes over time, but it’s also so much more. I was hooked from the first description of a genius video game that Sadie designs (Solution), when I realized just how brilliant Zevin's mind is. But even without the wholly clever game concepts, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow grabbed me with its emotional relationships, immersive storytelling, and fascinating characters. Sam’s character arc deeply explores his relationship to his disability as he grapples with his own internalized ableism, and I appreciated that Zevin’s portrayal of his relationships with others made me ask big questions about ableism in my own relationships. I would have spent forever getting to know Sadie, Sam, and Marx if I could, even as some of their decisions broke my heart. Truly a breathtaking book, and one I will be thinking about for a long time to come!
Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc
I was absolutely fascinated by this insightful and vulnerable book that looks at how disability and disfigurement are wielded in fairy tales, reframing everything from Disney to the original Brothers Grimm as a political site. Amanda Leduc skillfully blends memoir, storytelling, and social commentary to provide new insights that will make you rethink how you read fairy tales. The unique format intersperses Leduc’s own story, including medical records, with narrative folklore, as she dissects precisely how bodies are othered in each case. Disfigured is a thoughtful and engaging book that I highly recommend!
Panpocalypse by Carley Moore
This book so perfectly captures the feeling of early pandemic, and the dreadful feeling of longing for touch when it’s not safe to be with others. Set in the spring of 2020, the story centers on Orpheus, a queer disabled person, who travels New York City by bike, searching both for her ex-girlfriend Eurydice and a secret lesbian bar Le Monocle. Panpocalypse is a brilliant blurring of fiction and truth, and it’s such a unique read. Carley Moore’s writing is both cynical and hopeful, specific and universal, and it is a treasure to see the pandemic through her voice. I rarely recommend Covid books, but this strange and beautiful time-bending book is not to be missed!
