Celebrate Disability Pride Month and with these books that put representation first

Americans celebrate Disability Pride Month every July, commemorating the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990. 

It was a long road to get the ADA in place, including protests like the 1988 week-long “Deaf President Now” protest by Gallaudet students and the 1990 “Capitol Crawl,” where disabled Americans crawled up the Capitol steps without mobility devices to demonstrate the impact of inaccessible architecture. Although it’s been 34 years since this landmark civil rights law passed, the fight for disability rights continues still. 

Books with disability representation

Representation is important in books. Seeing a character with the same disability you have can be empowering. For able-bodied readers, July can be a good time to learn. No matter what type of genre you enjoy, here are 10 reads to check out this Disability Pride Month. 

‘True Biz’ by Sara Nović

“True Biz” follows a headmaster and her students at the River Valley School for the Deaf through first love, loss and injustice. The split perspectives tackle three main characters and several side characters who have different relationships to sign language and Deaf culture. Charlie, a rebellious transfer student has never met another Deaf person. Austin is campus royalty and fifth-generation Deaf. February, the headmistress, is a CODA (child of Deaf adults) trying to keep the school open and her marriage from falling apart. This book is a fast, immersive read with instructional ASL lessons at the end of most chapters.

Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Best-selling Booklist

‘Get a Life, Chloe Brown’ by Talia Hibbert

The entire Brown sisters trilogy by Talia Hibbert has disability representation. In “Get a Life, Chloe Brown,” the titular character is a chronically ill computer geek with a mission to rebel and a checklist to help her succeed. The perfect person to help her achieve this 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 trope. The main character, Dani, also has 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 the founder of the Disability Visibility Project. Each work highlights the complexity and diversity of the disabled experience and celebrates disability culture in the 21st century. 

‘Out On a Limb’ by Hannah Bonam-Young

Both the main characters in this contemporary romance have limb differences. In “Out On a Limb,” hyper-independent Winnifred “Win” McNulty finds herself accidentally pregnant after a one-night stand with Bo, a charming stranger. This is one challenge she’s unsure if she should handle on her own. When Bo unexpectedly steps up to the plate, the two decide to get to know each other as friends – but will it turn into more?

‘Seven Days in June’ by Tia Williams

In “Seven Days in June,” two lauded authors have a chance encounter at a New York panel of Black literati twenty years after they spent a week madly in the throes of teenage love. Over the next seven days, Eva and Shane reconnect and rehash the passionate romance of their youth. But can Eva trust the man who once broke her heart? 

Tia Williams’ contemporary romance explores modern motherhood, chronic pain and second-chance romances.

‘Turtles All the Way Down’ by John Green

“Turtles All the Way Down” follows teenage best friends Aza and Daisy's search for a fugitive billionaire with a $100,000 bounty on his head. Their first step is reconnecting with the billionaire’s son, Davis. 

But while Aza is trying to play detective, she's juggling countless other things – being a good daughter, friend and student, all while managing the overwhelming thought spirals that come from living with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

‘Cemetary Boys’ by Aiden Thomas

This young adult novel follows Yadriel, a trans teenager whose family won’t accept him for who he is, much less allow him to perform the family rituals that let spirits pass safely into 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, a bad boy classmate who won’t go quietly into death without finding out what happened to him. 

One of the characters has ADHD in this fantasy and sci-fi novel.

‘Two Wrongs Make a Right’ by Chloe Liese

After a disastrous first meeting and a set-up date gone sour, Jamie and Bea conclude they are entirely wrong for each other. They decide to fake a relationship (complete with an exaggerated breakup) to get back at their meddling friends. This romantic comedy reimagines Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” – fake dating, a revenge plot and an unexpected romance at the heart of it all. “Two Wrongs Make a Right” has both autism and anxiety representation.

‘Love from A to Z’ by S.K. Ali

In this young adult novel, main character Zayneb stands up against her Islamophobic teacher, only to find her activist friends targeted and herself suspended and on a plane to her aunt’s house in Qatar for an early spring break.

Riddled with guilt for getting her friends in trouble, Zayneb is looking forward to a little anonymity until fate intervenes and she crosses paths with Adam on her flight. Adam is wrestling with changes of his own – figuring out how to deal with his mother’s death and a recent multiple sclerosis diagnosis he’s hiding from his grieving father. Critics describe this meet-cute love story as “heartfelt and powerful.”

‘Alone With You in the Ether’ by Olivie Blake

This literary fiction novel kicks off with a chance encounter at the Art Institute of Chicago, aligning two people balancing on the edge of their own precarious worlds. Aldo is a doctoral student who copes with his own destructive thinking by obsessing over time travel. Regan is a bipolar counterfeit artist in court-ordered psychotherapy. Could their meeting be enough to change the course of their lives?