Below is a list of narratives of people who live with disabilities. Reading these is a good way to have a better appreciation for the lived experience of people with different disabilities and of the lives of important leaders in our community.
Crip Kinship: https://amzn.to/3S21ri9
This is a good read for medical professionals/students to understand how to speak and understand people in the cross-roads of disability and the LGBTQ+ communities. This text investigates the revolutionary survival teachings that disabled, queer of color communities offer to all our bodyminds. From their focus on crip beauty and sexuality to manifesting digital kinship networks and crip-centric liberated zones, Sins Invalid empowers and moves us toward generating our collective liberation from our bodyminds outward.
Year of the Tiger: https://amzn.to/4cDuvFg
The narrative surrounding disability can be taboo, and this text can help those who have a disability to better ground themselves in a world that is built for an ableist culture and can be troublesome for those with disabilities. As a self-described disabled oracle, Alice traces her origins, tells her story, and creates a space for disabled people to be in conversation with one another and the world.
Disability Pride: https://amzn.to/4cyGBz7
This is a book which unveils a thriving disability culture, but also addresses topics for improvement. Disabled journalist Ben Mattlin weaves together interviews and reportage to introduce a cavalcade of individuals, ideas, and events in engaging, fast-paced prose. He traces the generation that came of age after the ADA reshaped America, and how it is influencing the future. He documents how autistic self-advocacy and the neurodiversity movement upended views of those whose brains work differently.
Being Heumann: https://amzn.to/4bG7EHN
One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human.
Sitting Pretty: https://amzn.to/3XT0I6R
A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most.
Pain Woman Takes the Keys: https://amzn.to/3LifrAz
This book is a collection of literary and experimental essays about living with chronic pain. Huber addresses the nature and experience of invisible disability, including the challenges of gender bias in our healthcare system, the search for effective treatment options, and the difficulty of articulating chronic pain.
About Us: https://amzn.to/4cro481
This book discusses various narratives for those living with disabilities. Speaking not only to people with disabilities and their support networks, but to all of us, the authors in About Us offer intimate stories of how they navigate a world not built for them.
We’ve Got This: https://amzn.to/3xRSQI4
This text is a compilation of parents around the world who identify as Deaf, disabled, or chronically ill, discuss the highs and lows of their parenting journeys and reveal that the greatest obstacles lie in other people’s attitudes. The result is a moving, revelatory, and empowering anthology that tackles ableism head-on.
Disfigured: https://amzn.to/3LlwjXa
This is a good book for a perspective-shift of our society’s view on disabilities and perfect for healthcare students/providers to better understand the inner depths of those living with disabilities–presented in a fun way. If every disabled character is mocked and mistreated, how does the Beast ever imagine a happily-ever-after? Amanda Leduc looks at fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm to Disney, showing us how they influence our expectations and behavior and linking the quest for disability rights to new kinds of stories that celebrate differences.
A Stitch of Time: https://amzn.to/3zCVlP1
This book is a case study of a brain slowly piecing itself back together, featuring clinical research about aphasia and linguistics, interwoven with Lauren’s narrative and actual journal entries that marked her progress.
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