The Disability rights movement has a long, complicated history, but since its inception, the founding principle has been to achieve equal rights and opportunities for Disabled people.
Progress has been made in the form of legislation: the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act and the 2010 Equality Act in the UK both make it illegal to discriminate based on disability.
While the achievement of true equality is still far off, Disabled voices are being heard, notably in the publishing space. Next year is set to offer a wealth of disability-specific literature – such as with part-memoir, part-manifesto Who Wants Normal? by Frances Ryan.
To learn more about disability and the disability rights movement – and to celebrate UK Disability History Month (14 November to 20 December) – here are 5 incredible books by Disabled authors to read right now.
1. How To Do Life With A Chronic Illness by Pippa Stacey
Being diagnosed with a chronic illness can be upsetting, especially as there’s rarely much information out there on how to cope with it day to day. It often means having to manage life with less energy and not being able to ‘replenish’ yourself. Writer Pippa Stacey shares her 10+ years of lived experience in this practical guide, which bridges the gap between where the medical system ends and real life begins.
2. Ruby Hastings Writes Her Own Story by Rachel Charlton Dailey
Representation of disability for children is important, but so often missing from the conversation. In this story, Ruby Hastings aspires to be a journalist, just like her hero Susie Starling – but her dream is jeopardised when she is diagnosed with dyspraxia. This is a child-friendly and positive representation of dyspraxia, from an author with a lived experience of the condition.
3. The Anti Ableist Manifesto by Tiffany Yu
Ableism is discrimination against Disabled individuals, via the belief that someone who is ‘able bodied’ (read: non-Disabled) is superior by dint of being able to ‘do more’. Tiffany Yu went viral on TikTok during the Covid lockdowns with her anti-ableism video series; this book is her manifesto on to how to be an ally to Disabled people. It’s warm tone and invitation to start a conversation around disability is an actionable antidote to fear and misconceptions.
4. Disability Intimacy, edited by Alice Wong
Newsflash: disabled people can and do have sex! This collection of essays, memoir pieces, poems, photo stories and fictional scenes from Disabled authors explore the topic of intimacy – what it is, and what it can be. No topic is off the table, from sex and romance to friendship and the intimacy needed when caring for a Disabled person. An excellent, myth-busting piece.
5. The Little Book Of Ableism by Victoria Jenkins
Service95 previously covered fashion designer Victoria Jenkins and her mission to bring adaptive fashion – ie, garments designed to fit and suit Disabled bodies – to the mainstream via her clothing brand Unhidden. The Little Book Of Ableism offers Jenkins’ take on the language and implicit bias around ableism, shares her efforts towards myth-busting and looks at the impact of disability discrimination – all in bite-sized form.
Lydia Wilkins is an award-winning freelance journalist and editor of Disability Review Magazine. She is the author of the upcoming book, Criminally Misunderstood
