In New York City, July is recognized as Disability Pride Month. Since 2015, this month-long commemoration has been held in honor of the landmark legislation: Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). In response to systemic discrimination and negative views on disability and chronic illness, Disability Pride is a movement that seeks to celebrate people with disabilities for who they are, as they are—no exceptions. While New York's Disability Pride Parade has been temporarily postponed until 2022 due to the COVID-19 health pandemic, you can still celebrate from home...with the help of a few great books! 

Through these #OwnVoices selections, we invite you to celebrate and elevate people with disabilites, call for disability justice, and challenge ableism through reading.

If you find it hard to read standard print, The New York Public Library's Andrew Heiskell Library provides free access to talking books, talking book players, braille, a talking book download website and a free talking book and ebraille app for mobile devices. Go to nypl.org/talkingbooks to learn more and to apply.

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories From the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong

One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent; but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Now, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of contemporary essays by disabled people.

Accessible formats: Digital Talking Book, Braille, Bookshare

Sitting Pretty: The View From My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig

The disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty offers an honest look at disability and its effects on identity, love, money and self-worth by processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful portrait of a body that looks and moves differently.  Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life.

Accessible formats: Digital Talking Book, Bookshare

The Pretty One by Keah Brown

Keah Brown loves herself, but that hadn't always been the case. Born with cerebral palsy, her greatest desire used to be normalcy and refuge from the steady stream of self-hate society strengthened inside her. But after years of introspection and reaching out to others in her community, she has reclaimed herself and changed her perspective. With clear, fresh, and light-hearted prose, these essays explore everything from her relationship with her able-bodied identical twin (called "the pretty one" by friends), navigating romance, her deep affinity for all things pop culture, her disappointment with the media's distorted view of disability; and her declaration of self-love with the viral hashtag #DisabledAndCute.

Accessible formats: Digital Talking Book, Bookshare

Haben: The Deafblind Woman who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Grima

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

Whether Samantha Irby is talking about her Crohn’s disease diagnosis, detailing a disastrous pilgrimage-slash-romantic-vacation to Nashville to scatter her estranged father's ashes, sharing awkward sexual encounters or dispensing advice on how to navigate friendships with former drinking buddies who are now suburban moms, she's as deft at poking fun at the ghosts of her past self as she is at capturing powerful emotional truths.

Accessible formats: Digital Talking Book, Bookshare

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp

Run by Kody Keplinger

Cursed by Karol Ruth Silverstein 

The Silence Between Us by  Alison Gervais

Maya moves across the country and must attend a hearing school for the first time. As if that wasn't hard enough, she also has to adjust to the hearing culture, which she finds frustrating and also surprising when some classmates take time to learn ASL. As Maya looks past graduation and focuses on her future dreams, nothing, not even an unexpected romance, will not derail her pursuits. But when people in her life- Deaf and hearing alike- ask her to question parts of her Deaf identity, Maya stands proudly, never giving in to the idea that her Deafness is a disadvantage.

 

Accessible formats: Digital Talking Book, Braille, Bookshare

 

 

Meet Me in Outer Space by Melinda Grace

The Degenerates by  Jennifer Ann Mann

In the tradition of Girl, Interrupted, this fiery historical novel follows four young women in the early 20th century whose lives intersect when they are locked up by a world that took the poor, the disabled, the marginalized-and institutionalized them for life. Each girl is determined to change her fate, no matter what it takes.

Accessible format: Bookshare

 

 

Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty

As well as Dara’s intense connection to the natural world, Diary of a Young Naturalist captures his perspective as a teenager juggling exams, friendships, and a life of campaigning. We see his close-knit family, the disruptions of moving and changing schools, and the complexities of living with autism. “In writing this book,” writes Dara, “I have experienced challenges but also felt incredible joy, wonder, curiosity and excitement. In sharing this journey my hope is that people of all generations will not only understand autism a little more but also appreciate a child’s eye view on our delicate and changing biosphere.”
 

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha​ 

In this collection of essays, Lambda Literary Award–winning writer and longtime activist and performance artist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha explores the politics and realities of disability justice, a movement that centers the lives and leadership of sick and disabled queer, trans, Black, and brown people, with knowledge and gifts for all. Care Work is a mapping of access as radical love, a celebration of the work that sick and disabled queer/people of color are doing to find each other and to build power and community, and a tool kit for everyone who wants to build radically resilient, sustainable communities of liberation where no one is left behind. Powerful and passionate, Care Work is a crucial and necessary call to arms.

Accessible formats: Digital Talking Book, Braille, Bookshare

Say Hello by Carly Findlay

Australian disability rights activist Carly Findlay shares her experience living with a genetic skin condition called Ichthyosis. Because of her condition, Findlay’s skin often appears red. When people see her facial difference, they often make rude remarks or ask invasive questions. This memoir is full of insight and wisdom Findlay has learned over the years, and stands in solidarity with other disabled people who may be experiencing the same things she has throughout her life.

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc

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 behaviour and linking the quest for disability rights to new kinds of stories that celebrate difference.

Accessible format: Bookshare

Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.