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On July 26, 1990, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) passed. We’re at the 30th anniversary! Which is super weird, because you’d think maybe we would mandate access for all people before we focused on things like slap bracelets, but it exists now. So let’s look at some books!
The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julia Finley Mosca, Daniel Rieley. More nonfiction for young people! This is good for, let’s say 5-7 year olds and tells the story of Temple Grandin, who was diagnosed with autism in her twenties, but showed signs from a young age. Her “unique mind allowed her to connect with animals in a special way, helping her invent groundbreaking improvements for farms around the globe.”
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the 21st Century ed. by Alice Wong. Speaking of the 30th anniversary of the ADA, Wong started the Disability Visibility Project for the 25th anniversary, and has now put together this excellent collection of essays for this year’s anniversary. One in five people in the United States live with a disability, and we should start seeing more of their stories in print. This collection covers a lot of ground, but I’m hopeful we’ll see more in the near future.
In the Kingdom of the Sick: A Social History of Chronic Illness in America by Laurie Edwards. Are you a human person? Then you probably know someone living with a chronic illness. This book goes from Plato to the post-WWII shift re medicine and illness in the U.S. to disability rights, the Women’s Health Movement, and more. If you like bird’s eye views of things, I’d recommend this. It was written in 2013, so it’s not going to have up-to-the-minute information, but its job is to say how we got to where we are in the 21st century.
Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma. Girma was the FIRST Deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School. If you love excellent chapter titles, these include “Ableism and the Art of Blind PB&J,” “Kicking Butt, Legally Speaking,” and “Alaska Gives Me the Cold, Hard Truth.” Among many others. When I read about this one, I immediately put it on hold at my library. She climbs icebergs, she fights for the rights of blind readers, she develops a text-to-braille system. Amazing.
The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love With Me by Keah Brown. Creator of the viral hashtag #DisabledAndCute, Brown talks about her life and growing up with cerebral palsy, but also her opinions on the Backstreet Boys and TV shows. If you want a low-key, chat-with-a-friend book, this is for you. She also has some good chapter titles, like “You Can’t Cure Me, I Promise It’s Fine” and “Freedom of a Ponytail.”
We need to do better! And these awesome books give me hope that we will. Let’s publish more.
All right, find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the nonfiction For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.