When was the last time you read a YA book with disability representation?
We talk about diversity so much in the YA book community and I cannot stress how good and crucial it is, how different it is from even 10 years ago. The strides we’re making? The ownvoices authors bringing telling their stories? The diversity advocates who won’t stop championing marginalised books and authors no matter how tired they are?! This is incredible.
But whenever I see the book community talking about diversity, we talk about POC, Black and queer books…but yet?
Me: 👀waiting for them to talk about disabled books and authors👀
Here’s the thing about most marginalisations: they’re seen as undesirable and shameful. Being queer is still illegal in so many countries. Black people are murdered for the colour of their skin. Slurs are spat at immigrants and biracial kids struggle to fit into multiple cultures. Nothing about these things are easy or should be talked about less. Talk about them MORE.
It’s just…we don’t seem to talk about disabilities in that as well? Not to mention how often disabled rep isn’t even intersectional. I sit here and cannot think of a YA book by a Black autistic writer published by the Big 5 in the last few years. 😐(Hopefully I’m just wrong though!)
When was the last time you read a book by a disabled author? What was the last book you read with a disabled main character? Are you struggling to…think of any?
I’m autistic. Not all autistics consider themselves disabled, but I am. I’ve read 7 books out of 105 with disability rep this year. 1 of those had an autistic character.
Now some of this blame is always going to lie on us, as readers! I mean, have I actively searched and bought as many disability books as I could have? No. But have I also been reading a lot of books published by the Big Publishers and been trying to keep up with new releases and found they do not care about representing disabled characters at all?! *deep breath after that long run-on sentence* Well, yes. Seems you have to search for underrated books if you want disability rep. 😳
Today I’d like to talk about some things I wish I saw more in books with disabilities!
July is actually Disability Pride Month and I’m feeling bad it’s taken me so long to get a post together! But…ya know…busyness and mental illness over here 🙂👌🏻 I also would like to do a rec post…so hopefully I’ll get that up someday soon too. I’m excited but nervous to be writing this post because I do not know everything and I’m learning everyday to be a better ally as well as advocate.
And if I mess up in this post or use the wrong language, and if you feel comfortable correcting me, please do. 💛
OTHER POSTS YOU MIGHT LIKE 👀
➸ 10 Things I Want To See More Of In YA Books About Mental Health
➸ YA Anxiety Book Recommendations
➸ How To Keep Writing When You Have a Mental Illness
➸ What It’s Like To Write An #Ownvoices Novel
1. More #ownvoices Authors!
This should be such an obvious request — yet I look at my disability list of books I’ve read and am kind of mind-blown about how few are from #ownvoices authors. This needs??? to change??? desperately???
The more I learn about disabilities, the more I realise I don’t know, and the more cautious I am to call a book “good rep” when I haven’t lived that disability. I personally know how to watch out for problematic tropes and harmful stereotypes. But what about accuracy? And details? I want to sink into reading more #ownvoices stories so I KNOW I am reading their truths. (That is not to say disabled lit is meant to exist to educate ableds or those who haven’t lived it! But it’s so important to see accuracy on page.)
This also makes me think of how inaccessible publishing can be for disabled authors. Those who write very slowly, can’t go to conventions or do interviews, those who need translators or special writing equipment, those who can’t stay focused or find the energy to finish writing or need extra mentoring to translate their atypical thinking. 😕 I think there’s room for publishing (also agents and editors) to better accommodate their disabled authors.
2. Disabilities affecting the story.
One trope I see crop up a lot is: a fantasy adventuring featuring a disabled character…but the disability is barely mentioned and honestly doesn’t affect the story at all. NOW this isn’t inherently bad because having a disability isn’t a competition. Having ADHD that you’ve learned to work with is going to be different to someone in a wheelchair — it will affect the story differently. But often times I see abled authors doing this and it can feel (at least to me) they are slipping in some rep without having to do much work. This is not always the case, but it’s something for abled authors to think about. We can still enjoy these types of books, but maybe we shouldn’t hold them up as Golden Disabled Fantasy Examples.
I really really want to read books where the disabled character gets to have adventures too and is disabled the whole way through. Fantasy stories with wheelchair users. Paranormals with kids with cerebral palsy. Deaf romances. Vision impaired teens in epic fantasies. Magical realism that centres on mental illness. Weave it throughout the whole book and let it impact the character so sometimes they have to sit down instead of run, sometimes they have to leave a sensory overloading situation, sometimes they have a huge miscommunication and they struggle with it.
You know why? Because every time we have a book about a character LIVING with their disability and STILL having an adventure is a huge boost to a community who has been told for centuries that they’re undesirable and should be invisible and quiet if they have to exist at all.
I can’t say how often I hear someone say to me, “I can’t even tell you’re autistic!” but they’re also like: why do we have so many misunderstandings, why can’t you change your schedule for me, why do you repeat yourself a lot, why did you forget this and this, you’re obsessing over something again, why are you so blunt, why did you–
I wish people understood more what autism is and I bet most disabled people wished the same too. We need more visibility and we need people to understand. Or to accept as is, without understanding completely. I think books could help with this so so much.
3. Disabled characters who stay disabled.
Out with any cure tropes! But also out with the autistic kid ending the book hugging everyone. Out with the mentally ill character finding love and feeling good forever. Out with the Deaf teen learning to lip read better solely to make communication easier for everyone else. Out with disabled characters having a secret superpower to make up for their disability. (Can I say how harmful this last one is?! Autistics don’t need to be savants to be worthwhile. People with chronic illness don’t need to be psychics. Blind people don’t need to have super-hearing.)
We literally need books bursting with disability pride. With characters who struggle but also love who they are. With characters who learn to cope better, but STILL have their disability. With people who find love and safe spaces and make the world work for them.
The disability isn’t always the problem. It’s that the world doesn’t accommodate it.
4. Disabled Intersectionality!
Because hey guess what? You can be autistic and Black and queer! Or pansexual and chronically ill! Or have ADHD and POTS and be biracial! Again, I’d really love to see #ownvoices authors tackling this 🥰 but we need so much more championing of stories that aren’t just about straight/white/boys. It’s genuinely not “too much” to be intersectional with diversity. Did you know a huge percentage of autistics also identify as on the lgbtqia+ spectrum? Did you know a lot of neurodiverse Black kids go undiagnosed?
There are soooo many stories out there. I wish they were on our shelves.
5. Disabled character starring!
I do understand why many abled authors write side-disabled characters instead of making them star. I kind of agree with the decision too. It’s one thing to be inclusive, another to be in the head of a disabled character and act like you know how it feels — if you haven’t lived it. I’m NOT saying non-ownvoices authors shouldn’t ever write disabled POVs. There’s research and sensitivity readers out there to help. It is worth discussing if that takes away places from #ownvoices authors. (But not today lol.)
It’s definitely more common to see a disabled side character instead of a main character. Most often: It’s the carer’s POV. Maybe the love interest is disabled. Or the Main Character has the sibling with cancer. Again, these stories aren’t inherently problematic it’s just….[deep sigh] there’s so much to unpack here. Usually the main character has huge themes of how GOOD they are to go out of their way to accommodate the disabled character. There’s always a power imbalance. Without the abled main character, the disabled character has no agency or story of their own. They can’t DO something they wanted without help which can be taken away at any time if the abled character gets hurt or mad. Etc. Etc.
None of this is to say the carer of a disabled person should not feel pain or be upset. Look, it’s hard being disabled but it’s also hard having someone you love going through ruinously difficult times. It’s just hard. For example: supporting someone through a meltdown is super emotionally exhausting and sometimes physically painful. But the thing is…it’s worse for the disabled person. And the focus is so very often NOT on them, but rather on the carer’s suffering. Maybe because people think that’s more relatable.
But we need to do better in books. Disabled teens deserve better when reading YA. They don’t deserve to feel like burdens.
This is one I find difficult to talk about eloquently because I have had people label my book (The Boy Who Steals Houses) as slotting into this category — Sam takes care of his older autistic brother Avery and often stresses out about his own suffering.
Full disclosure: Sam is autistic too. He is undiagnosed but never once asks himself if he is autistic too. But he’s over there consumed and obsessed with Avery (obsession is an autistic trait), he struggles to express himself (autistic trait), he sensory seeks the whole book (in tins of buttons, messing with the textures of Moxie’s sewing, his countless rituals in how he steals houses, collecting and stimming with keys, the clothes he chooses, the sensory overload meltdown he has in the finale which mirrors Avery’s at the club). There is a neon sign pointing to Sam’s autism, but I didn’t use the word and I think many people won’t know. I wish I had said it on page! Or at least made Sam think about it. But I’m learning and growing (and making mistakes and pledging to do better) too. I wish I’d taken a more nuanced and introspective view on Sam vs Avery displaying autism in two different ways. But the fact is: the book is about two autistic brothers struggling to care for each other. It’s not about an abled boy resenting his autistic brother.
I think we need more books with disabled starring characters so readers stop seeing them as unrelatable or confusing or rare.
About 15% of the world experiences disability in their lifetime. That’s…not rare. And it shouldn’t be invisible — especially not in books.
We also should be able to talk about disability pride without wiping out disability struggles, but also without any underlying messages of “you’d be happier if you were abled”. PLEASE.
I hope I’ve left us with something to think about.
I don’t intend to write posts that make people feel harried or guilty. I want us to think and then work on doing better. ME TOO, OKAY. I will do better with what I read and promote and consider. I think publishing has some achinly deep gaps in how it cares and promotes disabled books. It hurts? But the more people triumph diversity, the more rep we can call for and the more rep we can get. 💛And I have lots of disability books I want to write too 😍 Someday!!
Make sure your diversity advocacy includes disabled books and authors 🥰
tell me some disabled books and authors you love! or some on your TBR! and do tell me your thoughts on all of this because I’d love to discuss 💛
“I Have No Secrets” by Penny Joelson is a YA thriller from the POV of a girl with severe cerebral palsy! I think her new book also has a disabled teen as main character.
I think probably the best YA book with disabled characters was “Accidents of Nature” by Harriet McBryde Johnson, this was #ownvoices and it was a whole take on disability that I’d never read before!
SO. MUCH. YES!!! As someone with multiple physical disabilities, am chronically ill, have mental health struggles, am neurodivergent, queer, and nonbinary trans that sounds like way too much for most people to even believe I exist. You can even add fat and marginalized religion (pagan-I get a lot of crap for it) in there too if you want. And most of it, goes unseen. And I still have privileges of course, one of which being i’m white. There are so many people that are disabled AND other marginalization’s as well. I often end up relating to almost any character in some way, but seeing more than one aspect I can relate to is nearly impossible, especially the rare cases I stumble upon disability rep. And I rarely hear anyone talking about disability rep in books and it’s makes me so frustrated but I don’t want to come across as seeming like i’m saying we need less of other marginalization’s because we need more, of ALL of it! I’m just upset at the silence surrounding disability.
I hope I said that right, I apologize if I said anything wrong (and please let me know). Thank you for making this post.
I just found out that I am autistic. It’s been a whirlwind of feelings and thoughts about it, but one thing I definitely want to do in the future is write a book with an autistic main character (and fantasy because why would I not include dragons if I could??).
Also I just bought The Boy Who Steals Houses just for the autism rep. Looking forward to reading it! 🙂
I loved this post – so much food for thought. I did not realize that is is Disability Pride month (which says a great deal in and of itself), As someone who works with students with a wide range of disabilities, I am often searching for books for my students to read that reflect their disabilities – sometimes this is harder than others. You’ve given me some inspiration to pull together some of my resources though to put together a post of some disability rep in fiction. Thanks for getting my thinking and reflecting!
I really enjoyed this post! I will be the first person to admit that the books I read with disability representation are few and far between. I am re-reading the Percy Jackson series right now, and a lot of people with ADHD and dyslexia do say that the representation is great with those books. I understand that Riordan’s son suffers from both those conditions, but although he may know a lot about those disabilities, I would like to read some more own voices novels with learning disability representation. In particular, I would love to hear from an own voices author who is a person of colour and/or queer.
While the publishing industry has made great strides in terms of racial and LGBTQ+ diversity, disabled rep is still not as mainstream. I loved the character of Kaz in Six of Crows who walks with a cane, but I still think popular books have barely scraped the surface in terms of disability rep.
Thank you so much for this post! You are so damn right. I can think of some disabled books that I love, both with #ownvoices authors and not, but they’re seriously outweighed by literally everything else, and that’s not okay. We should be uplifting every voice, and that includes disabled voices. The fact that they so often get left out of the conversation just infuriates me. I want my cousins to be able to see themselves in book as they get older, and there are so few books that I can give to them and say, “See. That’s you. You matter, too.”
One of my absolutely favorite books ever is The Someday Birds by Sally J. Pla, which both stars an autistic boy and is #ownvoices. I had the honor of having her speak to a class of fifth graders that’d read and loved her book, and one of the things she talked about was how important it was to show young kids the incredible diverse and wonderful people there are in the world from a young age. She’s such an amazing person, and her book holds a special place in my heart.
Some other fantastic ones are The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín, The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle, Things I Should Have Known by Claire LaZebnik, and When My Heart Joins the Thousand by AJ Steiger. I’ve got a ton more on my TBR that I really need to prioritize, so thank you for reminding me to do that!
My library has a copy of Unbroken – I’m going to have to pick it up! Thanks for sharing, Cait!
I’m so glad!! hope you enjoy!
I loved this post!! And how you’re open about writing disability – we don’t always get it right first go and can’t be held to higher standards than other writers. I’ve written a book with and autistic, adhd, spd and queer protagonist. It’s an own voices YA and it hurt to write! She’s gifted (not a savant though), and for that I’ve been criticised. But the truth is that I am – and it’s not a compensation or much of a ‘gift’. The stats are horrible for ‘twice exceptional’ (gifted plus disability) folk. And as it was own voices Peta is and that’s what I could write. The reviews are harsh sometimes – things no one would say about an abled straight white male writer or character. But mostly they’re awesome. My thanks to you for opening up the discussion in a safe space ❤️
My hope is that we have so many disability representations that they can’t keep stereotyping our characters or us! Ok this screen is tiny and I don’t know what I’ve written – hope it makes sense 😅🥰
Thank you for commenting!! 💛 (You know I’m super excited to read your book 😍) And I should have clarified in the post that the stereotypes aren’t always harmful. I personally am autistic/asexual and THAT is usually a stereotype….to the point where I don’t want to write a character of that combination because I know it’ll be received badly and criticised. Which is wrong?! I also have gifted autistic AND not-gifted autistic nephews. The point is there’s so many identities and yet most stories we get are so narrow 😭 and yeah usually written by straight/white/abled men tbh.
(And I always go by the rule: if it’s #ownvoices, then they write their identities however they like.)
I also have gotten some harsh reviews…including calling my autism rep bad 😭 it’s always an allistic reader saying that though, so I’ve learned to not take much notice.
Oh I’m not stalking you though 😂 The algorithms must have bumped up all your posts though, and I’m glad. I was just talking to Kay Kerr yesterday about which stereotypes we are subtly encouraged to hide, even as own voices writers. I have undiagnosed characters in Peta’s family, though I’m not sure anyone’s noticed. I’m sorry you’ve copped criticism, and glad you’ve kept going! This is why representation helps, we can see each other and not feel alone. I’m writing physical disabilities AND neurodivergence in my next manuscript and it’s a bit scary. It’s my life though, so it’s probably some one else’s too 🤪
I definitely need more #OwnVoice authors to write books on Disability. It’s essential to know how someone’s life is affected through a personal experience rather than research no matter how meticulously done
Cait sksks I’m SO BEHIND on your blog IM SORRY! But I’m here lmao.
YES TO ALL OF THIS!! It truly is so important and so stupid that its not talked about more. I have a sibling with ADHD and its something so many deal with and?? Where is the rep?? Especially the own voices rep.
You are so 1000% correct that disables people are often left out of diversity conversations! It gets a little frustrating because whenever I see people tweet about compiling lists of diverse bloggers, I’m often hesitant to add my blog to a list because while I am disabled, I’m also white and I’m worried that people won’t classify me as being a diverse blogger even though I have a disability. I’m just a little (or a lot) tired of disabled people being right at the end of the ladder because we’re always ignored.
I agree wholeheartedly!! Especially that we need more #ownvoices books! I just looked at my bookshelf and so few books that I’ve read actually had good disability rep (but my TBR looks promising, so I can hope that this changes in the future!).
Books allow so many people to feel less alone and more comfortable with themselves, so I think good rep is so so important. And you’re totally right in that it can help make others more understanding.
I hope you get to publish all of your stories with disability rep!
This is such a lovely and thoughtful post! And these are all really, really good points. And I definitely think that so many books with disability rep (and even more so autism rep) are like you said, focused on the caretaker character and not the one with the disability and I agree with you completely that while the caretaker of course has needs and difficulties, it is without a doubt harder for the disabled person. And it’s awesome to know that Sam was autistic as well! It definitely fits with his character, and I also love it because it shows that there are all different variations of autism. Sometimes I worry when the rep is very stereotypical. You’ve got the younger sibling who can’t speak beyond echolalia, and stims all day or whatever, and frankly having only that type of rep isn’t good. It doesn’t account for all the people who don’t fit into that very small box of autism, you know?
I also think there’s so much to be said for characters not being “cured”, And like, actually having their disability be part of who they are. It’s not a book (well it is but none of this happens in the book) but in The 100, there is a character who gets shot and ends up paralyzed in one leg. They build her a brace, and tried to help medically, but it was permanent. Anyway, through the course of the show, she has to deal with it all the time. They’re so careful to like, be sure to put into the script that sometimes she can’t quite keep up while running and such, and they just melded it into her character beautifully. She also deals with the emotional stuff that comes with it, which I think does NOT happen often enough in books (or shows and such!) It doesn’t at ALL define her, but it IS a part of who she is and it’s not lost in the narrative. Anyway, I just thought that was a great example of doing it well.
I cannot even tell you how much I freaking adore this post! I absolutely love books with disability rep, and in fact it’s one of the key words that can get me to read a book. All you have to do is tell me that a character has a disability, and I’m already reading it!
When I was reading this post and you mentioned own voices stories, Sick Kids in Love immediately came to mind! I think that book is fantastic, and part of what made that book so unique and special was that it was own voices. Another book that I loved that I was reminded of when I saw your photos was Unbroken. That’s my absolute FAVORITE anthology, and I was amazed at how much I loved every story, and was so happy to see so much diversity and intersectionality included!
On the other hand there are so many problematic non-own voices stories. Ones where the authors think that love can cure illness/disability. Ones where authors exploit a disability just to mess with your emotions. Ones where the characters are not affected by their disability in unrealistic ways. These frustrate me so much, especially when I see people loving these books, and even though I’m not always an own voices reader, I know that there are blatant problematic elements that people don’t see because they’re so conditioned to reading these kinds of stories.
However, there have been some stories that I don’t believe were own voices, yet I think were done really well. I respect those books because of how much I gained from reading them, and how they now got me to a point where I am more analytical and critical of books with disability and the issues that many of them have.
As for magical cures, just this month, I was recently reading a book where a character was unable to have children due to an injury. Then she got a second injury to the same area. And yet, I predicted correctly that the book would end with her having a child. Which it did. And that made me so mad! Especially since the book made her out to be less of a woman because of her infertility! (And this is unfortunately not the first time I’ve come across this trope.)
I think this a fantastic post that everyone should read! I’m really looking forward to your recommendation post because I’d love to find more books with disability rep because of how difficult it can be to find these books on my own, even though I try my best!
this is a very insightful post, and i want to thank you for taking the time to write this!! i definitely need to do better at reading more books with disability rep, and particularly from ownvoices authors, and there are a lot of great things to keep in mind for my own writing! i love the point you bring up about how often stories with abled characters and disabled side characters can make it feel like a “look at how good of an ally i am” — there’s definitely a balance between not taking space from ownvoices authors and not writing rep like that! loved this post <3
YES TO ALL OF THIS!!! Also I’m laughing SO HARD right now because *I* happen to have ADHD and POTS and am multiracial and now I’m starting to suspect ALL your blog posts are secretly about me (better not let that go to my head) ahahahaha 😂😂😂
One of my biggest peeve is the curing of disability. I hate it with a fiery passion. So yes great list 😀
Yes! Books with disabled characters are annoyingly hard to find although I’ve actually read five (!) recently-ish which do it well. In order: blindness x 2, cancer equalling limb loss, lupus and cerebral palsy.
Floored by Sara Barnard
The Rules of Seeing by Joe Heap (more adult than YA)
Brave Enough by Kati Gardner – own voices
Every Little Piece of My Heart by Non Pratt
Amy and Matthew by Cammie McGovern (disabled girl is a sexual being!!!)
i completely agree with all your points, cait! reading more books with disability rep is something i really want to do this year and i already have some of these books in my TBR for the upcoming months. however, it’s sad that i don’t have as many own voices in that list. i love how you pointed out how challenging it can be for an author to publish their work when we still have such a long way to go for accessibility.
the second point you mentioned reminded me of a curse so dark and lonely, that i read earlier on this year. the main character has cerebral palsy and while the author mentions in her acknowledgements that she had sensitive readers and tried to be mindful of the rep, it still barely affected the story, and like you said, that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but i feel like it could’ve been mentioned more considering it was an adventure novel and it didn’t seem likely that it would work like that in real life.
as for books where the disabled characters don’t stay disabled, i honestly do not count them, lol. that’s why i really struggle with books like five feet apart or everything, everything, because i feel like it’s such a cheap way of handling the situation – by not handling it at all.
i follow you on instagram and i saw your post about books with disability that we’d read or wanted to read, but ended up not commenting, so i’m going to do this here, hahah. in the great unknowable end, by kathryn ormsbee, i believe one of the characters has tourettes’ syndrome.
Thank you for writing this post <3
Just came across your post now – nearly a year after you wrote it. All I can say is: YES, YES, YES!
My YA Cursed (Charlesbridge Teen, 2019) checks many of your boxes except there’s no intersectionality. I’m white, cis and het so my main character is as well. I’m definitely looking to read more #ownvoices disability by BIPOC authors and featuring intersectionality.
Thanks for the post!