July is Disability Pride Month! Check out some of the following titles that honor the achievement, experiences ad struggles of the disability community.
Henry would like to find a friend at school, but for a boy on the autism spectrum, making friends can be difficult, as his efforts are sometimes misinterpreted, or things just go wrong–but Henry keeps trying, and in the end he finds a friend he can play with.
Emma Every Day: Cooking with Grandma
Her second place finish in a writing contest for third graders disappoints Emma, a deaf girl, but her best friend Izzie, who did not expect much, is thrilled to finish third, so the girls decide to celebrate together.
A sensitive boy gets overwhelmed by all the sights, sounds, and sensations at the beach, but his dad has a trick to help his son face these unexpected obstacles
The Lumbering Giants of Windy Pines
Ever since her dad died, eleven-year-old Jerry Blum and her mom have bounced around dead-end towns, staying in rundown motels where her mother picks up housekeeping work and Jerry can get around in her wheelchair. But the Slumbering Giant motel is different. Lights blink on and off in the trees, a mysterious radio station plays only at midnight, and people disappear into the woods, never to been seen again. Not to mention that Jerry’s mom keeps vanishing to do ‘special work’ that she refuses to discuss. When her mother doesn’t come home one morning, Jerry springs into action. Luckily, she’s not alone.
Violet and the Jurassic Land Exhibit
Violet navigates her OCD while volunteering at the local natural history museum.
Tyler’s brain is different. Unlike his friends, he has a hard time paying attention in class. He acts out in goofy, over-the-top ways. Sometimes, he even does dangerous things–like cut up a bus seat with a pocketknife or hang out of an attic window. Nobody, including Tyler, understands why he does these things until his doctor diagnoses him with ADHD. But that is just the start of his journey.
Zion Clark has always had big dreams for himself despite the many hardships he faced growing up as a Black disabled child in the foster care system of Ohio. His childhood years were marked by instability as he moved from home to home, experiencing abuse and neglect. And yet his determination and grit pushed him to become an elite wrestler and wheelchair racer. His constant reinvention led him to activism, speaking out about the failings of the foster care system. The list of Zion’s accomplishments and accolades is lengthy, but he’s not even close to slowing down. As he says, “Work with what you got! If I can do it, so can you!”
In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight. Soon the two discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it’s the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages, and the fear of losing his independence.
Opposites attract and sparks fly as a passionate dancer and a ladies’ man who’s given up on love fall for each other-one tango at a time-in this charming debut romance perfect for fans of Talia Hibbert and Blair Fell. Nick Freeman works hard as the star of the weekly karaoke night at his bar, hoping his singing talent, quick wit, and winning smile will distract from his cerebral palsy. But one night at the bar, watching a professional dancer light up the dance floor with her boyfriend, he realizes that entertaining strangers will never give him a fraction of the joy he sees in this woman’s eyes.
Disability Intimacy : Essays on Love, Care, and Desire
Another revolutionary collection of first-person writing on the joys and challenges of the modern disability experience, and intimacy in all its myriad forms. What is intimacy? More than sex, more than romantic love, the pieces in this stunning and illuminating new anthology offer broader and more inclusive definitions of what it can mean to be intimate with another person.