In celebration of the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we at Libro.fm asked Women & Children First—a queer and disabled-owned bookstore in Chicago, Illinois—to curate a quiz showcasing audiobooks by authors with disabilities that extend beyond existing tropes.
“For too long, disabled authors were only allowed to write memoir, and those memoirs could only be 1) tragic pity parties, or 2) inspirational tales of superhuman resilience,” say the Women & Children First booksellers. “The books on this list center disabled people’s full humanity, embracing the messy contradictions, the dark humor, the nuanced politics, and—yes—the joy. The publishing industry still has a long way to go in regard to supporting disabled people to write beyond memoir, but these recommendations make us hopeful for a more expansive future.”
Read on to take the quiz and explore our playlist with audiobooks written by authors with disabilities.
“The books on this list center disabled people’s full humanity, embracing the messy contradictions, the dark humor, the nuanced politics, and—yes—the joy.”
Women & Children First
Looking for more?
Love this! However, both options for new releases of literary fiction lead to the same book. I did a little digging to find the correct second book and just bought it! I’m so excited to read it. Thanks!
Sorry about that, Meg! It’s been corrected. Thanks for letting us know and happy reading!
Thank you so much for this! I got this via email today and look forward to expanding my reading horizons!
You’re welcome, Kirsten! Happy reading!
Unfortunately the graphic of “Booksellers at Women & Children First” puts the type over the 2nd booksellers (and co-owners) face.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Kaylie! It’s been corrected.
The irony is that the quiz doesn’t seem to be accessible using a screen reader. Which means, blind or visually impaired disabled people may not be able to participate. Please look into this so said disabled people are actually included
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Ana. You’re right. We’ll look into more accessible quiz platform options for this and future quizzes.