Did you know that the month of July is Disability Pride Month? This month was chosen because the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed on July 26, 1990.

Reading books by disabled or neurodivergent authors is part of reading diversely. If you want to read books with disabled characters, I encourage you to look for authors who are themselves disabled. They know better than anyone what it’s like to navigate the world with a disability. Plus, books by abled authors sometimes perpetuate problematic tropes or harmful stereotypes.

Need reading recommendations? You can find a list here that includes literary fiction, memoir, etc. For more recent releases, see this list at Goodreads— note, though, that not all the books included are by disabled authors.

Long-time Rollins readers know that many of my books contain neurodivergent leads, but even some of my non-autistic characters have disabilities, too. The Incident at Ingleton includes a female lead with chronic migraines, and The Case at Castle Rock Cove includes a female lead character with a specific phobia. Both of these characters draw from my personal experience.

At the moment, I’m working on a novella that includes a Hard of Hearing lead character. This is new territory for me, so I can only say that I hope I do a good job of depicting life with mild hearing loss. I’ll have more news about this story soon!