One of the joys of Book Bingo is expanding reading beyond what you might ordinarily pick up, and hopefully discovering what Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop termed “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors:” books that offer both opportunities for self-affirmation and insight into the experiences of those different from us. Within the Disability category, there is such a wide and rich range of experiences from which to see oneself and to learn about how others live in our world. Check out one of these picks for Disability reads.
Dara Baldwin’s To Be a Problem is both a memoir and an indictment of the systemic racism present in the disability rights and other justice-seeking movements. As a Black disabled woman, Baldwin shares her personal journey of becoming a disability rights activist and professional advocate, as well as instances in which disabled Black and other people of color are routinely left out and erased from policy decisions that directly impact them. Given that many racial justice movements also fail to include a disability lens, Baldwin calls readers to a collective liberation that centers disabled people of color.
If you’re looking for a disability memoir with a good dose of humor, Leg by Greg Marshall is here for you. Marshall chronicles his experience both coming to terms with his sexuality as a gay man and learning as an adult that he has cerebral palsy, a diagnosis that was kept from him despite multiple surgeries and mobility devices. His meditations on human connection and the complexities of bodies will stay with you, even as you laugh at his relatable mishaps.
For an insightful tale of progressive disability, check out Andrew Leland’s The Country of the Blind. Diagnosed as a teenager with untreatable retinitis pigmentosa, Leland learned that his eyesight would deteriorate to eventual blindness. What follows is his ambivalent experience of losing sight but learning how to navigate the world in new, more tactile ways, including learning to use Braille and being physically guided by his son. He interweaves a social and cultural history of blindness, along with interviews with many other blind folks, into his own experience, providing a nuanced look into what it means to have vision loss specifically and become disabled more generally.
Moving to fiction, True Biz by Sara Nović is both a propulsive novel about community and civil rights, and a vibrant celebration and education of Deaf culture. Deaf author Nović centers her novel on the River Valley School for the Deaf, focusing on three characters: Charlie, a transfer student with cochlear implants who has never met another Deaf person; Austin, Deaf royalty and the school’s golden boy; and February, the school’s headmistress trying valiantly to keep the school open and her marriage intact. Interspersed between chapters are mini lessons on American Sign Language, Black American Sign Language, Deaf history, and more.
Finally, Talia Hibbert imbues all of her romances with neurodiversity and disability. Get a Life, Chloe Brown, the first in the Brown Sisters trilogy, stars the titular heroine Chloe, a chronically ill computer programmer who has a near-death experience and decides it’s time to spice up her life. Her hunky building superintendent Red is there to help, as they navigate past traumas and insecurities to rediscover what makes life worth living.
Looking for more suggestions? Check out Book Bingo NW 2025: Disability.
~posted by Jane S.
For more ideas for books to meet your Summer Book Bingo challenge, follow our Shelf Talk BookBingoNW2025 series or check the hashtag #BookBingoNW2025 on social media. Book Bingo is presented in partnership with Seattle Arts & Lectures and the King County Library System.
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