Inclusive Media
Diverse Books
- The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love With Me by Keah Brown
- Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma
- We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby
- It’s Just Nerves: Notes on a Disability by Kelly Davio
- The Perseverance by Raymond Antrobus
- Welcome to Biscuit Land: A Year in the Life of Touretteshero by Jessica Thom
- Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor
- Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
- The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang
*These are only a small sample of books about disability or written by authors with disabilities*
Authors with Disabilities
Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh
Allie Brosh has severe depression and ADHD, and her comics have won praise from others with those conditions and mental health professionals. Her first book, Hyperbole and a Half, which is written in a similar style of part comic, part narrative, brought me to tears of laughter and includes one of the most accurate descriptions of depression I’ve ever read. This was one of my most highly anticipated books of 2020.
Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee
“Phoenix Extravagant takes us through an inspiringly imaginative journey about devotion, connection, and the power of art as resistance. Part fantasy, part literary fiction, this book will prove irresistible to all readers prizing a story brimming with cultural significance, vivid artistic imagery, and the limitless capability of art for reclaiming one’s identity.
Drawing a fantasy world analogous to the Japanese occupation of Korea before and during World War II.”
Yoon Ha Lee is a Korean-American SFF author who has bipolar disorder and struggles with depression. His novel Phoenix Extravagant follows a nonbinary painter as they team up with a mechanical dragon against an evil empire.
TV & Movies
(click on the movie or show name to watch a trailer)
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
Wonder (2017)
Life According to Sam (2015)
See What I’m Saying (2010)
Brain on Fire (2016)
The Road Within (2014)
Love on the Spectrum (2019)
Switched at Birth (2011-2017)
Raising Tourette’s (2018)
Atypical (2017-2021)
Speechless (2016-2019)
Born This Way (2015-2019)
Daredevil (2015-2018)
Deaf U (2020)
*These are only a small sample of TV shows/movies about disability*
Actors with Disabilities
George Ross Robinson (born 12 September 1997) is a British actor. He is known for his role as Isaac Goodwin in the Netflix series Sex Education. Robinson was born in Nottingham and grew up in Maxey. He attended Stamford School and participated in school plays. Like his character, Robinson is tetraplegic from a spinal cord injury and uses a wheelchair. The injury occurred whilst playing rugby in South Africa in 2015 at age 17. Robinson began studying Philosophy at the University of Birmingham before landing his role on Sex Education.
Learn more about George here: In Conversation with George Robinson
Lauren Ridloff (née Teruel; born April 6, 1978) is a deaf American actress known for her roles in the TV series The Walking Dead and the film Eternals. Her breakthrough role was in 2018 with her lead performance in the Broadway play Children of a Lesser God, for which she was nominated several awards, including a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She was subsequently cast in The Walking Dead as Connie in its ninth season that aired in late 2018. In Eternals, released in 2021, she played the deaf superhero Makkari.
Learn more about Lauren here: Lauren Ridloff Steps Into Her Power