Books to Celebrate Disability Pride Month
Published on July 08, 2025
By Hannah V.
July is Disability Pride Month, which celebrates the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) being signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H.W. Bush. The ADA protects the rights of people with disabilities in many areas of life, such as employment, all services provided by state and local governments, businesses open to the public, public transportation, and more!
“It’s important to understand that disability is a natural part of the human experience and that people with disabilities deserve equal rights, opportunities, and respect. I wish people outside the disability community understood the significance of inclusive practices and the value of diverse perspectives in all aspects of life.” —Dr. Yvette Pegues
The following books highlight characters with disabilities. Have a peek through the window into their world or catch a glimpse of your own experience.
This Is How We Play: A Celebration of Disability and Adaptation by Jessica Slice and Caroline Cupp
Picture Book
This book features families at play, each with a family member that has a disability. It includes a kid-friendly guide to talking about disabilities, a glossary, and a guide for adults to encourage discussions with the children in their lives.
Logan’s Greenhouse by JaNay Brown-Wood
Picture Book
Logan is a young boy who uses a wheelchair and accessible tools while gardening in his greenhouse.
Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Alberto Pablo Hernandez
Children's Fiction
Features a character with Type 1 diabetes. What would you do if you had the power to reach through time and space and retrieve anything you want, including your mother, who is no longer living (in this universe, anyway)?
Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen by Sarah Kapit
Children's Fiction
Features a character with autism. Vivy Cohen becomes pen pals with her favorite Major League baseball player after writing a letter to him as an assignment for her social skills class.
Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
Middle Reader
Features a character born without arms and a character with Tourette syndrome. New friends and a mystery help Aden, thirteen, adjust to middle school and life at a dying western theme park in a new states.
What Stars Are Made of by Sarah Elisabeth Allen
Middle Reader
Features a character with Turner Syndrome. Libby is determined to win a science contest and use the money to help her older sister's growing family while surviving middle school.
Wild and Crooked by Leah Thomas
Teen Fiction
Features a character with cerebral palsy. Kalyn, living under a pseudonym, and Gus, who has cerebral palsy, get caught in an uproar as the truth about the brutal murder of Gus's father comes to light.
Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester
Teen Fiction
Features a character with hip dysplasia. Verónica decides it's time to seize control of her life, but her plans come crashing down when she learns her parents have been hiding the truth from her.
Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood
Adult Fiction
Features a character with multiple sclerosis (MS). Will and Lillian are on a case: Abigail Collins was found bludgeoned to death with a crystal ball following a big, boozy Halloween party at her home.
The Sign for Home by Blair Fell
Adult Fiction
Features a character who is deaf and blind. Arlo’s college writing assignment unlocks buried memories of his past, and he wonders if the hearing people he was supposed to trust have been lying to him all along.
The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin
Adult Fiction
Features a paraplegic character and wheelchair use. Three lonely strangers working through grief and life's curveballs are brought together on a local honeybee farm where they find friendship, healing—and maybe even a second chance—when they least expect it.