Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
If this is your first time observing Disability Pride Month, I understand that it can feel overwhelming. “Disabled” is really just an umbrella term that refers to a wide range of conditions, lived experiences, and communities. How do you know what terminology to use when? What is the difference between deaf and Deaf? What’s the difference between disability rights and disability justice?
While you might feel flooded with disability lit recommendations at the moment, here are a few books that I think will help you learn some key points about the disability community. While disabled people write in every genre, I’ve chosen mostly nonfiction books to give you a baseline from which to start. But rest assured, there are always more great books by disabled authors out there just waiting for you to read them.
When I’m trying to explain the basics of living with a disability, I recommend Demystifying Disability. Emily Ladau gives readers the basics of disability history, etiquette, and culture in around 150 pages. While she packs a lot into this slim volume, Ladau breaks down each topic and subtopic into easily digestible parts.
The disability community includes a wide range of conditions and experiences, each with their history, culture, and lived experience. In Disability Visibility, Alice Wong gathers together a range disabled writers to share their experiences. As Wong mentions in her introduction, these essays don’t exist to educate disabled people. This collection centers and celebrates disabled people and our lives.
Disabled people around the world experience disability in different ways, especially when it comes to healthcare. In Growing Up Disabled in Australia, Carly Findlay brings together people experiencing disability in her own country. In Australia, disabled people are part of different social programs and support for disabled people. I love the wide range of writers included in Findlay’s collection and how these essays introduced me to so many new-to-me authors.
In the media, most people with disfigurements are portrayed as the bad guys. Just look at Disney’s Captain Hook from Peter Pan or Scar from The Lion King. In fairy tales, we constantly see disfigurement as a sign of evil. But why is that? Amanda Leduc answers that question and breaks down the role disfigurement has historically played in Western storytelling.
Ariel Henley and her twin sister, Zan, were born with Crouzon Syndrome, a condition where the bones of their skulls fused as infants. To give their brains a chance to grow, Henley’s doctors performed dozens of operations to give her and her sister a chance at life. But walking through the world with a facial disfigurement as a child meant bearing the incredible ableism of the kids and teachers around her. The only people she saw on TV who like her and her sister, were monsters or villains. But societal stigma against facial difference deeply isn’t a fairy tale. It’s had a very real impact on Ariel’s life.
Since the international success of her comedy special Nanette, Hannah Gadbsy has been lauded as one of the best comics of her generation. But to get to that “instant success,” Gadsby worked her entire life just trying to make sense of the world around her. Later in life, Gadsby was diagnosed with Autism. But until then, Gadsby just thought she must be deficient in some way, like everyone else was given a secret instruction manual she never received. But after her diagnosis, the world began to make sense for the first time.
Haben grew up as the daughter of immigrants determined that she should make her mark on the world. She describes her experience moving through the world as a Deafblind woman with nondisabled people constantly asking, “How are you going to go to college? How are you even going to find a job?” Haben not only graduated from Harvard Law School, she also invented technology to assist her in her work.
In this excellent introduction to Disability Justice, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha focuses on the intersectional position of queer femmes of color who have long been at the forefront of the disability rights movement. Piepzna-Samarasinha details the key tenets of disability justice and the importance of mutual aid. While these essays might be a little more dense if you’re just starting out, Care Work is a vital addition to your TBR.
True Biz is a novel that focuses on a Deaf school, featuring characters that are from Deaf families, were born Deaf but never allowed to learn sign language, and CODAs (Child of Deaf Adult). These different characters work as examples of the complex makeup of Deaf communities and the challenges they face. It’s also an excellent story that I couldn’t put down!
When I think about disabled poets and the incredible work they’re putting out there, Jen Campbell immediately comes to mind. She is a bisexual woman with Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia Clefting Syndrome, and this collection explores themes around queerness, disability, and disfigurement. Her poems all have a dream-like feel, not a word out of place.
