7 New Bizarre Books to Read for Disability Pride Month

Ellie’s life is perfectly planned: as long as she says all the right things and dates the right guy, no one will make fun of her for being autistic. Then, her lover leaves her, and her carefully built reputation falls apart around her. Beach volleyball camp is supposed to be her chance to fix it and win that guy back, but instead, she’s paired with Sierra, and the more time they spend together, the more Ellie’s plan goes astray.

Ryan O’Connell is the Emmy-winning creator of the Netflix series Specific. In these essays, he discusses being gay and having cerebral palsy as well as how he got his start as a writer in NYC online media. In between essays about dealing with addiction and learning to love yourself, he also asks the age-old question, “Are straight people okay?”, extols the joys of being gay over the holidays, and describes his own sexual misadventures. These essays are perfect for fans of Samantha Irby and David Sedaris.

In this YA graphic novel, Rhys is nervous about starting university, and not just because he’s queer. She has prosopagnosia (face blindness), and meeting so many new people at once is intimidating. Luckily, one of the people she meets is Malcolm, who is sweet and caring. He makes Rice feel like he can open up to him about his disability. If you’re looking for a beautiful M/M graphic novel with disability and asexual representation, pick up a smile like yours.

The next three books may not be in time to read for Disability Pride Month, but it’s a good excuse to pre-order them. Ampersand Organ: More Than a Human Song is a poetry collection that explores the revolutionary potential of the ampersand: “These ampersands move through associative leaps, synthetic braids, and inter-species blurring, making us more than singular subjects. Neuroqueering poetics, Rhodes writes toward the mastery and excess of love: spillages, echolalia, stutters, loops, and non-linear detours, reflecting what song can be and what the body can do. Could.”

Emerson Whitney’s relationship with his mother was always poor. His childhood revolved around his mother’s addiction and heartbreak. Moving away as an adult was a chance to breathe. But eventually, overwork and a long-term disorder brought his body to the breaking point, and Emerson returned home to his mother in hopes of seeking support and rebuilding the relationship. Instead, his mother kept him away. When the Emersons learn of her suicide, they struggle to put the pieces of their mother’s life together, beginning their own journey of self-acceptance and diagnosis.

In this fragrant and asexual YA fantasy retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood,” Arden, who is blind, cares for her grandmother in the woods. She doesn’t believe in witches. That is, until he is saved from a wolf attack by Myra, the last remaining witch in the forest. Their friendship soon becomes a fundamental bond for both of them, but the queen’s hunter is also in the forest and is determined to capture a witch.