Here are some recent books by neurodivergent and disabled people that we recommend. We provide WorldCat links, embed Kindle previews, and feature quotes for each book.
- What I Want to Talk About How Autistic Special Interests Shape a Life by Pete Wharmby
- Black Disability Politics by Sami Schalk
- Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong
- Taking off the Mask: Practical Exercises to Help Understand and Minimise the Effects of Autistic Camouflaging by Hannah Belcher
- The Future Is Disabled : Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
- Speak Up! by Rebecca Burgess
- Sam’s Super Seats by Keah Brown
- Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price
The tendency to force a meltdown upon an autistic person, and then to castigate them for acting in such a childish and ungrateful way, is a rhythm that most autistic adults will recognize and despise.
What I Want to Talk About How Autistic Special Interests Shape a Life
What has prevented me from feeling that I can claim disability is the way my disabilities do not fit into the typical legal and medical models of disability and accommodations, the ways white disabled people especially have been dismissive of my understanding of how racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, and fatphobia have materially created, sustained, and exacerbated my disabilities.
Black Disability Politics
I cannot get on board with approaches to disability that do not understand it as inherently, inextricably tied to racism and other oppressions. I cannot and will not promote a disability-first or disability-pride-only analysis—and the research that undergirds this book has only solidified and clarified for me these beliefs that I once held more quietly and tentatively. In claiming this Black disability identity, I often use we, ours, and us when referring to disabled people, Black people, and Black disabled people. I refuse to use they as if I am separate from the communities I write about, live within, and learn from every day.
Black Disability Politics
I have spent over a decade unravelling myself, carefully turning over each piece shattered on the floor since my first breakdown, desperate to find one that I could recognise. I realised I had been camouflaging my whole life, that is, I’d been trying to mask my autistic traits and fit in with all the non-autistic people around me, desperate to always be liked and to never draw attention to myself. Underneath was an abyss of emptiness, a stream of tainted thoughts that didn’t belong to me. I was utterly lost, but little did I know that such a painful journey would lead to such an extraordinary rediscovery of myself and others.
Taking off the Mask: Practical Exercises to Help Understand and Minimise the Effects of Autistic Camouflaging
My first day of school was full of tears and utter terror as I desperately tried to cry out for my mum to return and take me home. But I had no words. While the teachers would say I refused to talk, even at the age of four I knew this wasn’t true. My words were stuck and I couldn’t talk.
Taking off the Mask: Practical Exercises to Help Understand and Minimise the Effects of Autistic Camouflaging
The Future Is Disabled : Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs
I wish I didn’t find it so hard to speak up.
But at school, when there’s so much going on at once, and so many sounds and tight clothes and new things?
I get overwhelmed.
So when I try to speak, I can never find the words.
Speak Up!
Before Mommy and I leave, I’m busy resting with my favorite super seat: Misty!
I have cerebral palsy, so I know that when my legs get tired I have to stop and sit.
Yesterday at the park, I overdid it on the swings, and my right leg still hurts a little.
Misty is the living room couch named after my favorite dancer, Misty Copeland. When we aren’t doing pirouettes before dance class, we play “I spy” and laugh at our silly answers. Misty loves to dance, and I know she loves me. She’s comfortable and graceful. That’s what makes her a super seat.
Sam’s Super Seats
Autistic people have built many niche communities from the ground up—both out of necessity and because our interests and modes of being are, well, weird.
Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity (p. 218)
For more book recommendations, visit our Library.
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