8 New Queer Books to Read for Disability Pride Month

Self help, wellness, and dating advice doesn’t often take into account what it’s like to navigate life as a queer disabled person. In this how-to book, Andrew Gurza—the host of the Disability After Dark podcast—gives advice on dealing with ableism, advocating for accessibility, cultivating a queer disabled sex life, practicing self care, and more.

It’s worth pointing out that this and the above title were both published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers! Try browsing their catalog if you’re looking more like these. In this anthology, trans and disabled contributors write about ableism in trans communities and transphobia in disabled communities—as well as the connection and support from fellow trans and disabled people. It includes essays, poems, drawings, plays, and stories.

This is a fantasy picture book about a child who uses a hearing device who is excited to go to Witch Camp… except that she’s scared for the other kids to find out that she can’t ride a broomstick. Her two moms assure her that there’s more to being a witch than flying well, and she learns about the importance of trying her best.

In this experimental poetry collection, the book is laid out as an accessible art museum, with sections as gallery rooms. The reader is led through sensory rooms, seating options, and tactile exhibits. The poems themselves include familiar formal structures and new styles. They reference pop culture and social media while exploring queer friendship and relationships. This comes highly recommended by respected poets like Chen Chen and Claudia Rankine.

You might recognize Andrew Joseph White from his YA novels like Hell Followed with Us and The Spirit Bares its Teeth, which also feature trans and autistic characters. This is his debut adult novel. Appalachia has been invaded by aliens, and the world as we know it is over. For autistic trans man Crane, it’s a fresh start, an opportunity to reinvent himself. He’s also just met and started to fall for Levi. But then Levi gets Crane pregnant, and in the face of the end of humanity, Crane must make a difficult choice that goes against what the rest of the world might want from him.

Ari is a gay autistic teenager who is best friend with Atlas, a trans man, and Ya, a cishet ally. When Ari’s play starring queer people of color is turned down by the student theater committee, Ya convinces the principal to put it on anyway—as long as they raise the money themselves. Against all odds, they seem to be pulling off organizing and fundraising for this production—until a parent starts a hateful, homophobic and transphobic online campaign against them, and the strain of it all threatens to tear their friendship apart.