Disability Memoirs: Diverse Life Experiences

Golem Girl

By Riva Lehrer (B Lehr)

Memoir of an artist born with disabilities who searches for freedom and connection in a society afraid of strange bodies.
Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law

By Haben Girma (B Girm)

Documents the story of the first deaf and blind graduate of Harvard Law School, tracing her refugee parents' harrowing experiences in the Eritrea-Ethiopian war and her development of innovations that enabled her remarkable achievements.
Sitting Pretty: The View From My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body

By Rebecca Taussig (B Taus, CD B Taus, eBook, eAudiobook)

From disability advocate with a PhD in disability studies and creative nonfiction, and creator of the Instagram account @sitting pretty, an essay collection based on a lifetime of experiences in a paralyzed body, tackling themes of identity, accessibility, bodies, and representation.
But You Look So Normal: Lost and Found in a Hearing World

By Claudia Marseille (B Mars, eAudiobook)

When four-year-old Claudia Marseille was diagnosed with severe hearing loss and received her first hearing aid, her lifelong journey to fit in began. Here, she reveals how she overcame loneliness and isolation and carved out a fulfilling life for herself somewhere between the mainstream culture and the Deaf world.
Interabled: True Stories About Love and Disability From Squirmy & Grubs and Other Interabled Couples

Edited By Shane Burcaw (YA 362.4 Burc, eBook, eAudiobook)

With their signature wit and hilarious voice, authors, bloggers, and entrepreneurs Shane and Hannah Burcaw have put together a true story collection of sweet and unforgettable love stories about interabled couples.
The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love With Me

By Keah Brown (B Brow)

From the disability rights advocate and creator of the #DisabledAndCute viral campaign, a thoughtful, inspiring, and charming collection of essays exploring what it means to be black and disabled in a mostly able-bodied white America.
Year of the Tiger

By Alice Wong (B Wong)

Drawing on a collection of original essays, previously published work, conversations, graphics, photos, commissioned art by disabled and Asian American artists, and more, the author uses her unique talent to share an impressionistic scrapbook of her life as an Asian American disabled activist, community organizer, media maker, and dreamer.
Losing Music: A Memoir

By John Cotter (B Cott)

An account of the author's experience with the debilitating condition known as Ménière's Disease that sheds urgent, bracingly honest light on both the taboos surrounding disability and the limits of medical science.
Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America

By Elizabeth Wurtzel (B Wurt)

A memoir of sex, drugs, and depression indicts an overmedicated America as it chronicles the fortunes of a Harvard educated child of divorce who lived in the fast lane as a music critic, always fighting her chronic depression.
Life on Delay: Making Peace with a Stutter

By John Hendrickson (B Hend)

A senior editor at The Atlantic, taking us deep inside the mind and heart of a stutterer, writes candidly about the issues stutterers like him face daily, leading us through the evolution of speech therapy and sharing portraits of fellow stutterers who have changed his life.
Easy Beauty

By Chloe Cooper Jones (B Coop, QB Coop)

A philosophy professor and freelance journalist born with a rare congenital which affects both her stature and gait discusses how she has navigated a world that both judges and pities her for her appearance.
Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It

By Greg Marshall (B Mars, eBook, eAudiobook)

In this hilarious and heartfelt memoir, the author shares outrageous stories of a singular childhood and his coming out of two closets -- as a gay man and as a man living with cerebral palsy -- and examines what it means to transform when there are parts of yourself you can't change.
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing

By Stephanie Foo (B Foo, eBook, eAudiobook)

By age thirty, Stephanie Foo had her dream job. Yet, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk. After years of questioning what was wrong with her, she was diagnosed with Complex PTSD. Stephanie set out to map her experience onto the scarce scientific research on C-PTSD.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

By Jean-Dominique Bauby (B Baub)

In this autobiography, a magazine editor wakes from a coma to find he can only communicate by blinking to select letters of the alphabet, and eventually dictates this book.
I'll Just Be Five More Minutes and Other Tales From My ADHD Brain

By Emily Farris (B Farr, eBook, eAudiobook)

The writer and host of the Mother Mother podcast presents a collection of essays that focuses on her experience of being diagnosed with ADHD at age 35 and how it has affected those who know and love her.
Devout: A Memoir of Doubt

By Anna Gazmarian (616.895 Gazm)

Anna Gazmarian was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011. While the diagnosis provided clarity, she had to confront the stigma her evangelical community attaches to her condition. Gazmarian describes how her upbringing failed to help her understand her condition, and how she found proper medical treatment while maintaining her faith.
Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia

By Hadley Freeman (B Free)

The bestselling author of House of Glass shares her twenty-year experience as a “functional anorexic,” and her journey to recovery and examines recent discoveries have been made about the illness, including its connection to autism, OCD and metabolic rate.
What Doesn't Kill You: A Life With Chronic Illness - Lessons From a Body in Revolt

By Tessa Miller (B Mill)

A riveting and candid account of a young journalist's awakening to a life of chronic illness, weaving together her personal story with reporting to shed light on how Americans live with long-term diagnoses today.