The Diverse Shelf discussion

Is this meant to be a fiction only group? It would be nice to have at least one of the books this month be written by a disabled person as well as be about a disabled character. I'm having a hard time finding specific lists to pull titles from though.

I'm disabled myself and I'd like to give a reminder that person-first language is equally hated and loved in the disabled community. Well, actually I think it's slightly more hated than loved, at least among young people (and especially those with purely physical disabilities). It can feel like it's used to go "Oh hey, don't forget they're people, I know it's super easy to do that since they're broken and all." Lisa Egan put it this way:

"The main argument in favor of the phrase “person with a disability” is that it’s “person first.” Whaaaat? No one has ever told me that I should describe myself as a “person with gayness” or a “person with womanliness.” I’m gay and I’m a woman — no need to qualify that I’m a person too."

So far I've found Call Me Ahab: A Short Story Collection, a book of short stories, though there's a memoir and a book of poetry+essays that I'd rather nominate if non-fiction is okay (admittedly I mostly read non-fiction).

Yeah, I didn't have many strong feelings about language until recently. It seems like 'disabled' is sometimes treated like a slur that mustn't be used and that's not right. It's so hard since disability includes SOO many different problems and issues and outlooks. The gulf between chronic pain issues and autism and being born without a limb is pretty huge, just in terms of how we view disability plus disease vs just another line in the spectrum of humanity...

Found a YA book I'd like to nominate! Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson.

For a second adult nomination I'd like to suggest the memoir, Mean Little Deaf Queer by Terry Galloway.

They're both available as audiobooks and ebooks as well as paper.