Working in the aged and disability sector of libraries, International Day of People with Disability is an important time of year to highlight and embrace our local community members. Held on December 3rd, each year the United Nations announces a theme to raise awareness. This year that theme is:
Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress.
In Australia, roughly 5.5 Million Australians live with a disability – that’s 1 in 5 people (IDPWD, 2025).
As librarians there is lots we can do for IDPwD; we can hold talks, exhibit work, screen films, host community get-togethers. But we also have our collections to showcase! There are so many titles written by people with a disability or include depictions of a disability, and I can guarantee you will have some of these in your collection. Have look and put together a gorgeous display!
In our library we did a big call out to get suggestions on books from staff and the general public. The following booklist is compiled from these suggestions, but also many of the titles I have come across working in the library or browsing my favourite bookshops.
FICTION
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
- Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
- We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinkser
- Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Red Clay Suzie by Jeffrey Dale Lofton
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- The Witches of New York by Ami McKay
- Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
- Body Friend by Katherine Brabon
- How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney
- Strawberry Hill by Catherine Anderson
- When Things Are Alive They Hum by Hannah Bent
- Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela
- Child of Africa by T.M. Clark
NON-FICTION
- Stronger by Jeff Bauman
- Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton
- The Anti-Ableist Manifesto by Tiffany Yu
- I Don't Do Disability: And Other Lies I've Told Myself by Adelle Purdham
- Able by Dylan Alcott
- Mean Baby by Selma Blair
- The Autist's Guide to the Galaxy by Clara Törnvall
- Here Comes the Sun by Jenny Oxley & Mary Oxley Griffiths
- Growing Up Disabled in Australia
- Zig-Zag Boy by Tanya Frank
- Unstoppable by Nick Vujicic
- All my Januaries by Barbara Blackman
- Born at the Right Time by Ron McCallum
- The Year I Met My Brain by Matilda Boseley
- Until Tuesday by Luis Carlos Montalván
- A Better Australia: politics, public policy and how to achieve lasting reform by John Brumby, Scott Hamilton, & Stuart Kells
- Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot by John Callahan
- A Flower Between the Cracks : a memoir of love, hope and disability by Helen Sage
- Made to Hear: cochlear implants and raising deaf children by Laura Mauldin
- Pushing the Limits: life, marathons & Kokoda by Kurt Fearnley with Warwick Green
- Say Hello by Carly Findlay
- The Shape of Sound: a memoir by Fiona Murphy
- We've Got This: stories by disabled parents edited by Eliza Hull
- Reflections From a Different Journey: what adults with disabilities wish all parents knew edited by Stanley D. Klein & John D. Kemp
- The View From Down Here: life as a young disabled woman by Lucy Webster
TEENS
- A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
- Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
- Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
- Talk Under Water by Kathryn Lomer
- Future Girl by Asphyxia
- The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily X. R. Pan
- Komi Can't Communicate by Tomohito Oda
- The Boy Who Steals Houses by C. G. Drews
- Turtles All the Way Dow by John Green
- Peta Lyre's Rating Normal by Anna Whateley
- Meet Me at the Intersection edited by Rebecca Lim & Ambelin Kwaymullina
- The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider
- Truth or Dare by Non Pratt
CHILDREN'S
- Wonder by R. J. Palacio
- Roll With It by Jamie Sumner
- Air by Monica Roe
- Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper
- Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
- All Cats are on the Autism Spectrum by Kathy Hoopmann
- Boy by Phil Cummings
- The Thing About Oliver by Deborah Kelly
- Everybody Has a Body by Molli Jackson Ehlert
- Ava Spark: Hello, I'm Here! by Alex Field
- Auslan alphabet : the building blocks for learning Australian Sign Language by The Wiggles - Emma
- ABC Disability by Sarah Rose with Alley Pascoe
- The Girl Who Figured it Out by Minda Dentler
- A Kids Book About Disability by Kristine Napper
- My Name is Jemima: a tale of a guide dog superstar by Olivia Muscat and Allison Colpoys
- The Storm Runner by J.C. Cervantes
- This is How We Play: a celebration of disability and adaptation by Jessica Slice & Caroline Cupp
- Catherine's Story by Genevieve Moore
- How to be Disabled and Proud by Cathy Reay
Have your own book suggestions? Leave them in the comments below and we’ll add them to this book list!
References:
“What is IDPWD” – https://www.idpwd.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/what-idpwd-web.pdf