Outsmarting deadly video games, hunting the predatory monster in the woods, rooting out evil within their community, finding love and revenge with their newly turned vampire friend--this anthology upends expectations of the roles disabled people can play in horror. With visibly and invisibly disabled characters whose illnesses include Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Crohn's disease, diabetes, PTSD, and more, each entry also includes a short essay from the author about the conditions portrayed in their stories to further contextualize their characters' perspectives. From breaking ancient curses to defying death itself, these 13 horror stories cast disabled characters as heroes we can all root for.
A Black, autistic teen tries to figure out what happened the night his older brother was unjustly arrested.
Outgoing Vinnie Smith has her NYC future planned with her best friend Lilah. Meanwhile, her childhood friend Roo Carpenter is barely getting by, having dropped out of high school to work a shady job and support his mom. But when Vinnie's world starts falling apart--plagued by severe headaches, rejected as drama captain, and betrayed by Lilah--she decides to fix Roo's life instead. They hit the road across inland Australia in her mom's old Kombi, reliving their past adventures. As they travel, Vinnie's unresolved grief over her mom resurfaces, her health deteriorates, and unexpected, intense feelings for Roo begin to threaten their friendship. Can they navigate their emotions and find a way forward, or will everything they've ever known come crashing down?
Interabled follows the lives of several couples as they navigate their love story in an ableist world. Sometimes tear-jerking, sometimes funny, but always heartwarming, this moving collection comprised of interviews and short stories - with interludes from Shane and Hannah about their own dating, marriage, and IVF journey - will have readers laughing and sobbing as they discover true stories of love and commitment. With his signature wit and hilarious voice, author, blogger, and entrepreneur Shane Burcaw has put together an inspiring and true story collection of sweet, funny, and often miraculous love stories of different interabled couples.
Smart, artistic, and independent, sixteen year old Piper is tired of trying to conform. Her mom wants her to be "normal," to pass as hearing, to get a good job. But in a time of food scarcity, environmental collapse, and political corruption, Piper has other things on her mind--like survival. Piper has always been told that she needs to compensate for her Deafness in a world made for those who can hear. But when she meets Marley, a new world opens up--one where Deafness is something to celebrate, and where resilience means taking action, building a community, and believing in something better.
Effie Galanos' goals for her senior year include her navigating her way through her high school that is not really wheelchair-friendly, getting into the perfect college, and getting her crush Wilder to accompany her to the prom--but by spring she is beginning to see herself entirely differently.
Because of a hearing disability, Kohei is often misunderstood and has trouble integrating into life on campus, so he learns to keep his distance. That is until he meets the outspoken and cheerful Taichi. He tells Kohei that his hearing loss is not his fault. Taichi's words cut through Kohei's usual defense mechanisms and open his heart. More than friends, less than lovers, their relationship changes Kohei forever.
Stuck in summer school, seventeen-year-old Pernell navigates life and the challenges of ADHD while battling to become the Cypher King, leader of the lunchroom's impromptu rap circles.
Stuck in a time loop, queer Jewish teens Phoebe and Jess start to fall for each other, causing chronically ill Phoebe to worry about a future that may never come.
Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He's a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes . . . except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine. Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. Social media followers eat up her takes on everything from UFOs to holiday overconsumption--yet, she's still not cool enough for the popular kids' table. Which is why Brad abandoned her for the in-crowd years ago. (At least, that's how Celine sees it.) These days, there's nothing between them other than petty insults and academic rivalry. So when Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she's surprised to find Brad right beside her. Forced to work as a team for the chance to win a grand prize, these two teens must trudge through not just mud and dirt but their messy past. And as this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed . . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?
Fifteen-year-old Jessie, a quirky loner obsessed with the nineties, is diagnosed as autistic just weeks before starting high school. Determined to make a fresh start and keep her diagnosis a secret, Jessie creates a list of goals that range from acquiring two distinct eyebrows to getting a magical first kiss and landing a spot in the school play. Within the halls of Holy Trinity High, she finds a world where things are no longer black and white and quickly learns that living in color is much more fun. But Jessie gets more than she bargained for when two very different boys steal her heart, forcing her to go off-script.
Told in two voices, follows the friendship between queer teens Casey, a singer who is grappling with sudden hearing loss, and soccer captain Hayden, whose Generalized Anxiety Disorder weighs on his every move, after they bond over their shared dream of a music career.
A young adult adaptation of Alice Wong's Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century.
This nonfiction book for teens provides a history of disability, describes types of disabilities and examines the challenges faced by people living with disabilities.
After a fall at school, her well-meaning friends and family are against her getting out on the streets to protest, but Lydia is determined to challenge the ableism she sometimes encounters while she promotes climate action, no matter the risks.
Forced to leave Stanford's pre-med program after contracting Lyme disease, Priya finds solace in an online chronic-illness support group and with best friend Brigid, whose own illness may be more unique than Priya suspected.
When eighteen-year-old Ellie's Deaf boarding school shuts down, she attends a public high school where she struggles to adjust, but finds an ally in Jackson, a soccer player going through a disability diagnosis of his own.
Since Shelbi enrolled at Windward Academy as a senior and won't be there very long, she hasn't bothered making friends. What her classmates don't know about her can't be used to hurt her--you know, like it did at her last school. Andy Criddle is not okay. At all. He's had far too much to drink. Again. Which is bad. And things are about to get worse. When Shelbi sees Andy at his lowest, she can relate. So she doesn't resist reaching out. And there's no doubt their connection has them both seeing stars... but the closer they get, the more the past threatens to pull their universes apart.
Dolores Mendoza is not thriving. She was recently diagnosed with a chronic bladder condition called interstitial cystitis. The painful disease isn't life threatening, but it is threatening to ruin her life. Just when things seem hopeless, Dolores meets someone poised to change her fate. Terpsichore Berkenbosch-Jones is glamorous, autistic, and homeschooled against her will by her overprotective mother. After a rocky start, the girls form a tentative partnership. Beautiful, talented Terpsichore will help Dolores win back her ex-best friend, Shae. And Dolores will convince Terpsichore's mom that her daughter has the social skills to survive public school. It seems like a foolproof plan, but Dolores isn't always a reliable narrator, and her choices may put her in danger of committing an unforgivable betrayal.