My 50 Favorite Fiction Books w/ Disability Rep

I’m always on the lookout for good books that have characters with disabilities, especially when they’re the main characters. I’m most interested in books where the characters are on the autism spectrum but I’ve included a variety on this list to choose from.-

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1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Main character has Autism)

2. Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit (Main character has Autism)

3. Free as a Bird by Gina McMurchy-Barber (Main Character has Down Syndrome)

4. Girls Like Us by Gail Giles (both MC’s have intellectual disabilities)

5. We Could Be Heroes by Margaret Finnigan (one of the MCs has autism and the other has epilepsy)

6. A Storm of Strawberries by Jo Cotterill (Main character has Down Syndrome)

7. Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig (Main character has autism)

8. There Are Things I Know by Karen B. Golightly (Main Character has autism)

9. Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos (Main character has autism)

10. Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr (Main character has autism)

11. The Echo Park Castaways by M.G. Hennessey (MC with ADHD and MC with Asperger’s Syndrome)

12. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (Main character w/ autism)

13. Sunnyside Plaza by Scott Simon (Main character with Intellectual Disability)

14. A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash (Supporting character w/ autism)

15. Soft in the Head by Marie-Sabine Roger (Main character has an unspecified learning disability)

16. Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson (Main character has cerebral palsy)

17. Electricity by Ray Robinson (Main character has epilepsy)

18. A Certain October by Angela Johnson (Supporting Character w/ autism)

19. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos (Main character w/ ADHD)

20. Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry (Main Character w/ Tourette’s Syndrome)

21. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Main character w/ Intellectual Disability)

22. My Louisiana Sky by Kimberly Willis Holt (Major characters w/ Intellectual disabilities)

22. Clay by Colby Rodowsky (Supporting character w/ autism)

23. Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis (Main Character w/ Asperger’s Syndrome)

24. When My Heart Joins the Thousand by A.J. Steiger (Main characters w/ Asperger’s Syndrome and Osteogenesis Imperfecta)

25. Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones (Supporting character w/ Intellectual Disability)

26. Rogue by Lyn Miller-Lachemann (Main Character has Asperger’s Syndrome)

27. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Main character has hydrocephalus)

28. The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry (Main character w/ Asperger’s)

29. Are You Alone on Purpose? by Nancy Werlin (Paralyzed MC and Supporting character w/ autism)

30. Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (Main character w/ Dyslexia)

31. The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon (Main character w/ physical impairment)

32. The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry (Major character with autism)

33. The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars (Major character with Intellectual disability)

34. Wild Blues by Beth Kephart (Major character w/ dwarfism)

35. The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert (Protagonist w/ facial disfigurement)

36. Census by Jesse Ball (major character w/ Down Syndrome)

37. Kids Like Us by Hilary Reyl (Main Character has Asperger’s Syndrome)

38. The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin (Main Character w/ Physical Impairment)

39. One by Sarah Crossan (Main characters are conjoined twins)

40. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel (Major character w/ epilepsy)

41. Alone by Christophe Chaboute (Main character w/ facial disfigurement)

42. Fade to Black by Alex Flinn (Major character w/ Down Syndrome)

43. Gun Love by Jennifer Clement (Main character w/ albinism)

44. Westlake Soul by Rio Youers (main character w/ severe physical impairment)

45. The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk (deaf main character)

46. A Cool Moonlight by Angela Johnson (Main character w/ severe sunlight allergy)

47. Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman (Main character w/ Cerebral Palsy)

48. Last Pick by Jason Walz (one of the MCs has Asperger’s Syndrome)

49. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (one of the MCs has a physical impairment)

50. Probably Still Nick Swansen by Virginia Euwer Woolf (Main character has intellectual disability)