Disability History Month

Your Story, Our History

Explore the lives of six key figures, such as suffragette Rosa May Billinghurst and pioneer Lord Alf Morris, who helped shape UK disability rights and laws. This booklet highlights historic struggles for equality and celebrates the achievements of these advocates for and within the disabled community.

Fiction

A thrilling young adult fantasy heist novel featuring a remarkably diverse cast of characters navigating trauma, chronic illness, and physical disability. The story centers on Kaz Brekker, a brilliant gang leader who uses a cane and lives with chronic pain, alongside crew members managing addiction and PTSD. Popular among students for its high-stakes plotting, it stands out for embedding disability representation and physical accommodations directly into an action-packed fantasy world—showing characters who are powerful not in spite of their conditions, but as whole, complex individuals.

Fiction

A deeply insightful novel centered around the students and headmistress at a residential school for the Deaf. Written by Deaf author Sara Nović, the story explores the complexities of Deaf culture, language rights, sign language history, and civil rights through the lives of its main characters. For students, it provides a vivid, nuanced look at identity, systemic barriers, and community solidarity, complete with illustrations and historical snippets woven throughout the narrative.

Non-fiction

An empowering chronicle of over a century of overlooked British disability activism. Journalist and campaigner Rachel Charlton-Dailey explores key historical milestones—from the "crippled suffragette" movement to 1980s street blockades—alongside interviews with modern activists. The book connects past struggles directly to present-day fights for transport accessibility, healthcare equality, and media representation, serving as both a history lesson and an urgent call to action.

Non-fiction

A candid, witty memoir-in-essays that directly challenges everyday ableism and media stereotypes. Writer and advocate Rebekah Taussig reflects on growing up in a wheelchair, navigating student life, dating, accessible housing, and healthcare bureaucracy. Highly relevant for students, it provides a warm, conversational, and nuanced look at how design, culture, and society impact disabled lives—and how we can imagine a more inclusive world.

Non-fiction

Edited by activist Alice Wong, Disability Visibility is an anthology of thirty-seven first-person essays by disabled writers, artists, and advocates. The collection provides insight into contemporary disability culture, covering key themes such as civic participation, healthcare access, intersectional identity, and systemic ableism. It offers students an authentic primary-source perspective on the ongoing struggle for disability rights and representation.

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution

An award-winning documentary chronicling the disability rights movement in the United States. The film tells the story of Camp Jened, “a camp for disabled people run by hippies” which became an accidental breeding ground for future leaders of the civil rights movement. This camp served as a respite for disabled people. For many of the young people who attended, it was their first experience of individualism and freedom. The film shows how the campers, like anyone else their age, were just young people seeking acceptance, freedom….and sex.

Rising Phoenix

A high-octane Netflix documentary charting the origin, history, and global movement of the Paralympic Games. Following nine elite Paralympians alongside the games' rise from the post-WWII era to the world's third-biggest sporting event, the film offers a powerful celebration of athletic excellence, bodily diversity, and the fight to challenge global ableism.

Then Barbara Met Alan

A high-energy BBC drama telling the true story of two disabled cabaret performers who fell in love and co-founded DAN (Disabled People's Direct Action Network). Fed up with patronizing charities and inaccessible transport, their fiery grassroots protests shut down London traffic and forced the UK to pass the landmark 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. It is an inspiring, vital piece of British disability history showing the real power of student and youth activism.

A Quiet Place

A tense sci-fi thriller set in a post-apocalyptic world where blind alien monsters hunt by sound, forcing a family to live in near-total silence. Starring Deaf actress Millicent Simmonds, the film highlights how American Sign Language, Deaf culture, and adaptive family communication become essential tools for survival rather than limitations.

CODA

CODA tells the story of Ruby, the only hearing member of her deaf family. She finds herself torn between her dreams of attending musical school and her role as her family’s interpreter and employee of their fishing business. The movie explores how disabilities affect all members of a family and not just those with the disability and the burden of responsibility children and siblings of those with disabilities often take on.

Eat Your Catfish

Documentary by Noah Arjomand that chronicles the final years of his mother battling Lou Gehrig’s Disease, ALS. It is filmed from the perspective of his mother revealing her strength, wit, struggles with paralysis, and fight for autonomy. It explores the complex family dynamic that can emerge when someone becomes disabled.

Inside Our Autistic Minds

A landmark BBC documentary series presented by naturalist Chris Packham, who was diagnosed as autistic in adulthood. Packham collaborates with autistic individuals—including non-speaking advocates and people experiencing daily masking—to create personal short films that illustrate how their minds work. For students, it provides a vivid, firsthand look at sensory processing, neurodiversity, and the vital importance of self-advocacy.

Is Anybody Out There

A personal documentary by Ella Glendining, which chronicles her search for others who share her rare disability. In her search for those with similar disabilities as her, Glendining challenges the discrimination she faces and examines identity and the importance of community. The movie explores what it means to be disabled and how many of the challenges people with disabilities face, especially those around self-acceptance and identity, are caused by ableism.

Special

A sharp, fast-paced comedy-drama following a gay man with Cerebral Palsy navigating dating, internships, and his first apartment. To avoid pity, he tells his new colleagues his limp is from a car accident rather than revealing his disability. It offers a groundbreaking, relatable look at the intersection of LGBTQ+ and disabled identities, exploring the complex real-world experience of "coming out" as disabled while asserting your own independence and self-worth.

The L Word: Generation Q (2019-2023)

An inclusive, modern drama following a diverse group of LGBTQ+ characters in Los Angeles. Featuring wheelchair-using actress Jillian Mercado as Maribel Suarez, the series offers a rare, refreshing, and authentic depiction of queer romance, disabled intimacy, and navigating access barriers without making disability a tragic plot point.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

A heartwarming adventure story following a young man with Down’s Syndrome who escapes his care facility to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler, teaming up with an outlaw on the run. Starring disabled actor Zack Gottsagen, it provides an authentic, empowering, and uplifting story centered on friendship, self-determination, and breaking free from societal limitations.

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Hosted by Brooke Millhouse, this contemporary series interviews disabled leaders and creators who are actively redefining what it means to live, lead, and work with a disability.

Objective: Professional and leadership development, exploring self-advocacy strategies, inclusive entrepreneurship, and breaking down modern workplace barriers.

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A comprehensive 10-part BBC Radio 4 series hosted by Peter White. It traces the social history of disabled people from the 18th century to the modern day, challenging traditional medical models of disability.

Objective: Critical analysis of how historical institutions, changing legislation, and industrialisation shaped modern societal attitudes and disabled identity.

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Hosted by prominent activist Alice Wong, this intersectional series amplifies the voices of disabled media makers, writers, and artists, linking history directly to current systemic challenges.

Objective: Academic discussion on intersectionality, examining how disability overlaps with race, gender, sexuality, and socio-economic status in contemporary society.

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The BBC's flagship disability podcast, offering an authentic look at the everyday, real-world experiences of disabled individuals through interviews, humour, and personal testimonies.

Objective: Engagement with lived experience narratives to complement sociological studies on structural accessibility, workplace inclusion, and mental health.

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Produced by the Disability History Association, this academic podcast features interviews with historians, researchers, and activists discussing global archival discoveries and policy histories.

Objective: Source material for undergraduate research, offering deep dives into mid-century care policies, global eugenics movements, and grassroots civil rights campaigns.