International Disabled Author’s Day is celebrated on October 2nd to honor the accomplishments, creativity, and hard work of published authors with disabilities. It’s a day to raise awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion of disabled people in literature. (If you missed Disability Book Week in April, here’s your chance to celebrate in October!)
This day, founded in 2022, is the advocacy effort of Rolling With Me and Margarita Elizondo.
At all levels of education, there is limited awareness of disability history or disability inclusion in literature. Often, the burden of awareness and education falls on those impacted by disabilities, either indirectly or directly. Until studies and books that include disability are more prevalent in education, Disabled Author’s Day serves as a resource to promote awareness.
When reading books written by or about disabled people, you are both supporting their hard work and broadening perspectives.
How else can you support disabled authors? You can share your favorite author or book on social media and add the hashtag #DisabledAuthorsDay. You could also feature a display of books in your library, classroom, or workplace written by disabled authors or including disabled characters. To share with your wider community, express your interest to your local library or educational organization in hosting a Disabled Authors Book Fair.
The most effective way to increase awareness on this day is through supporting disabled authors with a book purchase or recommendation. I’d love it if you’d consider supporting yours truly, and picking up a copy of my handbook “Making Online Learning Accessible” – the #A11yBook! – if it would be a good addition to your library or the library of someone you know.