Serving the Community College of Vermont & Vermont State University
Serving the Community College of Vermont & Vermont State University
“Abled does not mean enabled. Disabled does not mean less abled,”
– Khang Kijarro Nguyen
Diverse Abilities Pride Month (or Disability Pride Month) is celebrated every July, commemorating the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA, signed into law on July 26, 1990, prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. This is a time to celebrate the history, achievements, and diverse experiences of people with disabilities. It also highlights the ongoing fight for inclusion and equal rights.
This is also a good time to focus on inclusivity and accessibility of higher education academic libraries. The VSCS Libraries strive to serve all our users and welcome feedback on how we can make our services and resources as widely accessible as possible.
A sampling of recent books highlighting the experiences of people with disabilities and their ongoing fight for inclusion and equal rights. All electronic titles are available to read online and our physical titles may be requested for pick-up at a VSCS library or sent to your home.
Based on the pioneering New York Times series, About Us collects the personal essays and reflections that have transformed the national conversation around disability. Boldly claiming a space in which people with disabilities can be seen and heard as they are-not as others perceive them-About Us captures the voices of a community that has for too long been stereotyped and misrepresented. Speaking not only to those with disabilities, but also to their families, coworkers and support networks, the authors in About Us offer intimate stories of how they navigate a world not built for them.
Even as an environment shrinks to a set of constraints rather than opportunities, the improvisatory space of performance opens up to allow disabled people to imagine that same environment otherwise. Dokumacı shows how disabled people's activist affordances present the potential for a more liveable and accessible world for all of us.
Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth, Jennifer Keelan grew up battling - and overcoming - the limitations others set for her. From a lack of cutaway curbs and bus lifts to being denied enrollment at her neighborhood school, Jennifer was continually blocked from living the life she wanted. But after discovering the world of disability rights activism, she knew she had to use her voice to change things. When Jennifer was just eight years old, she participated in the Capitol Crawl. The image of Jennifer crawling up the steps of Capitol Hill went viral and helped pressure Congress into passing the Americans with Disabilities Act. A powerfully illustrated biography of Jennifer's life and a celebration of youth activism, this book will teach all children that they have the power to make a difference.
Tiffany Yu takes readers on a revelatory examination of disability--how to unpack biases and build an inclusive and accessible world.
A radical critique of architecture that places disability at the heart of the built environment Disability critiques of architecture usually emphasize the need for modification and increased access, but The Architecture of Disability calls for a radical reorientation of this perspective by situating experiences of impairment as a new foundation for the built environment. With its provocative proposal for “the construction of disability,” this book fundamentally reconsiders how we conceive of and experience disability in our world.
One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn't built for all of us and of one woman's activism--from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington--Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann's lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society
A Deafblind writer and professor explores how the misrepresentation of disability in books, movies, and TV harms both the disabled community and everyone else. As a Deafblind woman with partial vision in one eye and bilateral hearing aids, Elsa Sjunneson lives at the crossroads of blindness and sight, hearing and deafness--much to the confusion of the world around her. While she cannot see well enough to operate without a guide dog or cane, she can see enough to know when someone is reacting to the visible signs of her blindness and can hear when they're whispering behind her back. And she certainly knows how wrong our one-size-fits-all definitions of disability can be. As a media studies professor, she's also seen the full range of blind and deaf portrayals on film, and here she deconstructs their impact, following common tropes through horror, romance, and everything in between. Part memoir, part cultural criticism, part history of the Deafblind experience, Being Seen explores how our cultural concept of disability is more myth than fact, and the damage it does to us all.
Spread out over many years and many different publications, the late author and activist Marta Russell wrote a number of groundbreaking and insightful essays on the nature of disability and oppression under capitalism. In this volume, Russell's various essays are brought together in one place in order to provide a useful and expansive resource to those interested in better understanding the ways in which the modern phenomenon of disability is shaped by capitalist economic and social relations.
Lambda Literary Award winning poet and essayist and long-time disability justice advocate Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha writes passionately and personally about disability justice in her latest book of essays. Discussing subjects such as the creation of care webs, collective access, and radically accessible spaces, she also imparts her own survivor skills and wisdom based on her years of activist work, empowering the disabled - in particular, those in queer and/or BIPOC communities - and granting them the necessary tools by which they can imagine a future where no one is left behind.
A witty, winning, and revelatory personal narrative of the author's transition from sightedness to blindness and his quest to learn all he can about blindness as a distinct and rich culture all its own.
Crip Kinship explores the art activism of Sins Invalid, a San Francisco Bay Area - based performance project, and its radical imaginings of what disabled, queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming bodyminds of colour can do: how they can rewrite oppression, and how they can gift us with transformational lessons for our collective survival.
An approachable guide to being a thoughtful, informed ally to disabled people, with actionable steps for what to say and do (and what not to do) and how you can help make the world a more inclusive place
Design for All Learners empowers instructional designers, trainers, and other talent development professionals to create learning experiences that are accessible to and inclusive of all people. Learn from practitioners’ vulnerable lived experiences, moving stories, and practical advice. Written with accessibility, inclusion, and L&D experts and edited by Sarah Mercier, this book will help you ensure that individuals can fully participate in the talent development and training programs you offer.
Disability is not just the story of someone we love or the story of whom we may become; rather it is undoubtedly the story of our nation. Covering the entirety of US history from pre-1492 to the present, A Disability History of the United States is the first book to place the experiences of people with disabilities at the center of the American narrative. In many ways, it's a familiar telling. In other ways, however, it is a radical repositioning of US history. By doing so, the book casts new light on familiar stories, such as slavery and immigration, while breaking ground about the ties between nativism and oralism in the late nineteenth century and the role of ableism in the development of democracy.
The much-anticipated follow up to the groundbreaking anthology Disability Visibility- another revolutionary collection of first-person writing on the joys and challenges of the modern disability experience, and intimacy in all its myriad forms. What is intimacy? More than sex, more than romantic love, the pieces in this stunning and illuminating new anthology offer broader and more inclusive definitions of what it can mean to be intimate with another person. Explorations of caregiving, community, access, and friendship offer us alternative ways of thinking about the connections we form with others-a vital reimagining in an era when forced physical distance is at times a necessary norm. But don't worry- there's still sex to consider-and the numerous ways sexual liberation intersects with disability justice. Plunge between these pages and you'll also find disabled sexual discovery, disabled love stories, and disabled joy. These twenty-five stunning original pieces-plus other modern classics on the subject, all carefully curated by acclaimed activist Alice Wong-include essays, photo essays, poetry, drama, and erotica- a full spectrum of the dreams, fantasies, and deeply personal realities of a wide range of beautiful bodies and minds. Disability Intimacy will free your thinking, invigorate your spirit, and delight your desires.
In Disability Pride, disabled journalist Ben Mattlin weaves together interviews and reportage to introduce a cavalcade of individuals, ideas, and events in engaging, fast-paced prose. He traces the generation that came of age after the ADA reshaped America, and how it is influencing the future. He documents how autistic self-advocacy and the neurodiversity movement upended views of those whose brains work differently. He lifts the veil on a thriving disability culture—from social media to high fashion, Hollywood to Broadway—showing how the politics of beauty for those with marginalized body types and facial features is sparking widespread change. He also explores the movement's shortcomings, particularly the erasure of nonwhite and LGBTQIA+ people that helped give rise to Disability Justice. He delves into systemic ableism in health care, the right-to-die movement, institutionalization, and the scourge of subminimum-wage labor that some call legalized slavery. And he finds glimmers of hope in how disabled people never give up their fight for parity and fair play.
A groundbreaking collection of first-person writing on the joys and challenges of the modern disability experience. Disability Visibility brings together the voices of activists, authors, lawyers, politicians, artists, and everyday people whose daily lives are, in the words of playwright Neil Marcus, "an art . . . an ingenious way to live.".
Fairy tales shape how we see the world, so what happens when you identify more with the Beast than Beauty? If every disabled character is mocked and mistreated, how does the Beast ever imagine a happily-ever-after? Amanda Leduc looks at fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm to Disney, showing us how they influence our expectations and behaviour and linking the quest for disability rights to new kinds of stories that celebrate difference.
An updated edition of Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide's popular dyslexia book with a wealth of new material and improved dyslexic-friendly font. What if we viewed dyslexia as a learning and processing style rather than as a learning disorder? Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide use their impressive backgrounds in neurology and education to debunk the standard deficit-based approach to dyslexia. People typically define “dyslexia” as a reading and spelling disorder. But through published research studies, clinical observations, and interviews with dyslexic individuals, the Eides prove that these challenges are not dyslexia's main features but are instead trade-offs resulting from an entirely different pattern of brain organization and information processing that has powerful advantages.
Born in Ghana, West Africa, with one deformed leg, he was dismissed by most people-but not by his mother, who taught him to reach for his dreams. As a boy, Emmanuel hopped to school more than two miles each way, learned to play soccer, left home at age thirteen to provide for his family, and, eventually, became a cyclist. He rode an astonishing four hundred miles across Ghana in 2001, spreading his powerful message- disability is not inability. Today, Emmanuel continues to work on behalf of the disabled.
The neurodiversity movement suggests that it takes all kinds of minds for society to function. Instead of accepting their place as inferior, the divergent are reforging their position as 'neurominorities', and are organizing in ever greater numbers to change how they are perceived and treated. Robert Chapman looks at the history that led to this movement, showing how the rise of capitalism created an 'empire of normality' that transformed our understanding of the body into that of a productivity machine. Blowing apart this outdated and oppressive understanding of mental functioning, Chapman argues that a bright future for neurodivergent communities could be achieved by challenging the deepest logic of capitalism.
First published in 1999, the groundbreaking Exile and Pride is essential to the history and future of disability politics. Eli Clare's revelatory writing about his experiences as a white disabled genderqueer activist/writer established him as one of the leading writers on the intersections of queerness and disability and permanently changed the landscape of disability politics and queer liberation. With a poet's devotion to truth and an activist's demand for justice, Clare deftly unspools the multiple histories from which our ever-evolving sense of self unfolds. His essays weave together memoir, history, and political thinking to explore meanings and experiences of home: home as place, community, bodies, identity, and activism.
In The Future Is Disabled, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha asks some provocative questions: What if, in the near future, the majority of people will be disabled—and what if that's not a bad thing? And what if disability justice and disabled wisdom are crucial to creating a future in which it's possible to survive fascism, climate change, and pandemics and to bring about liberation?
In this honest, friendly, and shame-free guide, the creator of the award-winning YouTube channel How to ADHD shares the hard-won insights and practical strategies that have helped her survive, even thrive, in a world not built for her brain.
This revolutionary approach to cleaning and organizing helps free you from feeling ashamed or overwhelmed by a messy home. If you're struggling to stay on top of your to-do list, you probably have a good reason: anxiety, fatigue, depression, ADHD, or lack of support.
A bombshell bestseller in Japan, a defiant, darkly funny debut novel about a young woman in a care home seeking autonomy and the full possibilities of her life. A feminist story about the dignity of an individual who insists on her right to make choices for herself, no matter the consequences. Formally creative and refreshingly unsentimental, Hunchback depicts the joy, anger, and desires of a woman demanding autonomy in a world that doesn't always grant it to people like her. Full of wit, bite, and heart, this unforgettable novel reminds us all of the full potential of our lives, regardless of the limitations we experience.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor and award-winning artist Rafael Lopez create a kind and caring book about the differences that make each of us unique.
In The Neurodiversity Edge, renowned Oxford-trained cognitive scientist, neurodiversity expert, and business leader, Dr. Maureen Dunne presents a pioneering framework to harnessing the power of neurodiversity to navigate the most important human resources revolution in the modern era.
A groundbreaking book that upends conventional thinking about autism and suggests a broader model for acceptance, understanding, and full participation in society for people who think differently. What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more--and the future of our society depends on our understanding it.
Disability justice and prison abolition are two increasingly popular theories that overlap but whose intersection has rarely been explored in depth. A People's Guide to Abolition and Disability Justice explains the history and theories behind abolition and disability justice in away that is easy to understand for those new to these concepts yet also gives insights that will be useful to seasoned activists. The book uses extensive research and professional and lived experience to illuminate the way the State uses disability and its power to disable to incarcerate multiply marginalized disabled people, especially those who are queer, trans, Black, or Indigenous. Because disabled people are much more likely than non disabled people to be locked up in prisons, jails, and other sites of incarceration, abolitionists, and others critical of carceral systems must incorporate a disability justice perspective into our work.
No one understands plants better than Dr. Cassandra Quave, and as a person born with multiple congenital defects who nearly lost her life at the age of three due to a staph infection, she has an intimate knowledge of the strengths and failings of modern medicine. In The Plant Hunter, Dr. Quave weaves together science, botany, and memoir to recount her own journey in search of natural compounds, long known to traditional healers, that could help save us all from this looming crisis.
Everyone deserves to use the Internet. An estimated 1.3 billion people experience significant disability. That’s 16percent of the world’s population, or one in six of us. At the same time, over 96 percent of the one million most popular websites have an accessibility issue. Add to this the massive rise in legal cases around sites not being accessible, including Beyoncé, Disney, and Netflix, and you have an important topic that more and more people are starting to engage with. In this book you’ll be guided through a broad range of disabilities and access needs. You’ll understand the ways these users typically engage with the web, the barriers they often face, and practical advice on how your websites and content can be compliant, but more than that, inclusive and enjoyable to use.
From the disability rights advocate and creator of the #DisabledAndCute viral campaign, a thoughtful, inspiring, and charming collection of essays exploring what it means to be black and disabled in a mostly able-bodied white America.
Advocates for the rights of people with disabilities have worked hard to make universal design in the built environment "just part of what we do." We no longer see curb cuts, for instance, as accommodations for people with disabilities, but perceive their usefulness every time we ride our bikes or push our strollers through crosswalks. This is also a perfect model for Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework grounded in the neuroscience of why, what, and how people learn.
True biz? The students at the River Valley School for the Deaf just want to hook up, pass their history final, and have doctors, politicians, and their parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies. This revelatory novel plunges readers into the halls of a residential school for the deaf, where they'll meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who's never met another deaf person before; Austin, the school's golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing; and February, the headmistress, who is fighting to keep her school open and her marriage intact, but might not be able to do both at the same time. As a series of crises both personal and political threaten to unravel each of them, Charlie, Austin, and February find their lives inextricable from one another-and changed forever. This is a story of sign language and lip-reading, cochlear implants and civil rights, isolation and injustice, first love and loss, and, above all, great persistence, daring, and joy. Absorbing and assured, idiosyncratic and relatable, this is an unforgettable journey into the Deaf community and a universal celebration of human connection.
Frontend developers have to consider many things: browser compatibility, usability, performance, scalability, SEO, and other best practices. But the most fundamental aspect of creating websites is one that often falls short: accessibility. Accessibility is the cornerstone of any website, and if a website is inaccessible, users won't be able to interact with it, obtain information, sign up for services, or buy products
The first major anthology by parents with disabilities. In this anthology, 30 parents with various mental and physical disabilities discuss the beauty and challenges of parenting and raising a family in an ableist society.
In Chinese culture, the tiger is deeply revered for its confidence, passion, ambition, and ferocity. That same fighting spirit resides in Alice Wong. Drawing on a collection of original essays, previously published work, conversations, graphics, photos, commissioned art by disabled and Asian American artists, and more, Alice uses her unique talent to share an impressionistic scrapbook of her life as an Asian American disabled activist, community organizer, media maker, and dreamer.
A selection of films by or featuring people with disabilities from the library streaming video databases: Kanopy and Films on Demand, or as DVDs in our physical collections..
If you haven't accessed Kanopy before, learn how to set up your account in this FAQ.
2023 - 1 hr. 36 min.
Researcher and disability rights activist Jessica Murray, along with a diverse group of activists, investigates accessibility in the New York City Transit System over a two year period, while under the shadow of her own progression into disability.
2025: 53 min.
This program tells the emotional and dramatic story of the decades-long push for equality and accessibility that culminated in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. A story of courage and perseverance, the film highlights the determined people who literally put their bodies on the line to achieve their goal and change the lives of all Americans. From American Experience. Distributed by PBS Distribution.
1986 - 1 hr. 58 min.
A teacher at a conservative school for the deaf falls in love with a fiercely independent deaf woman who rejects his efforts to teach her to speak.
2017 - 2 hr. 23 min.
After spending his early years in foster care, without access to language, DJ Savarese (“Deej”) found not only a loving family but also a life in words, which he types on a text-to-voice synthesizer. As he dreams of college, he confronts the terrors of his past, society’s obstacles to inclusion and the often-paralyzing beauty of his own senses.
2023 - 1 hr. 41 min.
This film centers on comedian Max co-parenting their autistic son Ezra with ex-wife Jenna. Faced with crucial decisions about Ezra's future, Max and Ezra go on a life-changing cross-country road trip.
2013 - 2 1 hr. episodes
From botox to bionic limbs, the human body is more “upgradeable” than ever. But how much of it can we alter and still be human? What do we gain or lose in the process? Award-winning documentary, Fixed: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement, explores the social impact of human biotechnologies.
2010 - 1 hr. 36 min.
A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed. (Features multiple disabled characters.)
2005 - 1 hr. 18 min.
A film about tough, highly competitive quadriplegic rugby players. These men have been forced to live life sitting down, but in their own version of the full-contact sport, they smash each other in custom-made gladiator-like wheelchairs. Tells the story of a group of world-class athletes unlike any ever shown on screen. In addition to smashing chairs, it will smash every stereotype you ever had about the disabled.
2021 - 25 min.
In this profoundly personal mixed media experience inside the ADHD mind, Neurodivergent follows the filmmaker’s journey as she discovers her ADHD diagnosis during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
2020 - 1 hr. 22 min.
Based on the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, later translated into English by author David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas), The Reason I Jump is an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity through the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people from around the world.
2016 - 1 hr. 21 min.
Michael Turner struggles with one of medical science’s most baffling and enduring disabilities—he stutters. On the surface, stuttering is syllable repetitions, prolongations, blocks, and various physical tics. But as he illustrates in The Way We Talk, stuttering is like an iceberg, with the major symptoms below the surface. Emotions caused by the disorder— anxiety, depression, denial, and a negative self-image—are rarely confronted in speech therapy or even by people who stutter. Turner explores his own experiences with stuttering and presents the stories of others who are part of the self-help movement within the stuttering community—stories that are relatable to anyone who has experienced feelings of separateness, isolation, or inadequacy in any area their life, and are trying to make the most of who they are.
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
