July is Disability Pride Month, and it seems to have caused a bit of confusion for both able-bodied and disabled people alike. It is not about celebrating pain or ignoring grief but about recognizing that everyone has the right to exist. Disabled people are just as worthy of love and light as able-bodied people, and they also deserve to be seen and have their voices heard.
Some of the greatest voices in fantasy and science fiction literature actually come from within the disabled community. These authors use their personal experiences to help their characters and readers feel seen. They give disability representation without magic cures or eugenicist sci-fi tropes.
As a disabled writer myself, I truly appreciate how these authors advocate for disability in fantasy and science fiction worlds and how they do so in our world as well.
Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo is well-known for her Grishaverse novels, including the Shadow and Bone trilogy, Six of Crows duology, and the King of Scars duology. She has been praised for her inclusion of characters of color, LGBTQ+ characters, and those with both physical disabilities and mental health conditions.
Bardugo's characters deal with PTSD, ADHD, and learning disabilities, but one character was written with the author's own experiences and emotions in mind. In the acknowledgements of Six of Crows, Bardugo states that she lives with osteonecrosis, a condition that causes bone tissue death, and that she gained the courage to use her cane in public after writing Kaz Brekker's cane as integral to his identity.
Nnedi Okorafor
Nnedi Okorafor writes some of the most incredible science fiction with themes of identity, race, and belonging. In her 2021 novel, Noor, she explores disability through her protagonist AO, a cyborg whose augmentations allow her freedom but also make her a target of discrimination.
Okorafor knows what it feels like to live in a body that seems "unnatural" to others, and so AO's character is deeply personal. Okorafor was diagnosed with scoliosis as a child and became paralyzed after a surgery to straighten her spine with a metal rod. Today, she can walk with the help of a mobility aid, and she translates her pain into poignant stories of Africanfuturism.
John Wiswell
John Wiswell is very open about his disabilities, including a neuromuscular disorder that causes chronic pain and affects his heart and lungs. He is also neurodivergent, and he writes his characters with disabilities and in situations he is familiar with.
In his novel Someone You Can Build a Nest In, the protagonist is a monster who masks her identity, both as a shapeshifter and a neurodivergent woman. And in his most recent book, The Dragon Has Some Complaints, Wiswell tackles the grief and anger amputees feel after losing a part of themselves. The dragon, Garrodigh, was once four-headed, but one of the heads was cut off, and now the other three struggle with their sense of identity.
R.J. Barker
Many disabilities are not visible to others, leading to people disbelieving or minimizing a disabled person's experiences. R.J. Barker lives with Crohn's disease, a condition that causes inflammation of the digestive system, and has had to explain that he is disabled even if no one can see his symptoms.
Living in an often ableist society as a disabled person inspired R.J. Barker to create a fantasy world where disability is a regular part of life, without the pomp of a wounded hero trope. His book, The Bone Ships, reflects on how society views disabilities and reveals how common they are.
E.M. Anderson
E.M. Anderson is a queer, AuDHD (autistic and ADHD) author who often explores disability in their books. They also have a physical disability that affects their eyesight, requiring glasses with a strong prescription. Not only are most of their characters neurodivergent, but a few also have physical disabilities.
Edna, from Anderson's The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, uses a cane, glasses, and hearing aids, but still manages to fight and save the dragon fighters from an evil sorcerer. And in The Lord of the Wood, which releases on July 21, 2026, characters live with anxiety, undiagnosed autism, chronic pain, and fatigue.
Seanan McGuire
Writing fantasy as Seanan McGuire and science fiction under the pen name Mira Grant, McGuire writes her autistic and OCD worldview into her books. She has also explained that her use of mobility aids during conventions was due to chronic pain.
There are many examples in McGuire's works of disability representation, but one of the most moving is the way mermaids move around on land. Several of her mermaids use wheelchairs, harkening back to the original tale of The Little Mermaid, where the human legs are cursed with agonizing pain. Readers with disabilities love McGuire for including this aspect as part of the characters rather than just a plot device.
Susanna Clarke
Not that I have a particular favorite among this list, but I relate to Susanna Clarke most because we share a diagnosis. Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome is a condition that makes you feel as if The Princess Bride's Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) has consistently hooked you up to his machine, draining years of your life away.
Clarke first became ill just after the successful publication of her hit novel Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. For years, doctors gave her different diagnoses before finally ending on ME/CFS. She had to stop writing for years but was able to begin again in 2020 with Piranesi. Her latest novel, The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City, will be released in October 2026 and proves that even with severe brain fog and fatigue, Clarke is an intelligent and talented writer.
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