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People with disabilities are under-represented in almost every industry and the book world is no different.
The Disability Bookshelf aims to close the gap by making it easier to find books about disability and that represent people with disabilities, as well as shining a spotlight on authors with disabilities who may be overlooked on other platforms.
What it is
The Bookshelf lists relevant books in appropriate categories. Each listing includes the book’s cover, title, author, a brief description and tags disability issues raised in the book.
Featured Books (coming soon) is a promotion service where publishers or authors can feature their books. This is a full-page feature with full blurb, links to retailers, short author bio and author note. This is currently free, but will become a paid service next year.
Author Spotlight (coming soon) is a promotion service where publishers or authors can feature full author biographies and life stories. This is currently free, but will become a paid service next year.
The Disability Flag
We have incorporated the colours of the Disability Flag into our design. It represents the full range of visible and hidden disabilities and chronic illness.
Red: Physical disabilities
Yellow: Neurodivergence, cognitive and intellectual disabilities
White: Invisible or undiagnosed disabilities
Blue: Mental illness
Green: Sensory perception disabilities
Black: Those who have died as a consequence of their disability
My Story
I seem to have spent my life trying to keep up with everyone. You just have to try harder to be like everyone else was a something I was told over and over again. I was socially awkward, I struggled athletically and I had persistent symptoms of pain and fatigue that I was told were just my imagination.
It was only when I hit my late thirties that I started being diagnosed with multiple conditions and eventually my health started to deteriorate to the point where I lost my job and found myself on disability. I decided to see it as an opportunity to do the thing I had always wanted to do: write. I started my first novel and six long years later I finally self-published.
During my time writing I was in a bit of a cosy bubble, I was free from the endless burden of trying to keep up with able-bodied people the way I had done when working. I thought I had finally found my place.
However, after I self-published I was confronted with that same old ableism again. Though my book received great reviews, I could not cope with the work and financial cost required to market my book and compete against those by able-bodied authors – people who can churn out new titles every few months, had the time and energy for social media and the money to hire expensive professional marketing agencies. Because, the reality is, the more money you can spend on marketing, the more successful your book will be, so my book is now lost in the murky depths of Amazon.
It has left me feeling disillusioned and frustrated. I'm sure I'm not the only writer disadvantaged by illness or disability, so I decided to create a space dedicated to disabled and chronically ill writers. A place where our books can be showcased without being drowned out by hype and big budgets, and where readers with disabilities can easily find books that resonate with them.
– Skye Bothma, Founder
