Books about Disability and Higher Education

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This is a list of books about disability and higher education, with at least one significant section on the topic. Also check out DREAM's list of movies about disability and higher education .

We do not recommend or endorse these books - it's just information that may be helpful. At this time, this list does not have guides to colleges or books about applying for college, medical information about disabilities, or strategy books (e.g., study guides or "success" guides). This list of books (by author's last name) is regularly updated, but if you have an addition or edit, just contact us! The majority of these books are about the United States.

Fiction and Autobiography (Disability Focus in Brackets after Author Name)

  • A Mind Unraveled by Kurt Eichenwald [Epilepsy]
  • Stutterer Interrupted: The Comedian Who Almost Didn't Happen by Nina G [Dyslexia/Learning Disabilities]
  • The Days by Taha Hussein* [Blindness]
  • International Perspectives on Teaching with Disability: Overcoming Obstacles and Enriching Lives edited by Michael S. Jeffress [Various Disabilities]
  • Learning Sickness: A Year with Crohn’s Disease by James M. Lang [Crohn's Disease]
  • Life on the Tenure Track: Lessons from the First Year by James M. Lang [Crohn's Disease]
  • The Exceptional Nurse: Tales from the Trenches of Truly Resilient Nurses Working with Disabilities edtied by Donna Carol Maheady [Various Disabilities]
  • The Body Silent: The Different World of the Disabled by Robert F. Murphy [Quadraplegia, Paralysis, and Spinal Cord Injuries]
  • To the Little Boy in Me: Learning with Dyslexia & ADHD by Jonathan Oliver [Dyslexia and ADHD]
  • The Secret Life of a Black Aspie: A Memoir by Anand Prahlad [Asperger's and Autism]
  • Aquamarine Blue 5: Personal Stories of College Students with Autism edited by Dawn Prince-Hughes [Autism]
  • Songs of the Gorilla Nation by Dawn Prince-Hughes [Autism]
  • The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks [Shizophrenia]
  • Quiet: A Graphic Novel of Introversion by Matthew Senn [Disability Not Specified - Introversion Framed as PossibleAutism or Anxiety]
  • The Rosie Project: A Novel by Graeme Simsion [Autism, though Character is Never Diagnosed]
  • Signing in Puerto Rican: A Hearing Son and His Deaf Family by Andrés Torres [Deafness]
  • A Great Place for a Seizure by Terry Tracy [Epilepsy]
  • Disabled Faculty and Staff in a Disabling Society: Multiple Identities in Higher Education by Mary Lee Vance (available only through www.ahead.org) [Various Disabilities]
  • Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South by Mary Herring Wright [Deaf]
  • Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America by Elizabeth Wurtzel [Depression and Anxiety]

Non-Fiction

Some of these volumes only contain select chapter(s) on disability in higher education settings.

  • Further Wellness Issues for Higher Education: How to Promote Student Health During and After College edited by David S. Anderson
  • Navigating College: A Handbook of Self-Advocacy by E. Ashkenazy & M. Latimer
  • Empowering Leadership: A Systems Change Guide for Autistic Students and Those with Other Disabilities by the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network
  • Building Pedagogical Curb Cuts: Incorporating Disability in the University Classroom and Curriculum edited by Liat Ben-Moshe, Rebecca C. Cory, Mia Feldbaum, and Ken Sagendorf
  • UDL Navigators in Higher Education: A Field Guide by Jodie Black and Eric J. Moore
  • Universal Design in Education: Teaching Nontraditional Students by Frank G. Bowe
  • Transforming Higher Education through Universal Design for Learning: An International Perspective edited by Sean Bracken and Katie Novak
  • Ableism in Academia: Theorising Experiences of Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses in Higher Education edited by Nicole Brown and Jennifer Leigh
  • Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice (Second Edition) edited by Sheryl E. Burgstahler
  • Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice edited by Sheryl E. Burgstahler and Rebecca C. Cory
  • Shifting the Dialog, Shifting the Culture: Pathways to Successful Postsecondary Outcomes for Deaf Individuals by Stephanie W. Cawthon and Carrie Lou Garberoglio
  • When is Separate Unequal? A Disability Perspective by Ruth Colker
  • The Law of Disability Discrimination for Higher Education Professionals by Ruth Colker and Paul D. Grossman
  • Hand Talk: Sign Language Among American Indian Nations by Jeffrey E. Davis [book discusses how linguistics and academia marginalized Indian sign languages]
  • Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education by Jay Dolmage
  • Disability in Higher Education: A Social Justice Approach by N. J. Evans, E. M. Broido, and A. K. Wilke
  • It's a Small World: International Deaf Spaces and Encounters edited by Michele Friedner and Annelies Kustsers
  • Disability & the Politics of Education: An International Reader edited by Susan L. Gabel and Scot Danforth
  • Going to College: Expanding Opportunities for People with Disabilities by Elizabeth Evans Getzel and Paul Wehman
  • Navigating Transition from High School to College for Students with Disabilities edited by Meg Grigal, Joseph Madaus, Lyman L. Dukes III, and Debra Hart
  • Think College! Postsecondary Education Options for Students with Intellectual Disabilities by Meg Grigal and Debra Hart
  • Universal Access Through Inclusive Instructional Design: International Perspectives on UDL edited by Susie L. Gronseth and Elizabeth M. Dalton
  • Addressing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity in Higher Education by Ronald E Hallett, Rashida M. Crutchfield, and Jennifer J. Maguire[has sections on trauma]
  • New Directions for Higher Education:Disability Services and Campus Dynamics edited by Wendy S. Harbour and Joseph W. Madaus
  • How Did You Get Here? Students with Disabilities and Their Journeys to Harvard by Thomas Hehir, Laura A. Schifter, and Wendy S. Harbour
  • The Stressed Years of Their Lives: Helping Your Kid Survive and Thrive During Their College Years by B. Janet Hibbs and Anthony Rostain
  • Empowering Students with Hidden Disabilities: A Path to Pride and Success by Margo Izzo and LeDerick Horne
  • International Perspectives on Teaching with Disability: Overcoming Obstacles and Enriching Lives edited by Margo S. Jeffress
  • The Law: What's Disability Studies Got to Do with It or An Introduction to Disability Legal Studies by Arlene S. Kanter [Available in reprints from Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Volume 42, No. 2]
  • Righting Educational Wrongs: Disability Studies in Law and Education edited by Arlene S. Kanter and Beth A. Ferri
  • Negotiating Disability: Disclosure and Higher Education edited by S. L. Kerschbaum, L. T. Eisenman, and J. M. Jones
  • Disability as Diversity in Higher Education edited by E. Kim and K. C. Aquino
  • Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity by Simi Linton
  • Disability and the University: A Disabled Students' Manifesto by Chistopher McMaster and Benjamin Whitburn
  • Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice by A. Meyer, D. H. Rose, and D. Gordon
  • Learning Outside the Lines: Two Ivy League Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD Give You the Tools for Academic Success and Educational Revolution by J. Mooney and D. Cole
  • Students with Disabilities and the Transition to Work by Oliver Mutanga
  • Allies for Inclusion: Disability and Equity in Higher Education (ASHE Higher Education Report Volume 39, Number 5) edited by Karen A. Myers, Jaci Jenkins Lindburg, and Danielle M. Nied
  • Deaf in Japan: Signing and the Politics of Identity by Karen Nakamura
  • Ableism: The Causes and Consequences of Disability Prejudice by Michelle R. Nario-Redmond
  • People with Intellectual Disability Experiencing University Life: Theoretical Underpinnings, Evidence and Lived Experience edited by Patricia O'Brien, Michelle L. Bonati, Friederike Gadow and Roger Slee
  • Supporting College and University Students with an Invisible Disability: A Guide for Faculty and Staff Working with Autism, AD/HD, Language Processing Disorders, Anxiety, and Mental Illness by Christy Oslund
  • Mad at School: Rhetorics of Mental Disability and Academic Life by Margaret Price
  • Life of the Mind Interrupted: Essays on Mental Health and Disability by Katie Rose Guest Pryal
  • New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education: Challenging Ableism, Understanding Disability, Including Adults with Disabilities in Workplaces and Learning Spaces edited by Tonette S. Rocco
  • Improving Accessible Digital Practices in Higher Education Challenges and New Practices for Inclusion edited by Jane Seale
  • No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement by Joseph P. Shapiro
  • Preparing Students with Disabilities for College Success: A Practical Guide to Transition Planning by S. F. Shaw, J.W. Madaus, and L. L. Dukes
  • From Disability to Diversity: College Success for Students with Learning Disabilities, ADHD, and Autism Spectrum Disorder by Lynne C. Shea, Linda Hecker, and Adam R. Lalor
  • Evaluating Campus Climate at US Research Universities: Opportunities for Diversity and Inclusion edited by Krista M. Soria
  • Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences by Mahadeo A. Sukhai and Chelsea E. Mohler
  • The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaningby Tanya Titchkosky
  • Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education by Thomas J. Tobin and Kristen T. Behling
  • Beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act: Inclusive Policy and Practice in Higher Education edited by Mary Lee Vance, Neal E. Lipsitz, and Kaela Parks
  • Black Deaf Students: A Model for Educational Success by Carolyn E. Williamson