5 romance books to read for Disability Pride Month

July has a few major holidays, but one observation most people don’t realize is Disability Pride Month, and what better way to celebrate than reading books?

According to the National Health Council’s website, July was chosen for a particular reason as it was the month when “President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law in 1990. This landmark law prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities.” With that reasoning, it makes sense why July would be a perfect choice.

While Disability Pride Month doesn’t get noticed nearly as much, it’s worth celebrating as people with disabilities have largely been ignored and pushed to the side for years. Even if you’re not disabled, now is the perfect time to read something to help you learn or read a book where the characters are disabled.

These five romance books with disabled characters must be on your end-of-month TBR.

Need some recs for Disability Pride Month? These five are a good start.

Starting off with two recent reads of mine, these romance books both feature female characters who are wheelchair users. The first is Knot My Type by Evie Mitchell. This book follows Frankie who is a sexologist and hosts a podcast about accessibility with a focus on sex. After a listener asks about Shibari, she contacts Jay to help her understand the practice and try it out.

Of course, sparks fly between the two and it goes from there. This one is super short and sexy if you’re looking for something fun and spicy. While this is the first book in the series, the rest of the series is just as inclusive as it’s called the All Access series.

Another book featuring a heroine who is a wheelchair user is Baking Me Crazy by Karla Sorensen which follows Jocelyn and Levi who have been friends for years. Even though Jocelyn didn’t know, Levi’s been pining for her for years and it’s friends-to-lovers goodness. While the romance took some time to actually happen, this one was super sweet. Plus Jocelyn works at a bakery so you’ll want a sweet treat in hand while reading.

Keeping with the theme of sweet treats, Fake It Till You Bake It  actually features a heroine with dyslexia, a learning disability. This book by Jamie Wesley follows a fake-dating romance between Jada and Donovan who agree to fake-date as a way to help each other out. Then real feelings start to get involved and it goes from there. This is also a Black love story and it’s just a delight.

Another Black Love story with a disabled character is Getting Schooled by Christina C Jones. This is book 1 in the Wright Brothers series which is a hate-to-love romance between Reese and Jason who meet because she’s his TA. While they don’t get along at first, Reese ends up being attracted to Jason’s intelligence and it goes from there. As for the disability rep, Jason has a prosthetic leg and it’s introduced in such a unique way so keep your eyes peeled if you read this one.

Last but not least is actually a series and that’s the Bergman Brothers series by Chloe Liese. Not every book follows a disabled character, but they’re all such inclusive reads that it would feel wrong to not feature them all. Book 1 is Only When It’s Us which features a deaf hero while book 2, Always Only You follows a heroine who is autistic and has rheumatoid arthritis. As for book 3, Ever After Always features a hero with anxiety, and With You Forever which is book 4 features a heroine who has IBS while the hero is autistic.

As the most recent book published, Everything For You features a hero with chronic pain while the other is dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. Granted, the entire series doesn’t follow disabled characters but you’ll fall in love with this family and want to read the entire series so it’s only right to recommend them all together.

Do you have any romance book recommendations for Disability Pride Month? Be sure to share in the comments.