Trying to get your summer reading list together? Here are a few recommended books….
Senior Designer at Microsoft | Accessibility + Inclusive Design Specialist | International and Keynote Speaker
I often share books I like in team meetings, particularly books that are meaningful regarding disability rights, technology, accessibility, and design. But it's been a minute since I've shared these books with my network, so I'd like to share my top 5 books that I think will help you learn about these subjects. 📚 1. Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally by Emily Ladau is an approachable guide to being a thoughtful, informed ally to disabled people. It is a must-read for everyone, especially those who are interested in disability language, etiquette, and conversations. 2. Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, edited by Alice Wong. Disability rights activist Alice Wong edited this anthology, which sheds light on the experience of life as an individual with disabilities, as told by authors with these life experiences. 3. Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design is by Kat Holmes, one of the founding team members who worked on Microsoft's Inclusive Design toolkit. This is a valuable way to re-frame design thinking to become "inclusive design thinking." 4. What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World by Sara Hendren. In a series of vivid stories drawn from the lived experience of disability and the ideas and innovations that have emerged from it—from cyborg arms to customizable cardboard chairs to Deaf architecture—Sara Hendren invites us to rethink the things and settings we live with. 5. Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement by Ashley Shew. To forge a more equitable world, Shew argues that we must eliminate "technoableism"—the harmful belief that technology is a "solution" for disability, that the disabled simply await being "fixed" by technological wizardry, and that making society more accessible and equitable is somehow a lesser priority. If you want to mention any books, add them to the comments! 🙂 Image alt: A stack of books against a typewriter including Demystifying Disability, Against Technoableism, Disability Visibility, Mismatch, and What Can a Body Do?
