Disability Pride

“Illuminating portraits of disability activism with much to teach nondisabled readers.” —Kirkus Reviews

"A sincere, thoughtful look at the advances made by the disabled community that deserve celebration and the improvements still to be made in all areas." —Library Journal

"Upbeat and carefully researched, this valuable guide reveals current trends within the disability community."— Publishers Weekly


Passionate, deeply researched, and full of insight, Disability Pride probes the most profound legacy of the ADA: the ways that it forever transformed how disabled people feel about themselves, from passive recipients of charity to active agents in the transformation of society and leaders in a new kind of civil rights movement. A brilliantly written and timely book. — Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

When discussing pride regarding our disabilities, Ben Mattlin gives the community a source of reflection, inclusion, inspiration, and, more importantly, a sense of belonging. The disability community is often marginalized and demonized for our mere existence—this book is an important step toward full inclusion and acceptance of what and who we are. - Keith P. Jones, president of SoulTouchin' Experiences

Ben Mattlin’s stunning book Disability Pride marks a pivotal moment in the world of disability rights and in the lives of those who live in disabled bodies. Comprehensively researched and compulsively readable, Mattlin tracks how far we’ve come in terms of accessibility and equity, and how far we have—still—to go. — Emily Rapp Black, author of The Still Point of the Turning World

The disability rights movement reached a highwater mark with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but it’s only grown more vital in the decades since. Journalist Ben Mattlin takes us on a brilliant tour of the post-ADA world—filled with everyone from a paraplegic actress who won a Tony Award for playing Ado Annie in Oklahoma! on Broadway to an Asian American autistic blogger who argues for autistic people to take control of their own narratives. And he writes movingly about being, as he puts it, a ‘member of the club.’ Mattlin is clear-eyed about what he believes is needed: more. More laws, more inclusion, more understanding. Disability Pride is both a compelling travelogue and a much-needed rallying cry. —Adam Cohen, author of Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America

Ben Mattlin’s Disability Pride is a highly readable narrative of a post-ADA US, where those of us with disabilities have more visibility but whose stories, and lives, are still controlled by mainstream media, which still does not provide true authentic disability depictions. Readers will not only learn about autistic self-advocacy and the Disability Justice movement but also about how much still needs to happen for people with disabilities to be truly equal members of society. — Kenny Fries, author of In the Province of the Gods

I devoured Disability Pride. This is the book I wish I’d had as a young disabled person growing up in a world that told me almost nothing about the dynamic community or history of which I was a part. Ben Mattlin has gathered our stories to tell a true and complicated tale of disability pride. Leaning into the infinitely diverse range of intersections and expressions of disability, Mattlin expands the narrow portrayals of disability to tell a deeply human story that fostered a sturdy kind of pride in me. — Rebekah Taussig, author of Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body