Ableism Word List

ABLEISM

Discrimination against people with disabilities

WATCH

1. Crip Camp — James LeBrecht & Nicole Newnham, 2020 · Documentary · A summer camp for disabled teens becomes the birthplace of the disability rights movement.

2. Sound of Metal — Darius Marder, 2019 · Film · A drummer loses his hearing and must redefine what a full life looks like.

3. The Peanut Butter Falcon — Tyler Nilson & Michael Schwartz, 2019 · Film · A man with Down syndrome escapes a care facility to chase his dream.

4. Murderball — Henry Alex Rubin, 2005 · Documentary · Quadriplegic rugby players shattering every assumption about disability.

5. Special — Ryan O’Connell, 2019 · Series · A gay man with cerebral palsy navigates identity, sex, and independence.

6. Children of a Lesser God — Randa Haines, 1986 · Film · A Deaf woman fights to be understood on her own terms.

7. Memoir of a Snail — Adam Elliot, 2024 · Film · Disability, loneliness, and resilience told through stop-motion animation.

8. I Contain Multitudes — Various · Documentary short series · Disabled creators share their lives without inspiration-porn framing.

9. The Fundamentals of Caring — Rob Burnett, 2016 · Film · A caregiver and a teen with muscular dystrophy on a road trip redefining both their lives.

10. Intelligent Lives — Dan Habib, 2018 · Documentary · Three young adults with intellectual disabilities redefine intelligence itself.

LISTEN

1. Disability Visibility Podcast — Alice Wong · The essential podcast for disabled voices, period.

2. The Accessible Stall — Emily Ladau & Kyle Khachadurian · Two disabled hosts discussing disability culture with humor and rigor.

3. Disability After Dark — Andrew Gurza · Disability, sexuality, and intimacy spoken about without apology.

4. Haben: The Deafblind Harvard Lawyer — Haben Girma · Audiobook and interview companion to her memoir.

5. Cripple Media — Various · Disability news and culture from disabled perspectives.

6. Ruthie’s Club — Ruthie Stephens · Disability advocacy and intersectionality from a Black disabled woman.

7. All the Way with Judy — Judy Heumann · Civil rights legend Judy Heumann in conversation with change-makers.

8. The A11Y Rules Podcast — Nicolas Steenhout · Accessibility in technology and design.

9. Hidden Brain: Disability Stigma — Shankar Vedantam · The science behind how society treats disabled people.

10. Ologies with Alie Ward: Disability episodes · Science and culture of disability made accessible and engaging.

READ

1. Disability Visibility — Alice Wong (ed.) · First-person essays from disabled writers; the definitive anthology.

2. The Body Is Not an Apology — Sonya Renee Taylor · Radical self-love as resistance to ableism and all body-based oppression.

3. Haben — Haben Girma · A Deafblind woman’s journey to Harvard and advocacy; electric and joyful.

4. Sitting Pretty — Rebekah Taussig · A wheelchair user dismantles the stories culture tells about disabled bodies.

5. Care Work — Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha · Disability justice as a framework for collective liberation.

6. A Disability History of the United States — Kim Nielsen · Disability woven into American history from the beginning.

7. What Can a Body Do? — Sara Hendren · How design shapes and defines who belongs in the world.

8. Being Mortal — Atul Gawande · Medicine’s failure to honor what patients actually want from their bodies and lives.

9. Far From the Tree — Andrew Solomon · Parents and children across difference including disability; profound and vast.

10. Brilliant Imperfection — Eli Clare · Disability, trans identity, and the politics of cure.