Looking for more resources/further reading on neurodivergence, mental health, or other disabilities? Or what about the intersections of being disabled and belonging to other marginalized identities (BIPOC, LGBTQ+, etc.)? Well, that's awesome because you've come to the right place!

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1) A Novel Mind: This is an incredible website that, in addition to having their very own database of over 1000+ children's, middle grade, and young adult books exclusive to highlighting neurodivergence/mental health representation, also has a fantastic blog where they host author interviews, guest posts, and more! Here are just a few of my personal favorite articles:

• Anna Whateley: On Peta Lyre + Autistic Intersectionality (LGBTQ, ADHD, SPD)

• Caela Carter: On (Un)Likable Characters (ADHD)

• Sarah Allen: Loving What Makes Us Human (Depression, NVLD)

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2) Disability in KidLit: While this hasn't been in use since around 2018, Disability in KidLit was (to the best of my knowledge!) the first major website to exist that centered around disability representation in children's and YA books (and, as a bonus fun fact, actually in part inspired this very database!). Some of the many articles from here that I have enjoyed reading include:

• Dyscalculia and ADHD: A View From the Inside

• ASL: Writing a Visual Language

• Hypermobility and Representation

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3) We Need Diverse Books™: According to their website, "We Need Diverse Books™ is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and a grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people." And while they don't exclusively focus on disability, We Need Diverse Books™ is definitely leading the way for more disability representation in books, as well as other forms of diversity. Some of my favorite articles include:​

• Diverse Autistic Authors Are Changing Neurodiversity Representation in Books 

• Writing Responsibly About Mental Health and Suicide in Children’s Fiction

• People With Chronic Illness Are Missing From YA Fiction

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4. The Autism Books by Autistic Authors Project: This is a brand-new website that is dedicated to highlighting books (both fiction and non-fiction) written by Autistic authors! According to their website, The Autism Books by Autistic Authors Project "aims to catalogue all (or more accurately, as many as possible) books about autism which have been written by Autistic authors." 

• 2023 Books Written by Autistic Authors

• Middle Grade Books Written by Autistic Authors

• Young Adult Books Written by Autistic Authors

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Other bookish databases & websites I love (*not necessarily specific to disability representation*):

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BIPOC+

• 2021 Asian Books (a database highlighting Asian-authored books from 2021)

• Directory of Asian Books (a database made for the Asian Readathon feat. Asian books)

• Latinx in Kidlit (a website highlighting books with Latine representation)

• Melanin Library (a website & database feat. books written by Black authors)

• Muslim Voices in Publishing (a website feat. books written by Muslim/Arab authors)

• Reading As(ian) I Am(erican) (a book review website feat. books with Asian rep)

• Reading in Color (a website & database feat. books with BIPOC+ rep)

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Disability

• Autism Book List (a database feat. books by Autistic authors/with Autistic rep)

• Autism Book Masterlist (a database by @emmaferrierx feat. books with Autistic rep)

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LGBTQIA+

• The Aro-Ace Database (a database dedicated to highlighting aspec books characters)

• The Aspec Books Database (another database dedicated to highlighting aspec book characters)

• Bi-brary / Bi-Library (a twitter account dedicated to boosting books with bisexual characters)

• The Bi & Pan Library (an archive of media, including books, feat. bi, pan, and m-spec people)

• The Lesbrary (a book review blog feat. books with sapphic/lesbian characters)

• LGBTQ Reads (a bookish website dedicated to highlighting queer & LGBTQIA+ books)

• Queer Bookdom (a book blog featuring monthly LGBTQIA+ book release posts)

• Queer Books Database (a database dedicated to highlighting queer & LGBTQIA+ books)

• Reads Rainbow (another website dedicated to highlighting queer & LGBTQIA+ books)

• Sapphic Reads Database (a database dedicated to highlighting sapphic/lesbian books)

• The YA/MG Trans & Nonbinary Database (a database for books with trans & nonbinary rep)

• YA Pride (another website & database dedicated to highlighting LGBTQIA+ books)

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Upcoming Book Releases

• Books Birds' 2025 YA Release Calendar (a database specific to 2025 YA books)

  • Prior years:​ 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, & 2024

• Rec-It Rachel's 2023 YA Book Release Database (another database specific to 2023 YA books)

  • Prior years: 2020, 2021, & 2022​

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Other/Miscellaneous

• The Fat Book Database (a database dedicated to highlighting fat/plus-sized books characters)

• Mood Reading Book Lists (a Google Drive by @thenextgenlib feat. a variety of diverse topics)

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Have any more websites/resources you'd like see added to this list? Be sure to send an email to yadisabilitydatabase@gmail.com!

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