Check Out These Opening Lines from Disabled Authors
At INCLUDAS, we’re always looking to amplify the voices of disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill writers. Get to know some of their talent with these snippets from their upcoming projects they shared with us during our fourth INCLUDAS Book Party!
This is not a sponsored post nor are we endorsing any of the authors. Please use your own judgement when considering reading a particular work for yourself.
A World Like Ours by Natalia GP
Category: #DisabledLove
“All actions have consequences. Even those in where we do nothing, because inactions can have its risks too. 20 years ago, a virus threatened the world as we used to know it, and divided between actions and inactions by the population, chaos was the inevitable… For the majority of us.“
Hospital Symphony by R. Peck
Category: #EpilepsyAwareness
“There’s a symphony of monitors checked with regularity, a cacophony of hurried nurses shoe. A squeaky cart with one bad wheel coming down the hall, don’t worry I’m sure that’s not all.”
bubblegum mold, or things that still stick to here by Han Mallek
Category: #Grief, #DisabledCommunity
“The ghosts in our apartment walls taste like / burning plastic, but it’s nothing that baking soda and / vinegar can’t scrub out.“
My Friend Named Eda by Taylor Smith
Category: #EatingDisorderAwareness
“I’d like to introduce you to my friend Eda. You could say Eda is a close friend of mine. We became best friends in first grade. We always took ballet together. She always slept over and ate my favorite snacks with me — or didn’t.”
Stranded by R. Peck
Category: #EpilepsyAwareness
“It’s invisible but it holds me fast. It’s invisible but I can’t unlatch from its fearsome grasp. It takes me and pulls me away; shakes me up, drains my brain, makes me feel like I’m going insane.”
The Golden Bee by Dana Storino
Category: #ADHD, #Neurodivergence
“Sometimes I wonder what it’s like to be normal. I mean, I guess no one is completely normal, but I definitely think I’m less normal than most kids.”
that funny feeling by Taylor Smith
Category: #AnxietyRepresentation
“Looking out your bedroom window and wishing on a star / Twirling your hair around while dad strums his guitar / Straight-A report cards, empty journals, planes above / Wondering what it feels like to truly be in love.”
Meet You There by Nicole Thomas
Category: #AnxietyRepresentation, #LGBTQIA
“My gold locket snags on my sweater as the howling October wind splatters rain against my umbrella. I usually fiddle with my locket whenever I leave home, fixating on how its weight against my chest grounds me. But, I’m hugging my backpack to keep it dry underneath my umbrella, and I can’t fully reach around it to thumb my locket’s engraved ‘M.'”
Thank you to all of these authors for sharing their work with us, and thank you to everyone who participated in our fourth annual INCLUDAS Book Party! We look forward to seeing everyone back here on December 3rd, 2023. Be sure to check out our other book party posts if you haven’t already, and to order Good Morning, Dinah today!
Happy reading!
