While Disability Pride Month is in July, it is still important to read stories about and by Disabled people. In the United States alone, 1 in 4 people identify as Disabled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
AmeriDisability, an online publication and resource for people with disabilities and their caregivers, describes Disability Pride as “accepting and honoring each person’s uniqueness, and seeing it as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity.” Below, we have organized a beginner’s guide of manga series with Disabled characters to do just that!
Fullmetal Alchemist By Hiromu Arakawa
Representation: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Prosthesis
Edward and Alphonse Elric perform alchemy’s ultimate taboo — human transmutation — in an attempt to bring back their mother from the dead. The ritual takes Edward’s leg and Alphonse’s body as settlement, and Edward renounces his right arm to bind his brother’s soul to a suit of armor.
When agents of the state learn about the incident and recover the brothers, Edward receives automail prostheses and raises into a State Alchemist, where he has special privileges he hopes can lead him and Alphonse into recovering their original bodies. The Philosopher’s Stone, an object more thesis than concrete, is the most promising option. But in pursuit of the relic, the Elric brothers discover the necrosis of the state’s current leadership.
Insomniacs After School By Makoto Ojiro
Representation: Insomnia
I know morning has come, and I feel hopeless.
Nakami Ganta is exhausted. He can’t sleep at home and hopes to find a place at school where he can. Nakami believes he found refuge in the disbanded astronomy club room but it is already being commandeered by someone else: his classmate, Magari Isaki!
Magari is a fellow insomniac and refuses to give up the room, but without permission from the school faculty, they can’t use the school observatory, so Nakami and Magari decide to share under the guise of a new astronomy club!
The Moon On A Rainy Night By Kuzushiro
Representation: Deaf or Hard of Hearing
On her way to her piano lesson, Saki runs into a beautiful stranger and drops her belongings. The girl returns them and leaves without a word. She wonders if she will meet her again, so she is surprised when she learns it’s her classmate, Kanon.
Kanon isolates herself from her peers because of how she is perceived as someone who is hard of hearing. Saki insists on becoming her friend despite her reluctance because she doesn’t want Kanon to be alone and misunderstood by their classmates. Could they be beginning a friendship and a chance at something more?
Perfect World By Rie Aruga
Representation: Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Wheelchair Use
Tsugumi meets with her high school crush, Itsuki, at an office gathering. He has achieved his dream of becoming an architect, but after high school, he was in an accident and now uses a wheelchair. While Tsugumi struggles with her long-lasting feelings for him and her preconceptions about those with disabilities, Itsuki has second thoughts about not letting anyone in.
A Sign of Affection By suu Morishita
Representation: Cochlear Implant, Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Yuki has been Deaf since birth and communicates through sign language and her phone. She is not prepared when a sightseer asks for directions on the train and is not sure how to respond until a stranger steps in. Yuki learns that stranger is Itsuomi, who attends the same university, and he can speak three languages and travels the globe. Yuki asks for his number in the cover of snowfall and their worlds intertwine.
Have you read these manga? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook and Instagram!
Check out more sweet reading recs!
