10 Adult Reads With Disability Representation

The Books of Babel

Josiah Bancroft's Books of Babel series features two major physically disabled characters, and it lets those characters have arcs where they adjust and struggle with the way their lives have changed because of it. It also has a very cool steampunk vibe, general gorgeous writing, and is just straight up good. Also there is no magical healing! Only slightly terrifying steampunk healing that may actually have left its recipients worse off than when they started.

Realm of The Elderlings

Robin Hobb's Realm of The Elderlings is a classic, with some of the most beautifully written characters in all of fantasy.  It also has multiple Disabled Characters, all of whom have arcs, complex motivations, and relationships. The series shows the realistic (ish) consequences of the kind of violent and brutal world the characters live in. There is magical healing to some degree, but it doesn't let characters get away without consequences. 

Black Sun

Rebecca Roanhorse's Black Sun features a main character who was blinded at an early age. Whilst he does have magical abilities that let him 'see' to an extent, they don't work as flawlessly as, for example, Daredevil's do, and he still faces significant difficulties in his day to day life. 

The Angel of The Crows

Katherine Addison's Angel of The Crows approaches disability in a very interesting way, exploring the boundaries between the real, physical disability that the main character experiences, and the more fantastical, metaphorical disability they also experience. It's overall a very cosy, gas-lamp fantasy retelling of Sherlock Holmes, with an emphasis on the friendship between its two leads. Also no magical healing!

The Stormlight Archives

Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives deals with mental health in a way that works well with the narrative, even handling more stigmatised illnesses such as Dissociative Identity Disorder with respect and sensitivity. He has also been very open about his research process and hiring sensitivity readers, something that is to be encouraged. That said, his handling of physical disability, especially in the first two books, leaves room for improvement as magical healing is a big feature of the world. 

City of Lies

Sam Hawke's City of Lies is notable for being pretty much the only book I've ever come across with a main character who has an autoimmune disease (although which one the character is supposed to have is a little vague lol). It shows just how dynamic a character with a serious chronic illness can still be, without ever having her illness disappear at a convenient time for plot reasons. It also has a main character with OCD, which never goes away, but is also never treated as a caricature.  

The Poppy War

RF Kuang's Poppy War trilogy is noted largely for its incredibly brutal exploration of war and its morally grey pitch black protagonist. What the series also does well is naturally incorporating disability into its narrative as a consequence of the extreme violence of the world. And its never done as wallpaper either, rather, characters who become disabled in this series (which by the end is most of them) are significantly and consistently affected by the things they go through.

Inda

Sherwood Smith's Inda quartet can be a tricky read due to its omniscient pov, inscrutable worldbuilding, and incredibly large cast of characters - not helped by the fact that it doesn't have an audiobook and is extremely difficult to get hold of. It is, however, very enjoyable once you get your hands on a copy and your head around the characters. It also features a main character with autism, which is incredibly well done and doesn't play into stereotypes at all - I didn't even realise Inda was supposed to be autistic until I saw an explanation by an actual autistic person and confirmation from the author! 

The Healer's Road

SE Robertson's Healer's Road will always have a special place in my heart, purely by virtue of being chill, slice of life, road trip fantasy about two characters becoming best friends. It also features a main character with inflammatory bowel disease, and the struggle he goes through of not being able to eat anything in fantasy land is very relatable to my celiac self lol. It does unfortunately do the whole magical healing thing, although the implication is that the character in question will have to undergo frequent magical healings because that's how chronic illnesses work - you can fix the damage, but the underlying illness will just cause more of it. 

The Bone Ships

RJ Barker's Bone Ships trilogy is one of the only books I've read to incorporate disability into the very fabric of its worldbuilding in such a fresh and creative way. Honestly, I don't want to spoil anything, as this series is utterly fantastic. RJ Barker's other series, The Wounded Kingdom trilogy, also has great disability representation, featuring an assassin with a Club Foot. Barker is, in general, very open about using his writing to explore his own experiences with chronic illness.