NarratAbility is an online directory of books with disability, chronic illness and mental health representation. The database, currently sharing more than 2000 books, launched in late July 2026 & began as a one-person project built around a simple but urgent conviction: being able to see one’s experiences reflected in fiction can be profoundly affirming, particularly for people living with chronic illness, disability, neurodivergence and mental health conditions, experiences that are often isolating or disruptive; diagnosis is hard and hard-won, and ambiguity/uncertainty can take over.

I developed NarratAbility into a working, searchable directory of books featuring these forms of representation, cheered on by fellow readers. In its current MVP, it lets users search by book title, author, and genre; filter by genre and representation; and view cover images and publication years. In less than 2 months, the project has garnered 1500+ pageviews and 700 unique visitors, with more than 150 database entries coming from community submissions. It’s been used by librarians, therapists, readers, academic researchers, and authors.

The database is continually refined through more accurate tagging, and anyone can submit a book for consideration, including readers, authors, and publishers preparing for a forthcoming launch; I then moderate and publish submissions.

Beyond being merely available, it's crucial that NarratAbility is accessible to diverse users. To this end, I want to bring in an IT specialist and a content accessibility expert to help bring the website in line with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (screen-reader-compatible table, alt text, sign-language accessibility, colour contrast, text size, keyboard navigation). I’m not a professional coder, so bringing in an expert will help expand the diversity of people able to use this resource meaningfully. It will also help me work with lived-experience experts to strengthen the database's utility.

What our grantee is saying: I'm incredibly grateful for this grant and what it will make possible for NarratAbility's utility. Accessibility cannot be an afterthought for a project that spotlights disability and chronic illness representation; it has to be built into its foundations. This grant will help NarratAbility live up to its own values by helping engage professional expertise as well as lived experience input to ensure accessibility for readers using screen readers, audio description, and other features.

NarratAbility is less than 3 months old, and receiving this grant at this stage of the project is especially affirming to make this directory of 2000+ books with disability, chronic illness and mental health representation into a more robust, accessible, and participatory resource for readers, authors, librarians, and others seeking thoughtful representation in fiction. Stories can be so powerful in making us feel less alone, and this resource can be a catalyst for discovering characters with shared lived experiences.