Who Wants Normal?: Life Lessons from Disabled Women: A handbook and manifesto from the acclaimed journalist - Softcover

Ryan, Frances

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241629454 ISBN 13: 9780241629451

Publisher: Penguin, 2026

Synopsis

'We all need this book' Jameela Jamil

‘Wow, just wow. A call to action if I’ve ever read one. So expertly written, educational, thought-provoking and genuinely funny. Society as a whole is privileged to have this book’ David Holmes, author of The Boy Who Lived

‘A razor sharp manifesto by one of Britain's most vital voices’ Yomi Adegoke

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2026 UNWIN AWARD FOR MAKING A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD

NOW WITH A NEW FOREWORD

A groundbreaking memoir about what it means to be a disabled woman in Britain today from the acclaimed journalist and author, including insights and personal stories from over 50 contributors


'No one really talks about it. No one really talks about what it is to be a disabled woman, especially a young one … To navigate all the standard parts of life - exams, careers, dating - but with a body that is different from everyone else’s.'

Almost one in four women in the UK have some sort of disability, yet this subject is too often shrouded in silence and stereotypes. Who Wants Normal? by the award-winning journalist and author Frances Ryan is a game-changing take on disability and feminism.

Part memoir, part manifesto, it explores six facets of life: education, careers, health, body image, relationships and representation, as well as how to survive life’s bumps in the road. It draws on Frances’s own experience as well as her interviews with over fifty of Britain’s best-known women and non-binary people with mental and physical health conditions, including Jameela Jamil, Sophie Morgan, Ruth Madeley, Nikki Fox, Rosie Jones, Fearne Cotton, Emma Barnett, Ellie Goldstein and Katie Piper.

Who Wants Normal? lifts the lid on and redefines what it means to be a disabled woman in Britain today. It offers support, inspiration and a sense of solidarity to the many women with disabilities and long-term health conditions – as well as opening the eyes of anyone wanting to better understand life with a disability.


'Beautiful, vital and important. I loved it' Jack Thorne, writer of Adolescence

'I've never related to a book more. Disabled or not, you MUST read this' Rosie Jones

'Supercharged relevance [full of] robust analysis and wry humour… readers will find here stories to inspire, enrage and encourage' Observer

About this title

About the Author

Frances Ryan is an award-winning journalist and author. For the last decade, she has been a columnist and reporter at the Guardian. Named Commentator of the Year 2024 by the Society of Editors, Ryan’s work has made the front pages of the New York Times, the Guardian and British Vogue. It has helped change government policy, been discussed in the House of Commons, and featured anywhere from Channel 4 News, to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour to The World Tonight.

Her debut book, Crippled, (2019, Verso), was shortlisted for the Bread and Roses Award 2020, and made into the short drama Hen Night for the BBC in 2021. Twice highly commended at the National Press Awards, Ryan was named as one of Britain’s ‘30 exceptional women journalists’ by Women In Journalism in 2022. The same year, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Ryan lives in Nottingham and has a PhD in politics from the University of Nottingham.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241629454
• ISBN 13: 9780241629451
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368