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Who Wants Normal?
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  • Published: 21 July 2026
  • ISBN: 9780241629451
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $26.99

Who Wants Normal?

The Disabled Girls’ Guide to Life

Formats & editions
Paperback
21 July 2026
Hardback
8 July 2025
EBook
3 Apr 2025
Audiobook
3 Apr 2025
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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.
  • Published: 21 July 2026
  • ISBN: 9780241629451
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $26.99
Categories:

About the author

Frances Ryan

Frances Ryan is a multi-award-winning journalist and author. Named Commentator of the Year broadsheet 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.

For the last decade, Ryan has been a columnist and reporter at the Guardian. Her debut book, Crippled, (2019, Verso), was shortlisted for the Bread and Roses Award, and made into the short drama Hen Night for the BBC. In 2025, Ryan was named as one of the 25 most influential women defining Britain by British Vogue. The same year, Elle U.K. selected her as one of their 40 women of hope defining the next 40 years of culture. Ryan is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has a PhD in politics from the University of Nottingham.

FR

Praise for Who Wants Normal?

This book is beautiful, vital and important. I loved it

Jack Thorne, writer of Adolescence

A razor sharp, super-smart manifesto by one of the most vital voices in British journalism today. This guide is a crucial call to action not just for disabled women, but for everyone who wants to have a better understanding of what it means to live with a disability

Yomi Adegoke

Frances has long been one of my writing heroes - this book is typically smart, funny, clarifying and enraging

Eva Wiseman

This superb book is a rallying cry for true equality for disabled people. Full of shocking stats, real life experiences and humour, it made me angry, laugh and gasp

Victoria Derbyshire

The must-read manifesto…this new book blends memoir and practical insight in an unmissable call to action…it covers education, careers, health, body image, relationships, representation and more

Stylist

Illuminating and spirited - such a necessary book

Marina Hyde

One of the most interesting and important writers working in the UK today

Nish Kumar

Disability is an unnecessarily awkward subject for far too many people given the millions and millions of people within our society who engage with it daily, either due to their own health struggles, or those of someone they love. Frances has a talent for de-stigmatising the conversation and pushing past the uncomfortable to the necessary in an engaging and undeniable fashion. An inimitable voice in disability advocacy. We all need this book

Jameela Jamil

I’ve never related to a book more. Brilliant, honest and so powerful. Disabled or not, you MUST read this book

Rosie Jones

There are so many "Yes! That happened to me too!" moments in this book that reading it feels like having a gossipy evening in with the best of friends - the best disabled women friends

Liz Carr

Exceptional ... A must read

British Vogue

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

Observer

A powerful voice in disability rights

Elle, 40 For 40: Women Of Hope

Enormously perceptive ... Readers will nod in recognition

TLS
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