The Sonoran Center’s APIDA Heritage Month Media List: Creators and Perspectives
By: Mỹ Lê Sandaine, Systems Change Liaison
May is Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American (APIDA) Heritage Month, a time to recognize the histories, cultures, creativity, and lived experiences of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American communities. This media list highlights APIDA books, films, podcasts, and creators that include disability, chronic illness, mental health, neurodivergence, access, care, identity, and belonging. Some stories center on disability directly. Others explore family, culture, migration, grief, advocacy, and what it means to live with more than one identity. The hope is that this list gives people a place to start, a story to connect with, or a new creator to follow. Representation matters, especially when people share their own stories in their own way.
Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong
A memoir by Alice Wong, a disabled Asian American activist, writer, and founder of the Disability Visibility Project.
Disability Visibility: Adapted for Young Adults edited by Alice Wong
Young adult book anthology. A youth-focused version of Disability Visibility featuring disabled writers and a range of lived experiences.
Bridge from Saigon: A Viet-American Memoir of Family and Mind by Hoangmai H. Pham
A Vietnamese American memoir about refugeehood, family history, trauma, and dissociative identity disorder.
Asian Lifing co-hosted by Vanni and Dennis Tran
Dennis Tran is a queer, disabled, late-identified autistic-ADHDer and partially blind Vietnamese American storyteller.
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
A romance novel centered on Khai Diep, a Vietnamese American autistic man, and Esme Tran, a Vietnamese woman from Ho Chi Minh City.
The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang
A personal essay collection by Taiwanese American writer Esmé Weijun Wang about living with schizoaffective disorder, psychiatric diagnosis, stigma, chronic illness, and how medical systems and society understand mental health.
The Anti-Ableist Manifesto: Smashing Stereotypes, Forging Change, and Building a Disability-Inclusive World by Tiffany Yu
A practical guide by disabled Asian American advocate Tiffany Yu, founder of Diversability. The book examines ableism, disability inclusion, bias, language, access, and what people and organizations need to change to build more inclusive communities.
37 Seconds written and directed by Hikari
The film stars Mei Kayama, who has cerebral palsy, as a young manga artist seeking independence, creative identity, and self-determination.
TikTok account by Tiffany Yu
A Taiwanese and Vietnamese American, founder of Diversability, and author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto.