IN LIFE

Her award-winning debut memoir, WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE A CHAIR, set off sparks in Ryan’s belly and a yearning for change within disability representation in literature.

 

Not only did she want to be a chair, she wanted to write books. Big books. Small books. Make-believe books. Heavy books. Colorful books. All the books. So when Ryan was asked to write a children’s book based on her real-life experiences as a wheelchair user, she took it and rolled with it. The picture book of the same title will be released by Barefoot Books this coming spring, with a second book based on her memoir under contract.

 

With words in the New York Times, Huffington Post, Newsweek, and others, Ryan has shared her own life experiences as a wheelchair user caused by a spinal cord injury in her teens. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Ryan has been a teacher, coach, mentor, and mom, and she’s on a mission to change the perspective and the narrative of disability, one word at a time.  Visit her Substack HERE.

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