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Disability

19 free-to-read stories tagged “Disability”

Secondhand Music

Aleksandra Hill Analog 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,042 words

"On the day of the fitting, hope flits in Ava’s chest, a frightened sparrow she might stifle or set free. The day unravels languidly from dawn until midmorning, then hurtles toward noon so quickly that Ava must run to catch the subway or risk being late....

Literary SFDisabilityNew York City

Familiar Face

Meg Elison Nightmare 2020 ShortStory 4,039 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorDisabilityAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence

Flow

Marissa Lingen Fireside 2018 ShortStory 2,955 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Magical RealismDisabilityHopeful

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

Scar Tissue

Tobias S. Buckell Future Tense 2020 ShortStory 5,011 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

AI FictionDisabilitySecond Person

Content warnings 2

abuseviolence

Last Gods

Sam J. Miller Drowned Worlds 2016 ShortStory Climate Change 6,200 words

On the edge of the ruined land, village people worship Orcas as gods. Unbeliever Kelb is up to something, and Adze tries to help him because she loves him.

Climate FictionDisabilityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

animal-harmdeathviolence

The Elephant Maker

Alec Nevala-Lee Analog 2023 Novella Science Fiction 35,944 words

"He had been on the run for a long time. At first, he drove himself ever forward, going deeper into the forest, aware of nothing but the need to keep moving. Much later, he realized that he had somehow circled back, returning to the places that he had...

BiopunkDisabilitySouth Asia

Content warnings 2

animal-harmviolence

The Ghosts of Mars

Dominica Phetteplace Asimov's 2023 Novella Science Fiction 24,991 words

"My mother was born in a place where your age and the number of trips you took around the Sun were synonymous. That changed for her once she set foot on Mars. She was thirty-two. On her fifth sol on this planet, there was a drone that went rogue for an...

Time TravelDisabilityEarnest

Content warnings 1

suicide

Maximum Efficiency

Holly Schofield Analog 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 3,236 words ♪ audio

"Servos whining, K3RA crouches behind the brambles and examines the farmyard. The burnt remains of a house, not unusual post-Devastation. A handpump next to a rotting well cover, scattered trash, and, jutting above some flowering bushes, a small auxiliary...

AI FictionDisabilityEarnest

The Unlikely Heroines of Callisto Station

Marie Vibbert Analog 2021 Novella Science Fiction 35,890 words

"Lottie wanted to break something. Because she hadn’t! She’d shaped the cafeteria tray perfectly, with an ergonomic curve to support her elbow. She hadn’t had access to screws or nails, so she cut tabs into the workbench and slots into the tray, but the...

Social SFDisabilityDarkly Comic

Content warnings 1

mental-illness

Ancestries

Sheree Renée Thomas Nine Bar Blues 2020 ShortStory 4,288 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

AfrofuturismDisabilityWest Africa

Content warnings 3

ableismabuseviolence

By Claw, By Hand, By Silent Speech

Elsa Sjunneson-Henry & A. Merc Rustad Uncanny 2018 ShortStory SF Adventure 4,425 words

The Owen corporation has brought some dinosaurs through their “gate,” and Dr. Crimshaw thinks she can use sign language to communicate with one of them.

BiopunkDisabilityHopeful

The Starfish Girl

Maureen F. McHugh Future Tense 2018 ShortStory 5,791 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

BiopunkDisabilityEarnest

Coming Home

Dhiyanah Hassan Strange Horizons 2026 ShortStory 5,165 words

If only Serthe'P had been able to fit in, maybe she could have protected —. No. This thought was dangerous. Mnth’R had helped her understand that their isolation had more to do with the Raja’s exploitation of their cast’s fears than any shortcomings of...

Science FantasyDisabilityDefiant

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

Home/Body

P. H. Low Uncanny 2026

You find yourself standing in a train station. People hurry past you, grunting and shuffling: a gaggle of girls wrapped in black cloaks; a family of five laden with alphorn cases taller than they are; a thickly mustached man tugging a roller bag with a...

Magical RealismDisabilityAmbiguous Ending

People Like Us

editor GigaNotoSaurus 2026 Novelette 8,323 words

When the symptoms first set in, it had taken her three months, three full moons, and one nervous confrontation in a coffee shop to realize that she was, in fact, a werewolf. In retrospect, she wondered why it took her so long to figure it out. But after...

Contemporary FantasyDisabilityHopeful

PodCastle 953: The Will of the God of Music

PodCastle 2026 ♪ audio

Author : P. H. Low Narrator : Jo Moran Host : Eleanor R. Wood Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Previously published in Fantasy Magazine, March 2023 Rated PG-13 The Will of the God of Music by P. H. Low You hear the door open as if in dreaming. Back when you...

Contemporary FantasyDisabilitySecond Person

Content warnings 1

body-horror

The Rice Paper Bleed by Tia Tashiro

Tia Tashiro Clarkesworld 2026

“It’s not the same room,” Chiyo says staunchly. She’s sitting in her wheelchair, a faded quilt tucked around her legs. A Western plays on the TV, cowboys with scruffy chins […]

SlipstreamDisabilityAmbiguous Ending

PseudoPod 873: A Box of Hair and Nail

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 873: A Box of Hair and Nail is a PseudoPod original. “This story was inspired by an urban myth that terrified my mum when she was a teenager in Malaysia. The legend went that if you didn’t dispose of your nail and hair clippings carefully, an...

Folk HorrorDisabilitySoutheast Asia

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoreviolence

Escape Pod 840: The Tyrant Lizard (and Her Plus One) / Alien Invader or Assistive Device?

John Wiswell Escape Pod 2022 ♪ audio

The Tyrant Lizard (and Her Plus One) By John Wiswell Dinosaurs don’t want to kill you; they just don’t care that you’re there. More people have been sat on by brontosauruses than have been eaten by all the theropods combined. Since I joined security on the...

First ContactDisabilityWhimsical

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence