That Girl's in a Wheelchair (Askanazi)

"Compelling and vulnerable,
tender and confronting..."

—Raechel Anne Jolie (author, Rust Belt Femme)

"Models the true meaning of
letting one's light shine."

—Naoko Fujimoto (translator, of Women)

Life at the Intersections

From the shores of Lake Erie comes the honest story of a young Black disabled woman living under the microscope of the world’s stereotypes.

Vignettes of poverty and abuse, mental and physical illnesses, ridicule and racism … and of love, wonder, and healing fill the pages of That Girl’s in a Wheelchair.

"The reader sees through [Shalida's] eyes how one can emerge from deep physical and mental desolation to a life of hope and dreams." —Bill Moushey (author, Game Over)

About the Author

Shalida A. Askanazi is an author and poet from Cleveland, Ohio, who has a rare disability called sacral agenesis. Her work is heavily inspired by being a disabled Black woman in America and by mental health concerns in the Black community.

2026
Paperback
Open Waters Publishing
ISBN 978-0-8298-1045-5