ND Reads

Each year, Notre Dame selects a book to read and examine as a community that deepens our school's culture of Education for Justice and Leadership. This program engages students, faculty, alums, and friends in academic scholarship and intentional dialogue that reflects our Catholic identity.

Over the past 18 years, the ND Reads program has touched on many topics. We’ve traveled to Africa to study the Rwandan genocide, experienced the oppression of the Taliban through the eyes of Afghan women, explored how government policies have perpetuated racial segregation in America, and celebrated the power of art to overcome intolerance — to name just a few.

For the 2025-26 academic year, our community-wide read is The Anti-Ableist Manifesto: Smashing Stereotypes, Forging Change, and Building a Disability-Inclusive World by Tiffany Yu. Inspired by her Anti-Ableism Series on TikTok, the book is a revelatory examination of disability for any ally to go beyond mere awareness to become an active anti-ableist and help form a more equitable society for all.

Students will have the opportunity to meet the author during a campus visit and book signing.

The Book: The Anti-Ableist Manifesto

Everything She Touched by Marilyn Chase

As the Asian American daughter of immigrants, living with PTSD and sustaining a permanent arm injury at age 9 as a result of a car accident that also took the life of her father, Tiffany Yu is well aware of the intersections of identity that affect us all. The Anti-Ableist Manifesto frames context for conversations, breaks down the language of ableism, identifies microaggressions and offers actions that lead to authentic allyship.

Tiffany Yu is the CEO & Founder of Diversability, an award-winning social enterprise to elevate disability pride; the Founder of the Awesome Foundation Disability Chapter, a monthly micro-grant that has awarded $92.5k to 93 disability projects in 11 countries; and the author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto: Smashing Stereotypes, Forging Change, and Building a Disability-Inclusive World. She serves on the NIH National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research and LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games Working Group.

Her career began in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and has also worked at Bloomberg and startups in media and real estate. Her TED Talk, How to Help Employees with Disabilities Thrive, has over one million views. She has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Guardian, USA Today, Marie Claire and Forbes.

Courtesy of www.tiffanyyu.com

2024/25

Everything She Touched:
The Life of Ruth Asawa
Marilyn Chase

2023/24

A Dream Called Home: A Memoir
Reyna Grande

2022/23

The Color of Air
by Gail Tsukiyama

2021/22

World of Wonders
by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

2020/21

A Place for Us
by Fatima Farheen Mirza '09

2019/20

The Color of Law
by Richard Rothstein
Reaching Out
by Francisco Jimenez

2018/19

The Monk of Mokha
by Dave Eggers

2017/18

Lessons From Little Rock
by Terrence Roberts

2016/17

Stealing Buddha's Dinner
by Bich Minh Nguyen

2015/16

The Odyssey of KP2: An Orphan Seal and  Marine Biologist's Fight to Save a Species
by Terrie M. Williams

2014/15

La Verdad
by Mary Jo Ignoffo & Lucia Cerna

2013/14

Tattoos on the Heart
by Gregory Boyle, S.J.

2012/13

I'm Not Leaving
by Carl Wilkins

2011/12

Enrique's Journey
by Sonia Nazario

2010/11

A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini

2009/10

The Distant Land of My Fathers
by Bo Caldwell

2008/09

Funny in Farsi
by Firoozeh Dumas

2007/08

Three Cups of Tea
by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin