The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, and Disability

In The Pretty One, Keah Brown gives a contemporary and relatable voice to the disabled—so often portrayed as mute, weak, or isolated.

With clear, fresh, and light-hearted prose, these essays explore everything from her relationship with her able-bodied identical twin (called “the pretty one” by friends) to navigating romance; her deep affinity for all things pop culture—and her disappointment with the media’s distorted view of disability; and her declaration of self-love with the viral hashtag #DisabledAndCute.

​The Pretty One is about a journey to joy. From the disability rights advocate and creator of the #DisabledAndCute viral campaign, a thoughtful, inspiring, and charming collection of essays exploring what it means to be black and disabled in a mostly able-bodied white America.

Paperback. 243 Pages.

“Representation matters—and as a Black woman with a physical disability, Keah Brown offers a refreshing narrative from several intersecting communities whose stories have historically been overlooked. But the most important label she sports is writer—and her honest essays force those of us who are able-bodied and white and privileged in a host of different ways to confront our own biases and behaviors about disability, to walk in her shoes for a few hundred pages (resting when necessary!), and ultimately to celebrate her compelling voice. The Pretty One is a game-changer.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light

“This inspiring collection introduces a charming and meditative new voice. Keah Brown’s THE PRETTY ONE is a welcome addition to the conversation on self-love.”—Deepak Chopra

“What does it mean to live at the intersections of blackness, womanhood, and disability? In her admirable debut, The Pretty One, Keah Brown answers this question with heart, charm, and humor. Across twelve finely-crafted essays, Brown explores the matter of representation in popular culture, the vulnerability of facing self-loathing and learning to love herself, the challenge of repairing fractured relationships with family, the yearning for romantic love. Through her words we see that Brown is not just the pretty one; she is the magnificently human one.” —Roxane Gay

Keah Brown is a journalist, freelance writer, and activist. She has written about living with cerebral palsy in Teen Vogue, Essence, Catapult, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, and other publications. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the State University of New York at Fredonia and she has a love for popular culture and cheesecake. She lives in New York with her family. Keah Brown loves herself, but that hadn’t always been the case. Born with cerebral palsy, her greatest desire used to be normalcy and refuge from the steady stream of self-hate society strengthened inside her. But after years of introspection and reaching out to others in her community, she has reclaimed herself and changed her perspective.