All disabled people have the right to community, peer support, and spaces where they can connect with others who share their experiences. This page centers disabled people's expertise and lists Reddit communities created by and for disabled people, with guidance on navigating these spaces safely.
Reddit is unmoderated and uneven. The quality, safety, and values of Reddit communities vary dramatically. Some communities are well-moderated, explicitly anti-ableist, and led by disabled people. Others allow harmful content, promote cure narratives, or center non-disabled perspectives.
Key safety considerations:
Not all disability subreddits are led by disabled people. Some are dominated by family members, caregivers, or professionals who may not respect disabled people's autonomy or perspectives.
Moderation quality varies. Some subreddits have strong anti-ableism policies and active moderation. Others allow ableist language, inspiration porn, cure narratives, or outright harassment.
Reddit is public. Anything you post can be seen, screenshot, and shared. Do not share identifying information, photos of yourself, or details that could compromise your safety or privacy.
Medical advice is not vetted. Reddit is not a substitute for healthcare. People sharing advice may mean well but may not have accurate information. Always verify medical information with qualified healthcare providers.
Some communities promote harmful practices. Be cautious of communities that discourage seeking medical care, promote unproven treatments, encourage self-diagnosis as a replacement for accessing care (rather than as valid in itself), or foster unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Ableism is common. Even in disability-focused subreddits, you may encounter functioning labels, inspiration porn, cure narratives, or dismissal of certain disabilities or experiences.
Trolls and harassment exist. Some people join disability communities to mock, harass, or exploit disabled people. Report and block freely.
Before participating heavily in a subreddit, check:
Rules and moderation: Does the subreddit have explicit anti-ableism rules? Are rules enforced? Do moderators remove harmful content?
Who participates: Is the community led by disabled people sharing lived experience, or dominated by caregivers, family members, or professionals?
Content patterns: Do posts respect disabled people's autonomy? Or do you see inspiration porn, infantilization, cure narratives, or functioning labels?
How conflict is handled: When people push back on ableism, are they supported or silenced?
Privacy norms: Does the community encourage or discourage sharing identifying information?
Leave or avoid subreddits that:
Protect your privacy:
Protect your wellbeing:
Verify information:
Reddit can be a valuable source of peer support, practical advice, and community for disabled people—particularly those who are isolated, newly disabled, or seeking others who share specific experiences. Disabled people use Reddit to:
However, Reddit is also a space where ableism, misinformation, and harmful narratives are common. The platforms's structure—upvoting/downvoting, pseudonymity, minimal accountability—can amplify both the best and worst of online community. This page aims to help disabled people find valuable communities while navigating risks.
Focus: Broad, mixed-disability discussion covering access issues, benefits, daily life, politics, and disability rights.
Size: Large (100,000+ members)
Strengths: Active community with diverse disabilities represented. Good for general questions, benefit navigation, and policy discussions. Moderators generally enforce anti-ableism rules.
Considerations: Size means quality varies. Some threads attract non-disabled people debating disability issues. Read subreddit rules before posting.
Best for: General disability questions, benefits advice, access issues, current events affecting disabled people.
Focus: Smaller, more personal community with identity-focused discussions.
Size: Medium (10,000+ members)
Strengths: More intimate than r/disability. Tends toward personal experiences, identity, and disability culture rather than purely practical advice.
Considerations: Smaller size means less activity but often more thoughtful engagement.
Best for: Discussing disability identity, culture, and personal experiences in a smaller community.
Focus: Law, policy, ADA/504, activism, and enforcement discussions.
Size: Smaller (1,000+ members)
Strengths: Focus on legal rights, policy, and activism. Good for discussing discrimination, filing complaints, understanding legal protections.
Considerations: Less active than larger subreddits. More focused on U.S. law (ADA, Section 504, IDEA) than international contexts.
Best for: Legal questions, understanding disability rights, discussing policy and advocacy.
Focus: General chronic illness community covering many conditions.
Size: Large (100,000+ members)
Strengths: Active community with diverse chronic illnesses. Good for discussing symptom management, medical navigation, and emotional support.
Considerations: Some focus on diagnosis-seeking can veer into medical anxiety territory. Be cautious about unvetted medical advice.
Best for: Connecting with others managing chronic illness, symptom management strategies, navigating healthcare.
Focus: Living with chronic pain conditions.
Size: Large (50,000+ members)
Strengths: Peer support for pain management, understanding from others living with pain, strategies for daily functioning.
Considerations: Pain management is complex and individual. Be wary of medical advice, particularly regarding medications. Subreddit culture can sometimes be fatalistic—take breaks if it becomes draining.
Best for: Peer support, pain management strategies, venting about pain experiences.
Focus: Fibromyalgia-specific community.
Size: Large (40,000+ members)
Strengths: Specific to fibromyalgia experiences, symptom patterns, and management strategies. Good for connecting with others who understand the condition.
Considerations: Medical advice varies in quality. Fibromyalgia is often dismissed by healthcare providers, but that doesn't mean all treatment is unnecessary—balance peer support with medical guidance.
Best for: Fibromyalgia-specific questions, symptom discussions, finding providers who take fibromyalgia seriously.
Focus: Autoimmune conditions broadly.
Size: Medium (20,000+ members)
Strengths: Covers many autoimmune conditions. Good for discussing immune system dysfunction, treatment approaches, and shared experiences.
Considerations: Autoimmune conditions vary widely. Information relevant to one condition may not apply to another.
Best for: Connecting across autoimmune conditions, discussing immune system issues, sharing experiences.
Focus: Long COVID / post-acute sequelae of COVID-19.
Size: Large (50,000+ members)
Strengths: Community for people experiencing long-term COVID effects. Important for a newly-recognized chronic illness with limited medical understanding.
Considerations: Long COVID is still being studied, so medical information changes rapidly. Be cautious of unproven treatments. Community can be anxious given uncertainty around the condition.
Best for: Connecting with others experiencing long COVID, tracking emerging research, finding doctors who take long COVID seriously.
Focus: Autism community, includes autistic people and some family members.
Size: Very large (400,000+ members)
Strengths: Large, active community. Mix of autistic people, family members, and allies.
Considerations: WARNING: This subreddit includes many non-autistic family members and sometimes centers parent perspectives over autistic people's autonomy. Be cautious of ABA discussions, functioning labels, and cure narratives. For autistic-led spaces, see r/AutisticAdults or r/AutisticPride.
Best for: General autism questions if you're comfortable with mixed community. Better alternatives exist for autistic-led spaces.
Focus: Autistic-led community for autistic adults.
Size: Large (100,000+ members)
Strengths: Explicitly for autistic people (not parents or professionals). Better moderation around autistic autonomy and anti-ABA stance. Identity-first language norm.
Considerations: Still public subreddit with varying quality, but better than r/autism for autistic-centered perspectives.
Best for: Autistic adults seeking peer community, discussing autistic experiences, workplace/relationship navigation.
Focus: ADHD community, includes people with ADHD and some family members.
Size: Very large (1.5 million+ members)
Strengths: Extremely active. Good for ADHD-specific strategies, medication discussions, and peer support.
Considerations: Size means highly variable quality. Some discussions center "fixing" ADHD rather than accommodation. Be cautious of medication advice—consult healthcare providers.
Best for: ADHD-specific strategies, connecting with others with ADHD, medication experiences (not medical advice).
Focus: Neurodiversity movement and neurodivergent experiences broadly.
Size: Medium (50,000+ members)
Strengths: Explicitly neurodiversity-affirming. Covers autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurodivergence.
Considerations: Less active than diagnosis-specific subreddits. More philosophical/identity-focused than practical advice.
Best for: Neurodiversity philosophy, cross-neurodivergent solidarity, identity discussions.
Focus: Broad mental health community.
Size: Very large (500,000+ members)
Strengths: Large community for mental health support.
Considerations: WARNING: Very large and minimally moderated. Quality varies dramatically. Some posts promote harmful coping mechanisms or discourage treatment. Not a substitute for mental healthcare.
Best for: General mental health peer support with caution. Better to find diagnosis-specific communities when possible.
Focus: Schizophrenia and psychosis spectrum experiences.
Size: Medium (40,000+ members)
Strengths: Peer support for people experiencing schizophrenia and psychosis. Understanding from others with similar experiences.
Considerations: IMPORTANT: Medication and treatment decisions are individual and complex. Do not change medications based on Reddit advice. Some members are in crisis—prioritize your own wellbeing if content is triggering.
Best for: Peer support, reducing isolation, discussing experiences with schizophrenia.
Focus: Wheelchair users, mobility aids, access issues.
Size: Medium (15,000+ members)
Strengths: Practical advice on wheelchair selection, maintenance, access barriers, and daily navigation. Mix of manual and power wheelchair users.
Considerations: Mostly focused on practical/technical questions rather than identity or advocacy.
Best for: Wheelchair recommendations, technical questions, access barrier problem-solving.
Focus: Spinal cord injury community.
Size: Medium (10,000+ members)
Strengths: Peer support for people with SCI, practical advice on navigation, healthcare, and adaptation.
Considerations: Some content focuses on cure research—may be frustrating if you're not interested in cure narratives.
Best for: SCI-specific questions, peer support, practical adaptation strategies.
Focus: Blind and low vision community.
Size: Medium (30,000+ members)
Strengths: Screen reader accessible (moderators actively ensure accessibility). Practical advice on assistive technology, navigation, and daily living. Mix of blind people and some vision professionals.
Considerations: Generally well-moderated and blind-led, but verify technical advice with qualified orientation and mobility instructors or AT specialists.
Best for: Assistive technology questions, screen reader help, blindness-specific strategies.
Focus: Deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind community.
Size: Large (50,000+ members)
Strengths: Mix of culturally Deaf, hard of hearing, and late-deafened people. Discussions of Deaf culture, ASL, access, and technology.
Considerations: Some tension between culturally Deaf perspectives and late-deafened or hard of hearing experiences. Respect cultural Deaf norms and ASL.
Best for: Deaf culture, ASL resources, hearing loss navigation, captioning and access.
Focus: Amputee community.
Size: Medium (15,000+ members)
Strengths: Peer support, prosthetics discussions, adaptation strategies.
Considerations: Some focus on "overcoming" disability rather than access/accommodation. Mix of perspectives.
Best for: Prosthetics questions, peer support, practical adaptation.
Focus: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) navigation.
Size: Medium (20,000+ members)
Strengths: Crowdsourced advice on SSDI applications, appeals, and navigation. People share timelines, experiences, and strategies.
Considerations: NOT LEGAL ADVICE. SSDI law is complex and individual. Use this for general guidance only; consult disability lawyers for your case. Some pessimism about approval rates—don't be discouraged.
Best for: General SSDI questions, understanding the process, finding lawyers, emotional support during applications.
Focus: All Social Security programs (SSI, SSDI, retirement).
Size: Large (30,000+ members)
Strengths: Broader than just disability. Good for SSI, SSDI, and interaction with retirement benefits.
Considerations: Includes retirement-focused content. Be clear you're asking about disability benefits specifically.
Best for: SSI and SSDI questions, Social Security navigation broadly.
Focus: VA benefits for veterans (significant disabled-veteran overlap).
Size: Very large (200,000+ members)
Strengths: Extremely active. Good for VA disability ratings, appeals, healthcare navigation, and benefits maximization.
Considerations: Military culture norms. Focused on VA-specific benefits, not general disability benefits.
Best for: VA disability claims, appeals, healthcare, and benefits for disabled veterans.
Trust advice more when:
Be skeptical when:
Take breaks or leave communities when:
You are not obligated to stay in communities that harm you, even if they help others.
If Reddit communities are not serving you well, consider:
See also:
This page centers disabled people's expertise and is informed by disabled-led organizing globally. Reddit communities are created and maintained by disabled people, and this page aims to help disabled people navigate these spaces safely while honoring the peer support and community they provide. For questions or to suggest additions, see How to Contribute.