A Culture of Belonging.

There has been an increasing awareness of the importance of children “seeing themselves” in our schools, and with that an increase in the amount of diversity represented in children’s literature. Just as literature can inadvertently promote attitudes and beliefs that are racist and sexist, ableist beliefs can also be promoted even if unintentional. While the increase of diverse representation should be fully embraced, we need to be able to critically analyze the message that students are receiving about disability. Students will internalize messages about how to view themselves as well as others and too often disability is represented in a way that perpetuates stereotypes that then can become barriers to self-respect, full acceptance, and inclusion.