Join us as we revisit meaningful disability representation in young adult and children’s books

What we do in our classrooms shapes perceptions of disability. Positive, authentic representation in literature fosters inclusion by promoting empathy and understanding among students. Books can empower all children and provide insight into diverse experiences. 

Examines the process of seeking, selecting, and evaluating children’s literature to engage children in inclusive learning contexts with worthwhile literacy-based activities that promote positive identity development.  We are celebrating the increased availability of children’s books with disability representation, both incidental and explicit. However, educators and families alike continue to seek more authentic and meaningful representations, particularly of those with significant support needs and those who are culturally and racially diverse and/or multilingual.

We found that it is important to include identity-affirming texts for children, explicitly for families and educational professionals involved in supporting children with complex support needs and their classmates. “To foster an inclusive classroom and build upon all children’s strengths, the texts that children interact with must contain accurate and positive depictions of disability,” not limited to teaching explicitly about disability, but through rich, natural descriptions and events (Meyer, 2021, p. 30). “Identity-affirming texts and passages are those that give all students the opportunity to see themselves reflected in what they’re reading. By introducing students to texts that portray characters and real-life people from diverse cultures and languages, varied family structures, a range of abilities and disabilities, and different gender identities, educators deepen the teaching of literacy by connecting it directly to students’ own lives and the lives of their peers.” (Sharp, 2021, para. 3).