Disability and Spectrum Representation in Books
One incredibly world-changing element of reading is the ability for readers to connect with and imagine themselves in the shoes of the main character. Readers absolutely must make these crucial connections to the main characters to find a deeper immersion and foster a more enriched reading experience.Unfortunately, not everyone can make these connections so easily. Accurate and respectful representation of both physical and mental disabilities in books is not nearly as prominent as it should be.
Girl standing next to a person in a wheelchair. Photo by Josh Appel.
One incredibly world-changing element of reading is the ability for readers to connect with and imagine themselves in the shoes of the main character. Readers absolutely must make these crucial connections to the main characters to find a deeper immersion and foster a more enriched reading experience.
Unfortunately, not everyone can make these connections so easily. Accurate and respectful representation of both physical and mental disabilities in books is not nearly as prominent as it should be. In fact, that’s an understatement. The majority of books out there, are usually set in the viewpoint of a non-disabled individual, so, readers with disabilities may not find these characters easy to build a bond with. This should be concerning for everyone, because not only do accurate and respectful portrayals of disabled people help educate and inform the readers, it also helps to teach them about compassion.
We begin teaching kindness and sharing at a very, very young age and nurture those values all the way into adulthood, so, why shouldn’t we also be teaching compassion and understanding, especially for those with disabilities. Inclusive stories provide an incredible sense of joy and providing children with these works is critical in fostering an empathetic, compassionate and understanding new generation.
While inclusiveness is incredibly important, it is likewise important to look beyond the disability and see the person. This way of thinking is often referred to person-first, where people don’t simply identify disabled individuals with their disability. Disabled people are people too, and should be treated with respect and dignity, no matter the situation.
This isn’t all to say that accurate and respectful representation of disabilities don’t exist, but in the vast amount of books that we have, there should be way more representation and way more inclusion. As I mentioned before, inclusion provides a great sense of joy and is vital to the way readers experience a story. It’s imperative that these representations find their way into more books.
Likewise, most of these representations are found in non-fiction or informative books, but those books aren’t for everyone, and don’t provide readers with a main character to connect with. We need to see more fictional stories where disabilities are accurately and respectfully portrayed. A few that come to mind are listed below. Please comment any that you feel should be added to the list.
Books that have successfully and accurately portrayed disabled individuals in a way where readers can connect with the characters:
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
An Oath of Dogs by Wendy N. Wagner
Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
Lupine Road by Cal Matthews
More can be found on Goodreads, at https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/disability-themes
—Payton
Alternative Book Buying - How to build your home library at a fraction of the cost!
Libraries are always great. Well, except for when they don't have that one book you've been looking all over for! Someone has had it checked out for weeks, or maybe your library just doesn't have the book anyways. Sometimes you have to pick up the book, yourself, but books can rack up quite a bill if you're a prolific reader. If you're looking to get great reading material at low cost or maybe you're building your personal library, here's a few places to go book shopping for less.
Woman standing on a ladder in a vintage bookstore. Photo by Noémi Macavei-Katócz
Libraries are always great. Well, except for when they don't have that one book you've been looking all over for! Someone has had it checked out for weeks, or maybe your library just doesn't have the book anyways. Sometimes you have to pick up the book, yourself, but books can rack up quite a bill if you're a prolific reader.
If you're looking to get great reading material at low cost or maybe you're building your personal library, here's a few places to go book shopping for less:
Dollar Tree. This one might not seem like much, but depending on the Dollar Tree near you, it could have a wide selection of books. I've found books from best selling authors, and decorative books as well. And for a dollar, these books for certainly worth checking out!
Half-Priced Books. There's tons of these kind of stores around. The best part is at most of them, you can trade your old books in for a value towards new books!
Amazon & eBay. Sites like these carry a huge selection of books. They come in both new and used conditions. On Amazon, you can even find books for less than a dollar!
E-books. These aren't tangible copies of books, no, but they're still readable, nonetheless. Usually e-books are considerably cheaper than their physical counterparts.
Thrift Stores. This isn't always reliable if you're looking for something specific, but you can bet they'll be cheap. You can find filler books for decoration in your growing library, or find used books you've never heard of before. I once found the entire Warrior Cat series, most of the Harry Potter series, and several Alyson Noel books in one trip to my local thrift store!
The Library. Sometimes libraries do book giveaways when they’ve have books that sit on the shelf for too long without being check out on occasion. Check with your local library to find out if they do free book giveaways and when their next one is expected!
Some of these ideas may seem obvious but are often highly underrated. Not only are these great ways to purchase books for a fraction of the cost, but stores such as half-priced books, libraries and thrift stores are a more sustainable way to collect books. If you know of any other alternative means for collecting books, comment below!
Let me know what your thoughts are on this list! I’d love to know any new tips or tricks that I didn’t mention! Comment below and let’s chat!
Thumbnail photo by Denniz Futalan