Invisible Children: Disability and Picture

Books

Presentation by Karen Argent

Senior Lecturer in Early Education StudiesNewman College of Higher Education

PhD student at Leicester University

EECERA conference 2007

What shapes the production, availability and use of picture books with a disability theme for 3-5 year olds ?

Whose responsibility ?

Prevalence of adults and young adults misunderstandings about disability makes it imperative that such views are not passed on to younger children.Lewis ( 1995:63 )

Relevant statistics There may be as many as 700,000

disabled children in the UK There are up to 100,000 severely

disabled children in the UK

Horton ( 2006 )

The social model of disability Society is the problem and the solution Negative attitudes and resources

restrict access and participation

Negative stereotypes of disability Language matters Images matter Attitudes matter

consciously or unconsciously , overtly or covertly, picture books provide through the combination of images and words, themes and ideas, texts and subtexts, a representation not only of how the world is but also of how it ought to be.

( Evans, 1998:5 )

Practitioner focus group response to 5 picture books with a disability theme

My Brother Sammy by Becky Edwards and David

Armitage Looking after Louis by Lesley Ely and Polly Dunbar Rolling along with Goldilocks and the Three Bears by

Cindy Meyers and Carol Morgan Mama Zooms by Jane Cowen-Fletcher Aaron’s Awful allergies by Troon Harrison and Eugenie

Fernandes

Literature is political and one’s choice

of literature is political, although the reader may of course ignore, or simply not see, the meanings that are there

( Naidoo, 1992: 16 )

Training influences

There has been a change of conception from curriculum as syllabus to curriculum as cultural scheme… if inclusion is essentially about maximising participation in community and culture, then in schools the medium for this is the curriculum

(Clough and Corbett, 2000: 18 )

Influences on illustrators and publishing responses

‘In the picture’ Scope projectwww.childreninthepicture.org.uk

700,000 disabled children in the UK with virtually no role models in literature

Some themes to consider…. Bias and accuracy of information Perceptions of different characters Plot Characterisation Social environment Fantasy Humour

The Scope conference

Once upon a time an illustrator and an author worked together on a story book about children. There were lots of different children in the story and in the pictures, doing things all children do. All the children wanted this book, the publisher loved it, bookshops sold out and everyone was happy !

Not on the agenda of many publishers Text has been turned down for three years by

illustrators who are scared to use it How do you represent children with disabilities

that are not visual? Risk that wheelchair image will be overused as it

is the only image of disability

(Scope, 2006: 19-20 ) 

An inclusive school dinnertime ?

What next for the researcher ?

Consult further with: Publishers Sample of nursery school

practitioners Training providers

Contact details If you would like to be informed

about the progress of the research please let me know via:

K.m.argent@newman.ac.uk

Thank you

References Clough, P. and Corbett, J. ( 2000 ) Inclusive Education: A

Students’ Guide , London: Paul Chapman Publishing Evans, J. ( 1998 ) (ed )What’s in the Picture ? London: Paul

Chapman Horton, C. ( 2006 ) Working with Children. London: Society

Guardian  Lewis, A. ( 1995 ) Children’s Understanding of Disability,

London: Routledge Naidoo, B. ( 1992 ) Through Whose Eyes ? Exploring racism,

reader, text and content Stoke on Trent : Trentham Books