Invisible Children: Disability and Picture Books

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Invisible Children Disability and Picture Books

• Presentation by Karen Argent
• Senior Lecturer in Early Education Studies
• Newman College of Higher Education
• PhD student at Leicester University
• EECERA conference 2007

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

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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 ( 199563 )

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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 )

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The social model of disability

• Society is the problem and the solution
• Negative attitudes and resources restrict access
  and participation

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Negative stereotypes of disability

• Language matters
• Images matter
• Attitudes matter

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• 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, 19985 )

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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
• Aarons Awful allergies by Troon Harrison and
  Eugenie Fernandes

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• Literature is political and ones choice of
  literature is political, although the reader may
  of course ignore, or simply not see, the meanings
  that are there
• ( Naidoo, 1992 16 )

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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 )

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Influences on illustrators and publishing
responses

• In the picture Scope project
• www.childreninthepicture.org.uk
• 700,000 disabled children in the UK with
  virtually no role models in literature

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Some themes to consider.

• Bias and accuracy of information
• Perceptions of different characters
• Plot
• Characterisation
• Social environment
• Fantasy
• Humour

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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 !

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• 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 )
•  

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An inclusive school dinnertime ?
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What next for the researcher ?

• Consult further with
• Publishers
• Sample of nursery school practitioners
• Training providers

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Contact details

• If you would like to be informed about the
  progress of the research please let me know via
• K.m.argent_at_newman.ac.uk
• Thank you

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References

• Clough, P. and Corbett, J. ( 2000 ) Inclusive
  Education A Students Guide , London Paul
  Chapman Publishing
• Evans, J. ( 1998 ) (ed )Whats in the Picture ?
  London Paul Chapman
• Horton, C. ( 2006 ) Working with Children.
  London Society Guardian 
• Lewis, A. ( 1995 ) Childrens Understanding of
  Disability, London Routledge
• Naidoo, B. ( 1992 ) Through Whose Eyes ?
  Exploring racism, reader, text and content Stoke
  on Trent Trentham Books
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