Final Project: People with Disabilities

People with Disabilities – An Underrepresented Group in Literature

“In a materialistic context, how we represent a disability becomes part of the way we understand it” (Coats 13). Think about the ways in which your environment impacts what you believe, as well as the way you understand things to be. These may include sources such as books, television shows, magazines, music, and certainly discussions with our friends and family members. In my study of the portrayal of people with disabilities I focused solely on their presence in literature. While reading Eve Tal’s article for this course, I found a statistic that not only surprised me but saddened me as well. “A 1992 study by Joan K. Blaska and Lynch reviewed five hundred award-winning and highly recommended books for children from birth to age eight. Only ten included persons with disabilities, and only six of these characters were integral to the story” (Tal 30). While society continues to focus on defining disability largely as a medical category, people with disabilities have historically been segregated against and marginalized just as other minorities have been underrepresented based on their ethnicity, race, religion, and sexuality. It is quite clear that society is comfortable with avoiding the issues in which are brought up by facing disabilities. I am sure that we have all had at least one experience where we have been made uncomfortable when faced with a disability. In many cases, just talking about disabilities can make people apprehensive, as there are articles that discuss the “most correct” terminology to use. I believe that it is easy to be afraid of what you do not know, and certainly, our society has not constructed an authentic view of people with disabilities, leaving us to question their identity and ultimately, not understand.
Often, when a disabled character is presented in a book they are there for a reason other than to provide the reader with an authentic, relatable story about a multi-dimensional character. In other words, they are usually not the protagonist. When a person with a disability is used in a story, they are often used as either a character foil to the non-disabled protagonist, or as a tool to allow the protagonist to develop into a more well-rounded character. Too often, people with disabilities are characterized in literature by their disability alone, rather than by their strengths and weaknesses as multi-dimensional characters.
In order to understand the world around us, we often look to how things are represented in society. This concept is incredibly important in discussing children’s literature because it plays such an important role in shaping the way our youth develop an awareness of the growing diversity around them. The three books which I have chosen to include in my collection are Cynthia Lord’s Rules, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer’s Reaching for Sun, and Andrea Stenn Stryer’s Kami and the Yaks. Overall, I found these books to be particularly effective in providing an authentic representation of people with disabilities, as well as high-quality, engaging literature.

Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn. Reaching for Sun. New York: Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2007.

Reaching for Sun is a beautiful, heartwarming story that illustrates the effects of cerebral palsy on one’s life through delicate free-verse. Seventh grader Josie Wyatt is like a withered flower, hungry for sunlight. While she writes letters to made-up friends about made-up adventures, Josie is reminded of her disability every day as she walks through the halls of her school, begging not to be noticed. However, Josie cannot seem to escape her disability. Even her own mother cannot look past Josie’s cerebral palsy as she constantly nags her daughter about whether or not she has done her stretches or has been wearing her splint. On the small farm where she lives with her mother and grandmother, Josie is illustrated as a girl who is deprived of the things she needs to grow into a young woman, just as the flower is smothered by the powerful vines which take over the forest near her house. No one is willing to look past Josie’s disability to see her beauty as a person, leaving Josie alone and withered. When a new boy moves in behind Josie’s house, Josie experiences something totally new as her new friend makes no judgment of her. Jordan, an honest, enthusiastic science geek, not only looks beyond Josie’s differences but pulls out her inner beauty, exposing her to the sunshine and air she needs to grow.

Reaching for Sun is a genuine story that goes beyond a disability to exemplify the beauty of friendship. Throughout her poetry, Zimmer captures the emotions of her character and provides her readers with an authentic look into the life of a girl with cerebral palsy that is not only engaging but relatable and enjoyable. Through the development of her delicate character, Zimmer has created a heartwarming story that illustrates the brilliant results of genuine friendship and an appreciation for life’s beauty.

Lord, Cynthia. Rules. New York: Scholastic Press, 2006.

“Some people think they know who you are, when really they don’t.” Twelve-year-old Catherine hates when people stare at her brother, David, as if he is some broken “thing”. She knows exactly what they are thinking: “Oh, that poor boy.” While Catherine loves her brother and cherishes their special moments together, David’s autism creates stress for Catherine as she tries to make friends with a new girl that moves in next door. According to Catherine, there is the rest of the world, and then there is the clinic, where differences are normal. In the rest of the world, David is just some boy who people don’t understand, so Catherine has taken the liberty to create a list of rules for David to follow in order to keep him from being made fun of. While David goes to the clinic for occupational therapy, Catherine meets Jason, a fourteen-year-old paraplegic who is unable to speak. Initially, Jason’s disability intimidates Catherine as she tries to hide her shy glances. However, just as strangers stare through David, Catherine realizes that she is staring through Jason, instead of actually seeing him for who he really is. Through developing a relationship with one another, Jason shows Catherine that her rules are not rules, but rather excuses for saving herself from embarrassment. While Catherine always thought that David’s behavior was weird and attention-getting, she realized that she was only worried about how she was affected by it, rather than being accepting and supportive of David.
Cynthia Lord’s book, Rules, tells the story of a family that is affected by differences through the eyes of the overly self-conscious sister. Avoiding the creation of the stereotypical family who is “burdened by autism,” Lord illustrates a heartwarming story through Catherine’s authentic, heart-felt concerns for those she loves. While Catherine struggles to cope between her feelings for her brother and her embarrassment for his autism, she realizes the importance of looking beyond differences to know people for who they really are, and, rather than seeing them as different, they must be seen as unique people with unique, great qualities.

Stryer, Andrea Stenn. Kami and the Yaks. California: Bay Otter Press, 2007.
Illustrations by Bert Dodson

Set in the Himalaya Mountains, Kami and the Yaks is a beautifully illustrated story about a young Sherpa boy whose courage and intuition guide him to accomplishing something great. Kami’s family makes a living by taking care of climber in the mountains; however, one early morning, while the sun was still east of the horizon, the family’s yaks were nowhere to be found. In order for the family to make any money, they must find their yaks so when Kami’s father and brother are unable to locate them, everyone becomes very concerned. Although it is dark and Kami has never ventured into the mountains, he follows his intuition and bravely goes to search for the yaks. After locating them and realizing that the smallest has a hurt leg, Kami has to get back to his family to get their help. As Kami is deaf, he must overcome the communication barrier to get the help of his father and brother.
Through his courage and perseverance, Kami’s strength is illustrated as he proudly finds the yaks and leads them back home. With its beautiful watercolor illustrations and its simple story, Kami and the Yaks allows young readers to experience a character with deafness and to see that although he may do things differently, Kami is not disabled by his inability to hear. Through creating a story around a character who is deaf, Andrea Stenn Stryer not only allows her readers to gain insight to the way of life, but also shows them that great things can be accomplished when barriers are broken, encouraging them to see past differences in one another and to work together in order to bring out the best in everything.

Coats, K. (2001). The Reason for Disability – Causes and Effects in the Construction of Identity in Contemporary American Children’s Books. Bookbird, 39(1), 11-16.

In her article, Illinois State University professor Karen Coats evaluates the social construction of the term “disabled” through its portrayal in literature. When her daughter was born with autism, Coats honestly writes that she could not help but ask “why?” “Why do physical and mental disabilities happen? And why would it happen to us in particular” (Coats 11)? While initially, the questions seemed to be so important, Coats quickly realized that while she wanted to stop asking those questions of why, the context in which surrounded disability simply would not allow it to happen. “There persists in our public discourse the question of why ‘they’ are here, whether ‘they’ should even be allowed to be here, and what ‘we’ should do about them” (Coats 11). In her article, Coats faces the social context which surrounds disability and argues that there be a different approach. Rather than seeing the disabled as misfortunate, inferior spectacles, disability must be valued as a human identity.
In order to begin evaluating the construction of disability in children’s literature, Coats begins by discussing her understanding of the observations of the portrayal of the disabled in adult literature in Rosemarie Garland Thompson’s book, Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. “The disabled figure exists in adult literature as a stark visual contrast to the able-bodied protagonist or reader” (Coats 12). Coats explores the idea that rather than portraying disabled characters as insightful, relatable figures, they have been used simply as establishing the strength of the non-disabled protagonists through the exclusion of anything that is not “typical.” In reading the observations of Thompson, Coats was led to explore the topic further, asking whether or not the portrayal of disability in children’s literature was any different.
In her study of children’s literature, Coats focused on the ways in which disables characters were represented in contemporary, children’s books. Just as Thompson observed in adult literature, Coats found that in many cases, disabled characters are not explored as multi-dimensional, meaningful figures. Instead, they are often used as a tool to help develop the character of the non-disabled protagonist. This finding goes along with Coats’ earlier statement that with disability, there is always a why. “There persists in literature, as in life, the idea that disability must serve some purpose, not necessarily for the disabled person, but for the people around him or her” (Coats 13). Often, we read books that have disabled characters but do not get involved with that character as multi-dimensional, relatable figure. Rather, we experience the disabled through the non-disabled, as they often provide the non-disabled characters with a new outlook towards overcoming their own inner-conflicts which leads to their self-growth and further “normalization”. In this way, disability is used as a tool rather than as a valuable human identity. As Thompson notes in her book, “Disability can only support such an identity through its exclusion. When disabled characters are allowed to develop into important subjects in their own right, the qualities of autonomy and self-reliance are necessarily called into question” (Coats 14).

Another observation of the portrayal of the disabled character in children’s literature is the tendency to treat anything that is not “typical” as if it is unreal. Coats argues that this representation is damaging because “to be real is to be part of a community, and to be part of a community is to become real, rather than remain an exotic spectacle” (14). When we construct an identity based on differences, people with disabilities cannot be genuinely included into a community because they are surrounded by whys. Society thinks that there has to be an explanation for disability when it is simply a human way of life. By focusing on disability as an abnormal misfortune, we are ignorantly excluding valuable members of humankind. Whether it be for children or adults, literature can help construct our understanding of the world around us. Especially with today’s mindset, how we understand those who are different from ourselves comes from how those people are represented in society. Therefore, it is incredibly important that there be high-quality, multicultural literature available to provide readers with authentic books about the experiences of those who are different from ourselves, creating a world where cultural differences are just that, not reasons for exclusion.

Works Cited

Coats, K. (2001). The Reason for Disability – Causes and Effects in the Construction of Identity in Contemporary American Children’s Books. Bookbird, 39(1), 11-16.

Lord, Cynthia. Rules. New York: Scholastic Press, 2006.

Stryer, Andrea Stenn. Kami and the Yaks. California: Bay Otter Press, 2007.

Tal, E. (2001). Swimming the Mainstream: A discussion of criteria for evaluating children’s literature about disabilities. Bookbird, 39(1), 30-32.

Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn. Reaching for Sun. New York: Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2007.

Multicultural Literature: Hot topic?

While I was studying for my CEP exam, I read an article by the International Reading Association that discussed the hot topics in education for 2009. While hot topics were mentioned such as RTI (response to intervention) and reading coaches, I was surprised to see that multicultural literature was identified as a cold topic. I know through our readings that there certainly are not many high-quality books out there to support multicultural literature, but I was under the impression that it was a growing field. We have discussed the importance of building great classroom libraries, full of authentic and reputable multicultural texts as well as the importance of simple exposing our students to the diversity within the people that make up the world. Before this class, I can honestly say that I would have not considered multicultural literature to be such an important part of the classroom; however now, I realize that it in no way can be left out. While I am certainly happy that this class has exposed me to the significance of multicultural lit, I hope that we are not joined by a small group of supporters. I guess I was just assuming that the inclusion of multicultural lit in classrooms was a growing topic and I am worried after reading this article that there are not enough educators who are excited to incorporate the knowledge of our diverse world into their classrooms.