Invisible Children: Disability and Picture Books

1. 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

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

3. 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 )

4. 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 )

5. The social model of disability • Society is the problem and the solution • Negative attitudes and resources restrict access and participation

6. Negative stereotypes of disability • Language matters • Images matter • Attitudes matter

7. 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 )

8. 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

9. 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 )

10. 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 )

11. 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

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

13. 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 !

14. 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 )

15. An inclusive school dinnertime ?

16. What next for the researcher ? Consult further with: • Publishers • Sample of nursery school practitioners • Training providers

17. 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

18. 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