Group: Shauna Corry, Morgan Fry, and Emily Rice
Have you ever stopped to think about how individuals with disabilities are presented in literature? If not, it is probably because you have not come across it very often. The following two articles focus on this lack and need for more main characters with disabilities: Article #1 and Article #2. After reading these two articles we realized how much of a need there really is for accurate portrayal of disabilities in literature. Children without disabilities have so many role models to look up to in the books that they read, but those with disabilities do not. We believe that is is important that the children that must live day in and day out with hardships due to their disability would benefit from reading about characters with similar disabilities who find their true potential and talents despite the setbacks they may have. In addition, reading books that have main characters with disabilities provides a great teaching opportunity for teachers to discuss differences with their students and how to reach out to those that are different. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was given as an example of inaccurate portrayal of disabilities and these articles point out that several other pieces of literature that have attempted to include individuals with disabilities also portrayed them wrong or placed the individuals as a minor character. However, though there may be several books that do portray disabilities wrong there are some that do a great job in approaching the issue (Tru Confessions, Rules) Our questions to you are: (1) How do you think characters with disabilities should be presented in literature: do you agree or disagree with the points made in the articles, (2) Do you feel there is a need for more literature that focuses on someone with a disability, and (3) What, if any, books have you come across featuring a character with a disability that you appreciated.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think characters with disabilities need to be portrayed in a light that emphasizes their abilities and strengths rather than their disabilities. Children with disabilities must often overcome difficult challenges and constraints in order to accomplish their goals. Their stories of overcoming challenges provide inspiration for all those without disabilities. It is important that they be portrayed as realistically as possible so that (1) they are not misunderstood or misidentified, and (2) they can find a character in a book that actually relates to them and gives them the motivation to overcome their hardships. I really never noticed how absent characters with disabilities are in literature . . . I cannot think of a single book I have read that involves one of these characters. I am glad these two professors at BYU are taking time and effort to promote more realistic characters with disabilities so that those individuals can be better recognized for their strengths and abilities.
ReplyDeleteI believe characters with disabilities are scarce to find in today's books. I one knew of one or two before taking CPSE 403 which pointed out a few more books. Children with disabilities should be portrayed in the books in a positive light that emphasizes their potential and their abilities. The books should not focus on the disabilities of the child because then that is all that children with and without disabilities will learn to see. Although I have not seen too many books about people with disabilities, there are many movies that portray people with disabilities in a positive light. One of my favorite movies is "I am Sam". Disney channel made Tru Confessions into a movie which I think is wonderful because so many children watch Disney channel. I know that as people become more aware of different disabilities and as they learn to look at who the child is and not the disability, society will become more accepting and more embracing of people with disabilities.
ReplyDeleteI think when you are portraying a kid with disabilities it should defiantly concentrate on the good things they can do and accomplish instead of the disability and how it can hold you back. I have read very few book that have to do with kids with disabilities and like the article it has to do with someone who is blind or who can't work right. I can recall only reading one book that was about someone with a mental problem. So I would have to agree with the articles, I think that there should be more books out there with kids with disabilities are the main charters. The only book that I can think of is "I Am Sam" and with that I feel like that one portrayed a person with disabilities pretty well. This is the only one that I can thing of that I have ever come across. I do feel that if we had more books with kids with disabilities the society will become more aware and they can understand these kids a little bit better.
ReplyDeleteAside from what I read in CPSE 403, I do not know of many books that portray characters with disabilities. It is important that if we want more people to have a greater understanding of people with disabilities, then they need to be represented accurately. I agree that there is a lack of children with disabilities in story books. Hopefully, there will be more stories that do include people with disabilities; however, in order for children to be educated about people with disabilities, children's stories are not enough. It needs to be reinforced at home. My favorite book incorporating disabilities is called The Crippled Lamb. This story is so touching and really relays the message that everyone person matters and can contribute.
ReplyDeleteI agreed that there are not enough characters in literature with disabilities and most importantly in childrens literature. I do not enjoy however the books that focus on the disability and the fact that they have to overcome it. I enjoy for example the film "Finding Nemo" Nemo has a disability, of his little fin, however the whole story does not focus on his fin. I think children with disabilities need role models in books and films that are not just fish, they need humans achieving their dreams, and the stories should not focus of their disabilities moreover their abilities and talents should be emphasized.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the article that children with disabilities are "woefully underrepresented.
I agree that there are not enough characters with disabilities in children's books. I personally have never picked up on any character that has a disability in a book that I have read. I may have just missed it because I was not looking for it but I do think that there are not very many books. I think that not only does there need to be more books that have characters with disabilities but also characters with disabilities that are not physically apparent. There are so many children that need a role model to look up to. A book is a perfect way to inspire a child that struggles with a disability and let them see that they can succeed when they work hare. I also agree that it is a perfect way to educate other students about disabilities and how children with disabilities are not too different from them.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that people with disabilities should be included more often in literature. I think that this would benefit, not only the children with disabilities, but those without as well. It is true that children with disabilities need role models and characters that they can relate to. Using literature as a means of achieving this could be very beneficial to them. At the same time, presenting disabilities in literature would help typical students learn about disabilities and better understand their classmates that have them. I think that books should include the entire spectrum of disabilities, not just the ones you typically see in books. (Children in wheelchairs etc.) Children need to understand that not all disabilities are visible.
ReplyDeleteI have read a few books that have included people with disabilities. However, these books typically involve someone in a wheelchair or someone who is blind/deaf. I have never read a book about someone with autism or even just a learning disability. In my opinion, literature needs to involve all different types o disabilities.
I think that one of the creative liberties given to writers is that of creating and shaping their characters how they see fit to match their plot and storyline, etc. I think that authors could be encouraged to include more characters with disabilities in their stories, especially for children, however, I also think that that runs the risk of focusing on the disability rather than the person. I guess my question would be: what aspects of the disability would be emphasized and highlighted in the story that wouldn't make the reader just associate that character as being disabled rather than a character that could/couldn't have a disability still carrying out their unique role?
ReplyDeleteI think it is a good thing to raise the awareness for individuals with disabilities, and targeting literature can be a very beneficial outlet. I do think that people need correct information regarding disabilities and that wrong information can't blatantly be portrayed, however, their are certain liberties that can be taken in fictional writing. Unless the author has been offensive or used completely wrong information, a writer of fictional stories should not be held responsible for being the number one resource on a particular disability (especially when that most likely was not the focus of the plot-that's what reference books/NON-fiction books are for: accurate information). Fiction is fiction for a reason, and the author knows they take the success of the story into their hands depending on how they develop their characters and what traits they give them, etc. On that note, I can't say that I have read any books that have stood out to me as being specifically about a person with disabilities...even if the character has disabilities, I have enjoyed the book because the author didn't focus on that, there was just as much character development as any other character, just in different aspects, so that's not what I remembered about the book.
I agree that there is not enough literature that includes children with disabilities in them, and a majority of the ones that do, do not make it realistic or do not make them the main character. I believe that there needs to be good positive books out there that not only to show the children with a disability accuratly but also show the good that can come from having a disability, so that it is not always seen as a negative thing. For me I know from experience, as a child with a disability I was always wanting to read about other students like me,inorder to help me feel as though I wasn't the alone or the only child with dyslexia. Just as students who do not have a disablity like reading about students like them. I always wanted to read about a child with dyslexia who had a success story and was able to over come there challenges, inorder to give myself hope. But mostly I wanted there to be more books about children with dyslexia because I believe that it is important for other students to understand what dyslexia is. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to answer the question of "What is Dyslexia?" or was made fun of because my fellow peers didn't understand what dyslexia was. With a real portal of what dyslexia is I believe it would make a world of a difference. Though they are at times hard to find there are good books out there that properly protray students with disabilties. I can't remember the name of one but theres a book about a student with dyslexia and her teacher and it was a really good book and it started with "Mr.F...." something like that.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that there isn't very much literature centered on people with disabilities. Literature and media need to put a positive light on people with disabilities so that readers can see them in the right way. The only book I remember reading about people with disabilities was The Acorn People, where the main character was a counselor at a summer camp for disabled children. Over the course of the book, his attitude towards people with disabilities changes as he sees his group overcome various challenges.
ReplyDeleteI however don't completely agree with the articles in saying that most literature portrays people with disabilities inaccurately. In my opinion, Snow White is a terrible example to this argument. Dwarves are used in several fantasy books, and are clearly fictional, and I for one don't connect the bearded little miners of Snow White with actual people who have dwarfism. Maybe I'm just insane, but when reading Snow White as a child, I never thought of the Dwarves as people who had disabilities. In my opinion, Snow White is a pretty weak example of a story that misrepresents people with disabilities because its a fairy tale, and is widely accepted as fictional. And if that is the best example out there, then I think literature isn't doing too horribly with what is out there.
I think books should be written about characters with disabilities. It is very important that those with disabilities have people to look up to. I think those characters should exhibit: 1) some kind of self-journey, 2) a positive attitude about their disability, and 3) the ability to overcome obstacles and trials despite their diasbility. I think books must depict a realistic feel of the disability. If not, those witht the disability would probably not like the book because it does not accurately portray their needs and desires. I also think that the books should have supporting characters that show a love and friendship toward the characters with disabilities. I have read a few books with characters with disabilities. (I don't remember their titles) We read a few in our CPSE 403 class last semester, and the family I babysit for checked a few out from the library a few weeks ago. It was fun to read books about kids in wheelchairs and kids that are blind to the kids I babysit. They had a lot of questions, and I hope I was able to answer them all!
ReplyDeleteI think you need to be very careful how you present individuals with disabilities in literature. You must be careful not to make assumptions or place general stereotypes on a group of people. I think if you are going to write about an individual with a disability than you should research that disability. Most writers are very careful to research and study the things they write about in order to give true and accurate information. They should follow these same guidelines when writing about individuals with disabilities rather than just assuming they know how that individual would think and act. I think it would be good to have more literature including and centered on individuals with disabilities as long as it is an accurate portrayal. I haven't read many books involving people with disabilities, but one that comes to mind is To Kill a Mocking Bird in which Boo Radley is said to have disabilities and he is portrayed very poorly. I would be interested in looking into this subject more and finding/reading more books including individuals with disabilities.
ReplyDeleteI agree with these articles in that there are not enough books that portray people with disabilities and I believe there needs to be more. I think books need to accurately portray kids with disabilities and they need to begin to focus more on the character and not the disability, and I think they need to portray them in a way that people realize they are more like us then they are different. Also, one of the articles stated that children look up to these characters and that they learn a lot from characters they are like and that they can relate to. To be honest I don't think I've read very many books that portray kids with disabilities. In the intro to Special Ed class we read a few books that portrayed kids with disabilities but I would definitely like to see more that accurately portrays them.
ReplyDeleteI think that in literature, the portrayal of children with disabilities should increase from what it is right now. Although there are some out there which I am familiar with, this is mostly only because of the fact that my sister has Down Syndrome and my mom has taken the time to purchase and familiarize us with these books. If this had not been the case, I don't think I would know very much about them.
ReplyDeleteAs far as how accurate these stories actually are, I believe they do a pretty good job of showing what it is like to know or work with people with disabilities. People aren't usually going to take the time to write about someone with a disability unless they care about making it a good representation. So the ones that are around (especially the ones that I am specifically familiar with) seem to be good portrayals of kids with disabilities. And then again, even if the information is not completely perfect, as long as the general point being taken is a positive one, then what's the big deal? To me, awareness and positive feedback are the important parts so who cares if the details aren't completely on the mark?
Lastly, I would recommend the following book to all of you which is one of my very favorites: We'll Paint the Octopus Red by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen. Hope you are all having a lovely day!
I agree with the main points made in the articles. I don't, however, agree with forcing the issue - in rushing books out of the printing press just to please a concerned nationwide group of mothers who will then go about their next issue to complain about. It's such a touchy topic to write about and I just don't think that many authors are either prepared or interested in it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it depends on our intent in whether or not we need more literature that focuses on someone with a disability. Is it the author's desire to cure a perceived misconception on a disability like Down's Syndrome, or do they just feel that it's a worthy topic to write a book about and that it will spread warm feelings of joy around the world? I feel that there should only be a need if the author has somehow been inspired either by their own or someone else's life experiences on whether or not they should create more literature about this topic. They shouldn't assume that we, the readers, are bad and that they, the authors, are out to fix our supposed "mis"perceptions.
I haven't come across very many materials featuring a character with a disability. The only one I can think of is the movie with Sean Penn called "I Am Sam". I'm not sure which specific type of disability he was trying to portray, but I do remember that I've known a few individuals that had the exact same type of aspects that he was trying to act out as well. He brought those people I had personally known to the movie screen in a very careful and precise manner and I appreciate that great job he did.
I do think it is important to incorporate more disabled characters into literature, but it should be done with caution. More incorporation would be great for raising awareness of disabilities and would give those with disabilities a character they could relate to. However, an author should only consider having a major character with a disability in their story if they feel they can adequately represent those with the same disability. This may be the reason for the small number of disabled characters in literature (especially those with mental disabilities). It is a daunting task for authors to do the research necessary to adequately represent the disability. If authors were more educated about those with disabilities, they would feel more comfortable writing literature on that topic and the percentages of these types of books would increase. Unfortunately, I cannot recall literature that focuses on those with disabilities, but I would appreciate any literature that depicted disabilities accurately.
ReplyDeleteI think that books should be written about those with disabilities, I think everyone would agree to that, I also believe that these books should stay away from stereotyping and labeling those with disabilities. I remember in elementary school being told to read because it opens doors, I completely agree with that, because through books everyone learns, and if we have books out there showing people with disabilities in good light, then it could help the stereotyping in real life (or so I hope it would).
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Scott, I think that the example of Snow White is very weak. I know as a little girl watching it, all I thought about was how these short men helped a very pretty princess find her prince in around about way. I never thought of the dwarfs as being disabled. I think there point is valid, there needs to be books with disabilities shown in a positive light, but they could really do with a better example!
I agree with the authors in saying that there are very few books that include characters with disabilities. Growing up, the childrens books that were read to me were always so inspiring to me. I aspired to be like the protaganist in the book and had a great example of someone to look up to. Of course children with disabilities can look up to heroes in children story books, but to have a heroic main character with a disability gives the children with disabilities someone they can relate to better. It is important for the authors to focus on the abilities of the characters and not the disabilities. If more characters with disabilities were included in more books, it would also help the students without disabilities have a better understanding and acceptance for people who do have disabilities. In my Introduction to Special Education class the teacher read us a book called "The Crippled Lamb". That book has become one of my favorite childrens book because it has a great message that everyone, disabled or not, is special and important here on earth.
ReplyDelete