10 Classic Childhood Books You May Have Forgotten Featured Disabled Characters

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Grace Lapointe’s fabrication has been published successful Kaleidoscope, Deaf Poets Society, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, and is forthcoming successful Corporeal Lit Mag. Her essays and poesy person been published successful Wordgathering. Her stories and essays—including ones that she wrote arsenic a assemblage student—have been taught successful assemblage courses and cited successful books and dissertations. More of her enactment is astatine https://gracelapointe.wordpress.com, Medium, and Ao3.

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CN: spoilers; examples of ableism and ableist slurs

Disability has ever been a portion of life, truthful it’s ever been depicted successful fiction, adjacent erstwhile it whitethorn not beryllium apparent. As a disabled simple pupil successful the 1990s, I remember feeling alienated by sparse oregon stereotypical disablement representation. That doesn’t mean pre-2000s children’s lit was wholly devoid of disabled authors oregon characters, though it felt similar that to maine astatine the time.

I didn’t work The Baby-Sitters Club, but I retrieve the bid being popular. So, I learned astir Stacey’s benignant 1 diabetes aft the 2020 Netflix bid premiered. This blogger reviewed the diabetes representation connected the Netflix show, which she recovered mostly affirmative and realistic.

As my knowing of disablement has changed, truthful person my observations of disabled characters. I initially wondered wherefore the rubric quality from the 20th Century Fox animated movie Anastasia doesn’t retrieve being 8 years old. As an adult, I recognize Anastasia, AKA Anya, is disabled: she has amnesia from a traumatic encephalon injury.

As a kid, I searched chiefly for disabled children successful fiction. In retrospect, determination were besides immoderate disabled big characters. Many aged characters (for example, young protagonists’ grandparents) were disabled, and immoderate humanities fabrication books featured disabled veterans.

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Some of my antagonistic impressions of disablement practice resulted from kids’ books successful classrooms and libraries that were decades aged astatine the time. Older books besides often contained casual racism, antisemitism, oregon carnal oregon affectional kid abuse.

However, immoderate of the astir ableist kids’ books were caller erstwhile I work them successful the precocious ‘90s. A body-swap publication depicted a canine successful a child’s body arsenic indistinguishable from a disabled child. One feminist retelling of Cinderella somehow tried to nexus a character’s dilatory gait and code patterns to the information that helium was a rapist.

Long earlier I knew the connection ableism, I noticed erstwhile media implied disabled radical were horrifying oregon not existent quality beings. I ever cheque my memories by rereading. For immoderate of these books, I don’t cognize whether I’d see them bully oregon atrocious disablement practice if I archetypal work them today.

So, portion I sermon what I similar and dislike astir galore of these books, that’s not the absorption of this list. Some readers whitethorn not person noticed these disabled characters due to the fact that disablement isn’t the absorption of the story, oregon it’s not often named and analyzed. When 1 quality was specified arsenic disabled, I sometimes didn’t announcement different characters mightiness besides beryllium disabled. Here are 10 children’s classics that picture disability, adjacent if it’s not what the publication is chiefly remembered for, oregon overtly stated.

Sounder by William H. Armstrong

This children’s caller astir a Black, sharecropper household won the Newbery Medal successful 1970. The young protagonist’s begetter is sentenced to years of hard labour for stealing a ham. He comes location disabled aft 1 broadside of his assemblage is earnestly injured successful a quarry. I retrieve the emotion betwixt the parents, children, and their dog, Sounder, clearly. Now that I recognize past better, I recognize the father’s disablement would person enactment him adjacent deeper successful indebtedness successful the racist, ableist sharecropping system.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

You mightiness retrieve Heidi surviving successful the Swiss Alps with her grandfather, but bash you retrieve her disabled friend, Klara, who’s mysteriously cured? In this caller from astir 1880, Klara’s affluent household hires Heidi arsenic Klara’s companion. Klara is described successful ways considered ableist today, specified arsenic “an invalid” and “crippled.” Eventually, she becomes stronger. In movie adaptations, Klara’s “miracle cure” is immediate, portion euphony swells. In the 1968 version, she’s walking and crawling successful symptom portion the wheelchair she intelligibly inactive needs rolls down the mountain. Riva Lehrer named a full section of her memoir Golem Girl aft the 1937 movie. She describes herself and her ma watching the Shirley Temple mentation together. All versions of Heidi suggest Klara is pitiful and wasting her beingness by staying successful the location and not walking.

Addy Walker books by Connie Porter

For BR successful 2019, I reminisced astir enjoying the American Girls franchise. I considered the books astir Addy Walker the best-written of the series. Addy’s older brother, Sam, escapes enslavement and joins the Union Army. When the household yet reunites, successful Addy Saves the Day, Sam’s near limb has been amputated. Sam is arrogant to beryllium a free, Black, disabled Civil War veteran. He adapts to his disability, doing everything with 1 limb that helium erstwhile did with two. He survived aggregate traumas, and the books picture him respectfully, not with pity.

Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter

The protagonist’s sanction has go synonymous with optimism due to the fact that she tries to find the upside to immoderate situation. Her positivity is based connected comparing herself to radical she considers little fortunate. Often, this means pitying disabled people. She and her dada invent their “glad game” aft uncovering a brace of crutches and being grateful she doesn’t request to usage them. Near the extremity of the book, she’s disabled successful a car mishap but aboriginal learns to locomotion again. The publication uses disablement arsenic a existent and hypothetical worst-case scenario. I noticed the old-fashioned, ableist, racist attitudes successful the 1913 publication and 1960 Disney movie adaptation, adjacent arsenic a kid.

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

In 12th period Korea, a lad nicknamed Tree-ear becomes an apprentice to a potter and brings his village’s pottery to the king. Before that, Tree-ear was unhoused and lived with an elderly, disabled antheral called Crane-man. His nickname comes from the mode helium stands connected 1 leg. I remembered the protagonist’s travel to the palace but didn’t retrieve Crane-man until I looked backmost astatine this publication recently.

A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich by Alice Childress

This young big caller from 1973 became a Coretta Scott King Award grant publication the adjacent year. Benjie Johnson, the protagonist, is simply a 13-year-old Black lad from Harlem who uses and sells heroin. The writer was besides an histrion and playwright and wrote chiseled communicative voices for her characters. This publication has often been banned for its taxable matter. Substance maltreatment upset is simply a disability, and radical often usage drugs to self-medicate for trauma, intelligence illness, oregon chronic pain. Benjie deals with racism and poorness and is successful denial astir the dangers of heroin. TIME called this influential publication one of the champion YA novels ever.

The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars

The teen protagonist, Sara, searches for her missing younger brother, Charlie. Even Sara uses the r-word to picture Charlie, who has an intelligence oregon developmental disability. As this publication is from 1970, the r-word was astir apt successful his authoritative diagnosis. However, adjacent today, respective online reviews and survey guides picture him with outdated presumption similar “challenged” oregon “mentally handicapped.” As a kid, I noticed Charlie’s disablement and however it was described. As an adult, I deliberation Sara whitethorn beryllium mentally ill. She’s described arsenic having predominant temper swings. The backmost substance says: “One infinitesimal she’s elated, the next, she’s successful tears. And she can’t fig retired why.”

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

This Newbery Medal victor is acceptable successful Boston during the American Revolution. It fictionalizes galore existent people, similar Paul Revere, and events, similar the Boston Tea Party. After helium burns his close hand, Johnny tin nary longer enactment arsenic a silversmith’s apprentice. He ends up participating successful the Revolution — possibly much straight than helium would person arsenic a silversmith. This is humanities fabrication from 1943 and acceptable successful the 1770s. So, unsurprisingly, it uses archaic connection for disability. However, I’ve noticed the aforesaid contented I person with respective different books connected this list. Recent, online survey guides usage ableist presumption to picture him, similar “crippled.”

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Mary Lennox is simply a white, British miss increasing up successful India. After her parents die, she’s sent to England to unrecorded with her uncle. I recovered it upsetting that Mary’s cousin, Colin, is secluded successful his ain location due to the fact that he’s disabled. It implies that disabled radical are shameful secrets. After befriending Mary and spending clip successful the concealed garden, Colin abruptly starts walking. Many disabled critics see this publication and Heidi examples of the magical (or miracle) cure trope. Burnett was besides funny successful arguable theories of the power of affirmative thinking. The accusation that disabled radical tin “cure” ourselves done willpower oregon relationship is misleading and dangerous. Though Colin’s disablement is much obvious, Mary whitethorn beryllium chronically ill, and the caller links her self-absorbed cognition with her illness.

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

The protagonist, Omakayas, is an Ojibwa (Anishinaabe) miss surviving with her household connected an land adjacent the Great Lakes successful the 1840s. During a ritual, Omakayas sees a imaginativeness of herself arsenic an old, unsighted pistillate and is thrilled, not afraid. She knows she volition beryllium a respected elder and storyteller someday, and her assemblage volition assistance her. Omakayas’s aged relation models see her Nokomis (grandmother) and Old Tallow, an aged pistillate who prefers the institution of her hunting dogs to astir people. She’s ever benignant to Omakayas, though, and readers aboriginal larn she saved Omakayas’s beingness erstwhile she was a baby.

Disability Rep successful Older Books: Not All Bad!

Although I retrieve galore kids’ books truthful ableist they’d look shocking today, determination were besides a fewer nuanced, respectful depictions.

In the past fewer years, determination person been galore much kids’ books with disabled characters and by disabled authors. In 2021 and 2023, BR analyzed disablement practice successful children’s and YA books.

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