Addressing

Disability
as a Part of
Diversity
Through Classroom
Children’s Literature

Diane Nasatir, MS.Ed., and Eva Horn, Ph.D.,

University of Kansas
Ilison
her first
is very excited about her first year of teaching. She has accepted
teacher in inclusive
~

position as a preschool an classroom. She

has set up most of her classroom, paying close attention to ensuring
that the cultural diversity of her students is reflected. In selecting chil-
dren’s books, she carefully follows the &dquo;Ten Quick Ways to Analyze
Children’s Books for Sexism and Racism&dquo; (Derman-Sparks & Anti-Bias
Curriculum Task Force, 1989). However, it occurs to her that she will
have some students with disabilities in her classroom and she does not
have any children’s books that appropriately reflect this aspect of diver-
sity. Allison finds a list of recommended books that include people with
disabilities, and decides to look for some of them at the bookstore and
on the Internet. When the ordered books arrive Allison eagerly opens
the package. Yet as she looks through each book in turn, she becomes
unsure. Are these books appropriate in their depictions of children with
disabilities? She has no &dquo;Ten Quick Ways&dquo; checklist on this topic to help
her carefully evaluate her selections.

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2
Disability as a
Part of Diversity
The field of early education has
become increasingly aware over
the past several decades of the
need to ensure that children from
different ethnic and cultural back-
grounds represented in general
are
education materials, including chil-
dren’s books (Derman-Sparks &
Anti-Bias Curriculum Task Force,
1989). As the number of young
children with disabilities included
in typical preschool and early
education settings has increased
(Wolery et al., 1993), the concern
of representing children who have
disabilities in the materials of the
general education classroom must
also be addressed. It is common
for children with special needs
to be part of general education
preschools, such as Head Start,
public school kindergartens, child
care, and other community
preschool programs (Diamond &
Carpenter, 2000). Even as we see
this increase in contact, we cannot
be satisfied that our work is done.
As Bricker (1995) stated, one area
that we must continue to advocate
for is that of supporting the devel-
opment of positive attitudes
toward children with disabilities.
Recently some early education
professionals have addressed
developing awareness and improv-
ing the attitudes of young children
without disabilities towards their
peers with disabilities (Diamond &
Carpenter, 2000; Favazza, LaRoe,
Phillipsen, & Kumar, 2000; Turner
& Traxler, 1997). Most research,
however, has focused on assessing
the attitudes of school-age children.
For example, several studies with
older, school-age children found
that attitudes and perceptions
about people with disabilities can
be altered in a short period of time
by providing positive, direct exper-
iences with children with disabili-
ties, as well as indirect experiences
r net (:111 ilea
.1
such as books, guided discussions,
¡j.eSIB!,&dquo; . e~
or simulation activities (Jones,
Sowell, Jones, & Butler, 1981;
.
~
..’
...
B)’,BotB1I&dquo; . ~B&dquo;~ :B10 A-B~ 1 ~ttit#S
’vi i o , ,a be, S
be
~til e. ~~,
McHale 8~ Simeonsson, 1980;
Salend & Moe, 1983). Conant eyjetic’es°te ’~°S~tw,
ex~er~e~ itiVe
«it.tB&dquo;.Wi
disab~l~tv
and Budoff (1982) suggest that ~,o1*
to&dquo;,~fcB &dqu~o<;oePO&d,q<uo;
tO
intervention early age might
at an j
help to establish positive attitudes
in children because they may be
less resistant to change or differ-
As Guralnick
ences. (1999) states,
meaningful inclusion will only
occur when children with disabili-
ties are full members of their peer
groups and a true sense of &dquo;con-
nectedness&dquo; exists. Educators need
to take an active role in promoting
this &dquo;connectedness&dquo; and sense
of belonging.
Young children’s attitudes, as
has been demonstrated with older
children, are developed through
direct and indirect experiences
(Favazza & Odom, 1997). These
experiences include direct interac-
tions with individuals with disabili-
ties across a range of play and
learning contexts, and indirect
experiences through engagement
with play materials (e.g., dolls
and print material). The impact
of these experiences on attitude
is highly influenced by children’s
primary social group. Thus, both
indirect and direct experiences
should be designed to promote
positive attitudes toward people
with disabilities. One potential
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3

strategy is the use of children’s
books in which children with
disabilities are appropriately repre-
sented. Favazza and Odom (1997)
examined the effects of contact,
books, and discussion on the atti-
tudes of kindergarten-age children
toward people with disabilities.
These children attending kinder-
garten received information about
children with disabilities through
the reading of children’s literature
during a regular storytime period.
The teachers of these kindergarten
children reported that they
enjoyed using the books that
included people with disabilities,
and that implementing the reading
and discussion in the context of
the story was relatively easy to
do. Favazza and Odom, however,
found that, in general, kinder-
garten classes did not have materi-
als or books depicting children
’
with disabilities. This lack of
appropriate material was further
confirmed by Favazza and col-
leagues (2000) when they investi-
gated the level of representation
of children with disabilities in
early education environments.
When the teachers involved in
the study were asked why materi-
als depicting children with disabili-
ties were not present in their early
education settings, three problems
were cited: (1) lack of funds to
purchase materials, (2) lack of
knowledge about where to obtain
appropriate materials, and (3) lack
of knowledge about criteria to use
in selecting appropriate materials.
Children’s literature that
includes people with disabilities
can be organized into two main
types. One type simply addresses
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9
I ?aytell
Bti11(Be’1’~ aterial~s
.
I
GB~Sses
!,e
~1~~ &dqu
cBicB
o;ef~
,,0
’
. t
ti & d q
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I
o
1; l
~! ,
vG
eB 1 i l
fc
!
B f
I
e &
~
d q u o
t
;
efi~BS Children, 1980) into relatively
a
CIL .1 enBc.
~oo easy format for early educators.
or
~is
t’ .
.0 The checklist was created with
the assumption that both in school
witB1 and out, young children are
exposed to racist and sexist atti-
tudes. These attitudes are depicted
over and over in books and in
disabilities as part of diversity.
That is, children with disabilities other media and may gradually
are shown in books doing the
distort children’s perceptions until
same things as children without stereotypes and myths about
minorities and women become
disabilities. The person’s disability
has nothing to do with the story. accepted as reality. Many of these
Usually, in such a story, there is principles and assumptions related
to gender and racial bias and
a character who has a disability,
however the plot or story line stereotyping are the same that
occur for individuals with disabili-
does not specifically focus on
issues of the disability and/or its ties. Thus, the checklist provides
an excellent framework for assess-
impact on the person. The second
type includes books specifically ing issues of stereotyping and bias
concerning disability.
designed to discuss a type of dis-
ability in order to help support
disability awareness and specific Framework for
knowledge gain about the disabil- Evaluating Books
ity and its impact on a person.
As noted in the vignette, there In the remainder of this article,
are no guidelines or tools readily the &dquo;Nine Ways to Evaluate
available for early education teach- Children’s Books That Address
ers to use to evaluate and select Disability as a Part of Diversity&dquo;
children’s literature for their class- checklist (see Figure 1) that we
rooms that assess their appro- developed to support early educa-
in presenting disability tion teachers in assessing the
priateness
as part of diversity. appropriateness of children’s
books that include individuals
Allison, in the vignette, used
the &dquo;Ten Quick Ways to Analyze with disabilities is described. The
Children’s Books for Sexism and focus of our checklist is on books
in which a character with a disabil-
Racism&dquo; (Derman-Sparks & Anti-
Bias Curriculum Task Force, 1989) ity is included, but the story does
to ensure that the books she chose not discuss or focus on the charac-
were appropriate for the diverse ter’s disability. Before detailing the
checklist, however, the process of
group of children in her class-
room. This checklist was devel- developing the checklist is briefly
described.
oped by adapting material from
the Guidelines for Selecting Bias- &dquo;Nine Ways to Evaluate
Children’s Books That Address
Free Textbooks and Storybooks
(Council on Interracial Books for Disability as a Part of Diversity&dquo;
Figure 1

Nine Wavs to Evaluate Children’s Books That Address Disability as a Part of Diversity

Checklist adapted with permission from: Derman-Sparks, L., & Anti-Bias Curriculum Task Force. (1989). Anti-bias curriculum: Tools for empowering young children.
Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

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5
 was developed by reviewing each
criterion described in the &dquo;Ten
Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s
Books for Sexism and Racism&dquo;
(Derman-Sparks & Anti-Bias
Curriculum Task Force, 1989).
A two-step process was used in
this review: (1) assessing the
principle, and (2) modifying the
definition. First each criterion
was reviewed to determine if the
principles implicit in the criterion
appropriate for issues of
were
disability bias. All but one criteria
were found to be useful in evalu-
ating books that include persons
with disabilities. That criterion,
&dquo;Note the Hero,&dquo; was not used
for our checklist because it
focused too specifically on the
use of minority heroes in chil-
dren’s literature. This criterion
asks the teacher to evaluate
whether the books showed only
&dquo;safe&dquo; minority heroes, those who
avoided serious conflict with the
white establishment of their time.
Due to the more narrow focus
on racial bias, this criterion was
deemed an inappropriate criterion
for assessing issues of disability
bias or stereotyping.
Second, each of the remaining
criteria from the original checklist
was redefined or modified to
address issues of disability rather
than racism or gender bias.
Similarly, for each criterion we
developed an example and/or
nonexample to illustrate the cri-
terion it relates to the concept
as
of disability. For example, the
criterion &dquo;Look for Stereotypes&dquo;
defined stereotypes as an oversim-
plified generalization about a
particular group, race, or
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6
which usually carries derogatory
implications. This was modified in
our checklist to address &dquo;a particu-
lar disability group or type.&dquo; Some
common stereotypes suggested in
the original checklist (Derman-
Sparks & Anti-Bias Curriculum
Task Force, 1989) include African-
Americans being happy-go-lucky,
as
watermelon-eating &dquo;Sambos&dquo; or
fat, eye-rolling &dquo;mammys.&dquo; Our
example presents a common mis-
conception that individuals who
-
have visual impairments have
&dquo;superior abilities&dquo; in their other
senses. After each of the nine criter-
ia clearly defined with exam-
was
ples provided, the list of criteria
was modified into a checklist for-
mat. The definitions and examples
thus become the instruction sheet
of sorts for assisting teachers in
completing the checklist.
Nine Ways to
Evaluate Children’s
Books That Address
Disability as a Part
of Diversity
This section provides the defini-
tions and examples for each
criterion presented in the check-
list. You may find it useful to
follow along on the checklist
(see Figure 1) as you read these
&dquo;instructions.&dquo;
Criterion 1: Check
the Illustrations
Look for Stereotypes
A stereotype is an oversimplified
generalization about a particular
disability group or type that usually
gender,
carries derogatory implications.
Children’s books should not help
support or perpetuate any stereo-
types. For example, a book that
includes a child who has cerebral
palsy should not show the child
always seated in a wheelchair.
Not all children with cerebral
palsy must use a wheelchair for
mobility, and even those who do,
do not use the chair in all contexts
for mobility. Look for books that
show children with disabilities in
the same classes and community
settings and participating in the
same activities as their peers
without disabilities.
Look for Tokenism
In evaluating for tokenism in terms
of minority populations, one would
look to see if all minority faces in
the children’s book appeared
stereotypically alike or whether
they are depicted as genuine indi-
viduals with distinctive features. In
the same respect, it is desirable that
children with disabilities be repre-
sented in books as genuine individ-
uals with distinctive features. It is
appropriate to have a child with a
physical disability in a wheelchair
or using another type of adaptive
device as long as the reader also
views the child as being a distinct
individual with his or her own
personality and characteristics.
Who’s
Doing What?
The illustrations should depict
children with disabilities in all
kinds of roles including leadership
and action roles. The children
with disabilities should not be
portrayed just as observers while
the children without disabilities
are always the &dquo;doers.&dquo;
Criterion 2: Check
the Story Line
Standards for Success
To gain acceptance and approval,
the child with a disability should
not have to exhibit extraordinary
qualities, such as exceptional
memory or math skills. Likewise,
the child should not have to walk
or run with his friends
accepted by them.
Resolution of Problems
Note how the problems
story are presented, conceived,
and resolved. The person with the
disability should not be considered
to be the problem. When appro-
priate, the reasons for the disabili-
ties should be explained.
Role of the Person With
a Disability
The achievements of the person
with a disability should be based
on his or her own initiative and
actions. The story should be able
to be told in the same way even
if the main character did not have
a disability.
Criterion 3: Look at
the Lifestyles
Persons with disabilities and their
daily lives and vocational settings
should not be depicted in such a
way that they contrast unfavorably
with the unstated norm of the suc-
cessful able-bodied individual. If
the person with the disability is
depicted as &dquo;different,&dquo;
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value judgments should be implied.
For example, are persons with
disabilities shown exclusively
employed in service positions such
as janitors, motel/hotel cleaning
staff, or dishwashers? Are adults
.
with disabilities depicted as contin-
uing to live at home with their
aging parent(s)? If the illustrations
or text attempt to inform about
the potential impacts of a specific
disability, they should go beyond
oversimplifications and offer gen-
uine insight into the impact on
to be
daily life. For example, rather than
depicting a visual disability simply
as being like moving through one’s
environment with eyes closed, the
in the
range of sensory inputs-including
visual-that an individual with
visual impairments experiences
should be illustrated. Look for
inaccuracy and/or inappropriate-
ness in the depiction of the daily
life of a person with disabilities.
Criterion 4:Weigh the
Relationships Between
People
The people without disabilities
should not possess all of the
power, take all of the leadership
roles, or make all of the important
decisions. The children with dis-
abilities should not function just
in supportive or subservient roles.
Neither should the reverse be true.
There should be a clear balance
of roles.
Criterion 5: Consider
the Effects on a Child’s
Self-Image
Norms should not be established
no negative that limit any child’s aspirations
7
or self-concept. By continuously
bombarding a child with a disabil-
ity with images of &dquo;typical&dquo; chil-
dren as the ultimate in beauty,
cleanliness, and virtue, for exam-
ple, one harms the child’s self-
image. In each story, there should
be at least one or more persons
with whom a child with a disabil-
ity can readily identify as a posi-
tive and constructive role model.
Criterion 6: Consider the
Author’s or Illustrator’s
Background
Analyze the biographical material
on the jacket flap or the back of
the book. Look for qualities that
the author or illustrator may have
that would help them understand
and contribute knowledgeably to
the &dquo;culture of disability.&dquo;
Criterion 7: Explore the
Author’s Perspective
No author can be entirely objective.
All authors write from a cultural
as well as from a personal context.
Children’s books in the past have
traditionally come from authors
who were white, nondisabled, and
who were members of the middle
class, with the result of a single
ethnocentric perspective dominat-
ing children’s literature in the
United States (Derman-Sparks &
Anti-Bias Curriculum Task Force,
1989). With any book, read care-
fully to determine whether the basis
of the author’s perspective substan-
tially weakens or strengthens the
value of his or her written work.
When dealing with books that
include children with disabilities,
try to find out if the author has
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8
any experience with or knowledge they read to make it more appro-
about people with disabilities. For priate. They shouldn’t automati-
example, see if the author is a par- cally disregard these older books
ent of a child with a disability or since there are relatively few
if he or she works or has had available.
extensive personal and/or profes- Inaddition, some books state
sional experiences with people that they are intended for very
with disabilities. young children, but in fact may
not be developmentally and linguis-
Criterion 8: Watch tically appropriate for young chil-
for Loaded Words dren. Before reading a book to a
group of young children make sure
A word is loaded when it has that it is developmentally appropri-
offensive overtones. Examples for the children to whom you
ate
of loaded adjectives specific to
are going to read the story.
children with disabilities are
&dquo;slow,&dquo; &dquo;retarded,&dquo; &dquo;lazy,&dquo;
&dquo;docile,&dquo; &dquo;backwards,&dquo; &dquo;crazy,&dquo; Strategies for Finding
&dquo;feeble-minded,&dquo; &dquo;cripple,&dquo; Books to Evaluate
&dquo;idiot,&dquo; &dquo;deaf and dumb,&dquo; and As noted in the vignette, Allison
sometimes &dquo;special.&dquo; Further,
found a list of recommended
sometimes subtle, yet still harmful
books that include people with
words may be used such as, &dquo;con-
disabilities through her Internet
fined to a wheelchair,&dquo; &dquo;wheel-
search. We have provided a list of
chair bound,&dquo; and &dquo;afflicted with
&dquo; recommended books (see Table 1)
... or &dquo;suffering from ....&dquo;
that have been positively evaluated
using the &dquo;Nine Ways to Evaluate
Criterion 9: Look at Children’s Books That Address
the Copyright Date
and Target Age
Disability as a Part of Diversity&dquo;
checklist.
The number of children’s books Once you have a list of books,
currently available that include how do you go about finding them?
children with disabilities is limited. Many of these books are difficult
Those that are available may be to find at your local bookstore.
dated and use language that does Often, if a bookstore does carry
not meet current expectations of any of these books they are typically
the use of &dquo;people first language&dquo; located in a &dquo;special issues&dquo; section.
(e.g., &dquo;a child with autism,&dquo; instead Using the Internet can also be very
of &dquo;an autistic child&dquo;) or use lan- helpful. Many online bookstores
guage that may now be considered will order any book for you as long
as it is still being published. In
offensive, such as the term
&dquo;retarded.&dquo; Some older books may addition, these online resources
be appropriate in every way with typically provide a list of other
the exception of the use of people books written by the same author
first language. In these cases educa- and suggest several other books
tors can modify the language as that cover the same topic.
Table 1
R~r~mrnended Books Depicting Disabilit~ n-- nivarcitv

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9

*
-6
Summary
.
Ensuring that children from
different ethnic and cultural back-
grounds are appropriately repre-
sented in preschool classroom
materials has become a relatively
common practice by early educa-
tors. However, the idea of repre-
senting children with disabilities
in the classroom may be less
commonly known and practiced
(Favazza et al., 2000). Researchers
have demonstrated that young
children form negative attitudes
about people with disabilities at a
very young age and that these atti-
tudes may be more easily modified
earlier rather than later (Conant &
Budoff, 1982). Yet, early education
classrooms typically do not have
many books that include people
with disabilities (Favazza et al.,
2000). Further, many early educa-
tors are unsure how they should
evaluate and select appropriate
books. Thus, through the dissemi-
nation of our checklist, we hope
that we might raise the level of
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10
v
’ io legal jib
~o~ es abo~.t ~e °~~g age
Diamond, K. E., & Carpenter, E. L. (2000).
~<~~~
Participation in inclusive preschool programs
and sensitivity to the needs of others. Journal
of Early Intervention, 23, 81-91.
Guralnick, M. J. (1999). The nature and meaning
these ~odified
~ ’’
OYP,
of social integration for young children with
mild developmental delays in inclusive settings.
Journal of Early Intervention, 22, 70-86.
Joe
YL
at, t
Favazza, P. C., LaRoe, J., Phillipsen, L., & Kumar,
P. (2000). Representing young children with
disabilities in classroom environments. Young
Exceptional Children, 3(3), 2-8.
Favazza, P. C., & Odom, S. L. (1997). Promoting
positive attitudes of kindergarten-age children
toward people with disabilities. Exceptional
Children, 63, 405-418.
awareness of early educators Jones, T. W, Sowell, V M., Jones, J. K., & Butler,
of this important issue and assist
L. G. (1981). Changing children’s perceptions
of handicapped people. Exceptional Children,
them in making appropriate 47, 365-368.
selections. McHale, S. M., & Simeonsson, R. J. (1980).
Effects of interaction of nonhandicapped
children’s attitudes toward autistic children.
Note American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 85,
You can reach Diane Nasatir by e-mail 18-24.
at dnasatir@:earthlink.net Salend, S. J., & Moe, L. (1983). Modifying non-
handicapped students’ attitudes toward their
References handicapped peers through children’s litera-
Bricker, D. (1995). The challenge of inclusion. ture. Journal for Special Educators, 19(3),
Journal of Early Intervention, 19, 179-194. 22-28.
Conant, S., & Budoff, M. (1982). The develop- Turner, D., & Traxler, M. (1997). Children’s
ment of sighted peoples’ understanding of literature for the primary inclusive classroom:
blindness. Journal of Visual Impairment and Increasing understanding of children with hear-
ing impairments. American Annals of the Deaf,
Blindness, 76, 86-90.
142, 350-355.
Council on Interracial Books for Children.
Wolery, M., Holcombe, A., Venn, M. L.,
(1980). Guidelines for selecting bias-free Brookfield, J., Huffman, K., Schroeder, C.,
textbooks and storybooks. New York: Author.
Martin, C. G., & Fleming, L. A. (1993).
Derman-Sparks, L., & Anti-Bias Curriculum Task Mainstreaming in early childhood programs:
Force. (1989). Anti-bias curriculum: Tools for Current and relevant issues.
status Young
empowering young children. Washington, DC: Children, 49(1), 78-84.
National Association for the Education of
Young Children (NAEYC).