Abstract
How do schoolchildren respond when they encounter a wheelchair user in a fictional text? This article describes a doctoral project where groups of children were presented with excerpts from books by Hilary McKay and Jacqueline Wilson in which wheelchair users play a significant role. The pupils were asked to discuss issues arising from these readings. The views pupils expressed were relevant, imaginative and positive. Only on two rare occasions did the pupils respond in ways that could be categorised as prejudicial towards disabled people. The article describes the methodology adopted for the study, directly quotes from and explores the views of the pupils. The teaching of children about disability and disabled people currently in the English curriculum for Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) is alleged to be inadequate; a weakness which could be addressed in the manner described, using literature for sensitive educational debate. This study is unusual in that the research subjects include a group of children who are motor impaired. The Doctor of Education who conducted the research for her thesis and authored this article is also herself a fulltime wheelchair user.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alderson, P. (2005). Research by Children. In K. Sheehy, M. Nind, J. Rix and K. Simmons (Eds.), Ethics and Research in Inclusive Education: Values into Practice. Routledge Falmer: Abingdon.
Burnett, F.H. (1993 edition, first published 1911). The Secret Garden. Ware: Wordsworth’s Children’s Classics.
Coolidge, S. (1994 edition, first published 1872). What Katy Did. Ware: Wordsworth’s Children’s Classics.
Department of Education. (2013). Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education. London: Department of Education.
Keith, L. (1997). A Different Life. London: Livewire Books for Teenagers.
Keith, L. (2001). Take up Thy Bed and Walk: Death, Disability and Cure in Classic Fiction for Girls. London: The Women’s Press.
Lewis, A. (2011). Disabled Children’s ‘Voice’ and Experiences. In S. Haines and D. Ruebain (Eds.), Education, Disability and Social Policy. Bristol: The Policy Press.
McKay, H. (2001 new edition). Saffy’s Angel. London: Hodder Children’s Books.
Pinsent, P. (1997). Children’s Literature and the Politics of Equality. Abingdon: David Fulton Publishers.
University of Leeds Disability Studies Archive: available at http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk. Accessed on 18 September 2015.
Wilson, J. (new edition 2008). Sleepovers. London: Doubleday.
Wilson, J. (2015). Katy. London: Penguin Random House.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Rebecca Butler holds a Doctorate in Education awarded jointly by the Universities of Kingston and Roehampton, UK. Her thesis focussed on the responses of children, some of them disabled, to disabled fictional characters. She lectures, writes and reviews widely in children’s literature, with a particular concern for children with special needs.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Butler, R.R. Motor Impairment in Children’s Literature: Asking the Children. Child Lit Educ 47, 242–256 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-015-9264-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-015-9264-0