Diversity in YA Literature @diversityproject2017-blog - Tumblr Blog

Why representation matters in young adult literature?

Teenagers have opportunities to learn about representation of people with disabilities just like they can learn about cultural diversity. But unfortunately, that rarely is the case. According to Blaska, she conducted a survey of parents and professionals about their knowledge and use of books that show children with disabilities. She later found out that they didn’t even know it existed and they didn’t know how to show it in an appropriate manner. Many of the teachers stated that they would only teach literature with disabilities when they had someone in their class with a disability. It’s important that young adults learn about disabilities and mental illnesses throughout their school education, because if they ever encounter a time where they will interact with a classmate that has a disability they will have some prior knowledge.

Taken from an article by J. Blaska

#representation

Quote by Elsa S. Henry

#quote

Difference, Diversity and Disability

Why is teaching diverse ability representation in literature important?

· Children with developmental disabilities are more likely to be teased, rejected or neglected, to have fewer friends, and to be perceived negatively by others when compared to children without disabilities.

· The purpose of inclusive education is to provide opportunities for children with disabilities to interact with students who are developing typically, all the while creating an understanding and accepting environment.

· Books have the potential to challenge some of the more negative images and prejudices that children inevitably encounter, ultimately leading them to be more aware, understanding, and accepting of difference, diversity and disability as a way of helping them learn about themselves, others and their surroundings.

· Teaching stories with relevant messages for children’s attitudes toward disability has the potential to increase awareness, knowledge, understanding, acceptance, and inclusivity in schools and communities of those who are different. These messages can include:

o everyone is unique o we are all similar to others in some ways and different from others in some ways o each person has his or her own strengths and weaknesses o just being yourself and proud of who you are is the most important thing of all o children with the same diagnosed disability can be very different from one another o all children have innate value and worth, with or without a disability

Excerpt from “Children’s Books that Promote Understanding of Difference, Diversity and Disability” by Linda Gilmore and Glenn Howard

#teaching diversity

#WeNeedMirrorsAndWindows

What is the concept of mirror and windows? “Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors” (Bishop, 1990, p. ix).

“Having a diverse collection can support all students in finding titles that they can read and connect with on some level while affirming their own cultural identities and hopefully developing important positive insights about others…Books have the potential to entertain, foster a love of reading, and inform while also affirming the multiple aspects of students’ identities and exposing them to the values, viewpoints, and historical legacies of others”(McNair, 2016, p.375).

Excerpt from “#WeNeedMirrorsAndWindows: Diverse Classroom Libraries for K–6 Students” by Jonda C. McNair

#WeNeedMirrorsAndWindows

On the state of disability representation in YA literature.

“This is especially true when it comes intersectionality. Most disabled characters published in YA are white, cishet, and often male. (The authors themselves are also overwhelmingly white.) Like any other group, disabled people are not a monolith. There is no “default” disabled person, but the lack of intersectional characters suggests otherwise. Yes, all disabled people experience ableism, but not all in the same way. For instance, disabled women of color experience the compounded effects of racism and ableism and sexism, all of which interact in complicated ways. Multiply-marginalized disabled folks have long been erased from the YA world and it’s well past time that changed.”

Excerpt from The Present and Future of Disability in YA Books, by community.

#disability

This video talks about how books about mental illness usually are all similar and do not focus on representation of all mental illnesses. She makes interesting points about how there are no books about people who are in recovery from eating disorder but rather most stories focus on people who are still trying to recover. She also talks about how there is no representation for characters who have mood disorders/personality disorders. VERY GOOD VIDEO!! :)

How to foster a culture of empathy and help youth who are facing mental health challenges, with advice on educating staff and helping teens access information. Includes recommended YA titles that address topics from addiction to self-harm.

Article by Karen Jensen

“These magical or futuristic fixes seem rooted in a discomfort with disability: many writers cannot (or don’t want to) imagine a life without sight and therefore create excuses to give their character equivalent sighted experiences. The author’s discomfort with disability bleeds through the page to foster discomfort with disability in readers. By portraying disability as a minimal quirk, rather than a powerful part of a character’s lived experience, writers aren’t giving readers a chance to familiarize themselves with disability. “

By Elsa S Junneson-Henry

How to select the right books for YA to read about disabilities?

To assist parents and professionals in the use of this genre of literature, Blaska has identified more than 250 children's picture books that include a character with a disability or illness. She has read and analyzed each book using the Images & Encounters Profile, a tool developed by Blaska and Lynch (Blaska, 1996; Blaska, in press) with ten criteria for reviewing books with characters with disabilities.

The Images & Encounters Profile invites reviewers to examine storyline, language or illustrations and to indicate if the criteria listed below are present. Reviewers should check YES if the criterion was addressed positively, NO if the criterion was addressed negatively, and NP if the criterion was not present. YES is the preferred response. The reviewer is cautioned to be aware of the NO responses when reading and / or discussing each book as these responses may influence how they choose to use the book.

The ten criteria are:

Promotes empathy not pity.

Depicts acceptance not ridicule.

Emphasizes success rather than, or in addition, to failure.

Promotes positive images of persons with disabilities or illness.

Assists children in gaining accurate understanding of the disability or illness.

Demonstrates respect for persons with disabilities or illness.

Promotes attitude of "one of us" not "one of them."

Uses language which stresses person first, disability second philosophy, i.e. Jody who is blind.

Describes the disability or person with disabilities or illness as realistic (i.e., not subhuman or superhuman.)

Illustrates characters in a realistic manner.

When in doubt about using a particular book which includes a person with a disability or illness, the reviewers are cautioned to ask themselves, "Would this story embarrass or humiliate a child with a disability?" (or illness). If the answer is YES, they should consider carefully how to best use the book.

Blaska has also developed strategies for incorporating this genre of literature into the curriculum through text-set development, theme- and literature-based approaches, and inclusionary units or webs. She has incorporated most of this information into the second edition of her book: Using Children's Literature to Learn About Disabilities & Illnesses (In press at Educator's International Press, Inc.).

Blaska, J. (2004). Children's Literature That Includes Characters With Disabilities or Illnesses. Disability Studies Quarterly, 24(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v24i1.854

#books #disability

Elsa Sjunneson-Henry is a half-blind, half-deaf, half-Scandinavian horror & SFF writer, editor, historian and theatre professional with a BA in Theater & History and an MA in Women’s History from Sarah Lawrence College. She's the founder of Feminist Sonar, a blog on the intersection of disability issues, gender, sexuality, and politics.

http://feministsonar.com/author/snarkbat/

#video

Video: Being Blind: Perception VS. Reality - Molly Burke

#video

YA Lit ft. Deaf and Blind Characters

Summary:

“LAURETH PEAK'S father has taught her to look for recurring events, patterns, and numbers - a skill at which she's remarkably talented. When he goes missing while researching coincidence for a new book, Laureth and her younger brother fly from London to New York and must unravel a series of cryptic messages to find him. The complication: Laureth is blind. Reliant on her other senses and on her brother to survive, Laureth finds that rescuing her father will take all her skill at spotting the extraordinary, and sometimes dangerous, connections in a world full of darkness.”

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17839197-she-is-not-invisible?from_search=true

Summary:

“From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.”

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18143977-all-the-light-we-cannot-see?ac=1&from_search=true

Summary:

“During a winter full of surprises, good and bad, Frannie starts seeing a lot of things in a new light: her brother Sean's deafness, her mother's fear, the class bully's anger, her best friend's faith and her own desire for the thing with feathers. Jacqueline Woodson once again takes readers on a journey into a young girl's heart and reveals the pain and the joy of learning to look beneath the surface.”

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/272334.Feathers?from_search=true

Summary:

“As one of three hearing daughters of deaf parents, 12-year-old Gussie Davis is expected to be a proper representative of Saint Jude’s Church for the Deaf in Birmingham, Alabama, which is run by her father. So when Gussie starts to hum through signed services in the summer of 1948, Reverend Davis assumes she merely wants to sing out loud and sends her to a regular church downtown. But Gussie’s behavior worsens, and she is not allowed to go on a much-anticipated trip; instead, she must help her father at the Alabama School for the Deaf. Rebelling against the strict rules of the school, Gussie finally confronts the difficulties and prejudices encountered by the deaf community, all while still trying to find her own identity in the worlds of both the hearing and the deaf.”

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/696636.Singing_Hands?from_search=true

#book recommendations #books

Books about mental illness

Summary:

“Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life”

Thirteen Reasons Why. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2017, from http://thirteenreasonswhy.com/thirteenreasonswhy.html

“Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit. In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery”

Author), L. H. (n.d.). Wintergirls. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5152478-wintergirls

“Challenger Deep by Neil Shusterman – 2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults, 2016 Teens’ Top Ten Best Fiction, 2015 National Book Winner – Challenger Deep is an incredible journey into the mind of a mentally ill young man. Caden Bosch is hospitalized and as the story unfolds we are privy to his delusions. This book is about a teen living in the throws of schizophrenia as the unique and fascinating alter universe he creates in his mind unfolds. However, there is a certain element of depression that surrounds Caden when he is going up and down like a roller coaster dealing with medication and therapy, dropping to the depths of despair and trying to head toward the process of recovery and managing his mental illness. Challenger Deep is a tribute to teens who suffer from mental illness and is a must read for all”

Author), E. L. (n.d.). Challenger Deep. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25663637-challenger-deep

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