Announcing new resources that feature characters with dyslexia or ADHD! On our quest to discover engaging reading material for students with dyslexia, we’ve highlighted some great fiction as well as comics and graphic novels, not to mention a feature on characters with ADHD — and we’re always on the lookout for more.
I’m happy to report that we have found two new resources for books featuring characters with dyslexia, ADHD, and many other types of challenges or disabilities: Disability in Kidlit and We Need Diverse Books!
Disability in Kidlit‘s mission is to discuss the portrayal of disability in middle grade and young adult literature. From their website:
We publish articles, reviews, interviews, and discussions examining this topic from various angles—and always from the disabled perspective.
We believe that a thoughtful portrayal of disability requires more than memorizing a list of symptoms; we hope that sharing disabled people’s thoughts on stereotypes, pet peeves, particular portrayals, and their own day-to-day experiences will help our readers learn about the realities of disability, which are often different from what we see in popular media.
We Need Diverse Books is an organization made up of lovers of children’s books who advocate for producing and promoting literature that includes the experiences of all young people. I particularly like how they define diversity:
We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, Native, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities*, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.
*We subscribe to a broad definition of disability, which includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses (this may also include addiction). Furthermore, we subscribe to a social model of disability, which presents disability as created by barriers in the social environment, due to lack of equal access, stereotyping, and other forms of marginalization.
Both sites offer a variety of great articles and recommendations. I’m currently reading Disability in Kidlit‘s Interview with Leigh Bardugo about Six of Crows – a terrific book that I reviewed a while ago.
Let us know in the comments what other interesting articles you find on these sites!
- Elizabeth Ross, M.A., SMARTS Media Manager
