Children with disabilities
Imagine looking at a family picture with your brothers, sisters, mum and dad all standing poised and smiling. Suddenly you notice something very odd - you are missing from the picture. In fact, you are missing from every family portrait your family have ever done. Welcome to the world of the disabled child, writes Ross Watson
Including disabled people in our society
People with disabilities account for ten million of the UK population yet there is still a lack of visibility of their presence in stuff we take for granted.
The social battle for inclusion that disabled people are often forced to deal with starts at an early age. In a child's early learning years, the picture book is a particularly useful tool, as it enables the child to familiarise his or herself with images and stories they can then relate to their own experiences in real life.
However, it is very difficult to find books which depict disabled children in any images or stories.
Last year national disability charity Scope launched an innovative Big Lottery funded-project - In the Picture. The aim of the project is to change the face of the picture book market by encouraging the representation of disabilities in the stories and ultimately the illustrations. This is not in an attempt to point out the challenges children with disabilities face, but rather to promote inclusion in modern society.
‘The need to find disabled children appearing casually in both image and storyline is important,' says Susan Clow, project manager for In the Picture. ‘This point has been made time and again by all sorts of people.'