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Conference and book festival organizers who want to support diverse books and authors: please, please don't leave disability out of your conversations. Invite disabled authors, spotlight disabled books, and create panels that touch on disability.
Ironically, the last year of a global pandemic that disproportionately affects disabled people has ALSO been a time when:
-Disabled people have been left off conference lineups
-Panels about disability have been declined
-Disability books w/harmful rep have been spotlighted
-Disabled people have been left off conference lineups
-Panels about disability have been declined
-Disability books w/harmful rep have been spotlighted
Disability is a huge part of life for many children, teens, and adults. It is common, varied, and intersectional. It is something that can shape every facet of a person's experiences. Disabled people are routinely subjected to prejudice & bigotry, and shut out by inaccessibility.
Disability stories are a hallmark of children's lit--some of the best-selling and most-lauded books of all times are ones that focus on the disabled experience. Almost NONE of them are written by disabled authors. Many contain harmful rep that further marginalizes disabled kids.
