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Beyond the Magically

(Dis)abled

by Cammie McGovern

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This past May, Twitter broke out in a glorious maelstrom of

activity around the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks that was

thrilling to follow andonce I realized the plea wasnt only for more
books with central characters of coloreven more thrilling to join.
As the mother of a teenager with
autism, the founder of a center that
supports children with special needs,
and the author of a YA novel in which
two characters with disabilities fall in
love, I jumped on board, posting my
first Twitter photo, which by the end of
the day had a hundred retweets, about
ninety-seven more than anything else
Id ever posted. It was all very heady
and exciting. I had to sit down to catch
my breath. Now that some time has
passed and my breath has returned,
I wonder what this will all mean for
books featuring kids with disabilities.
There are 1.2 million teens between
the ages of sixteen and twenty living
with a disability in the United States

a huge minority group but also arguably

the least well organized in advocating
for representation. Not a big surprise
when disability covers a wide spectrum
of subgroups that often hesitate to
align themselves with one another. We
assume that the blind teen doesnt have
a lot in common with her autistic peer;
that the physically disabled dont want
to get lumped in with the cognitively
disabled; that a deaf child isnt going to
see herself in a book about a girl in
a wheelchair. We parents are guilty of
erecting these walls every time we highlight differences between our children
(Not all autistic kids are cognitively
delayed!). Instead of recognizing the
common ground and similar struggles

Cammie McGovern is the author of adult novels Neighborhood Watch, Eye

Contact, and The Art of Seeing. Her first book for young adults, Say What You Will
(HarperTeen), was reviewed in the July/August 2014 Horn Book Magazine.
November/December 2014 The Horn Book Magazine 35

looked like I imagined a Martian

our children share, weve bought into
might.
the assumption that one group cant
I cringe at this now, but I also
relate to the others struggles.
think: no wonder I was enchanted by
Then it occurred to me: why do
Flowers for Algernon and Of Mice and
I assume my son with autism cant
Men. It was a little like reading about
relate to, say, a story about a girl in a
another world.
wheelchair, when I used to, easily? As
Now the world looks a lot different.
a teenager, some of my favorite books
According to the CDC, nearly ten milfeatured main characters with disabililion children in the United States have
ties, and I must not have been the only
a developmental disability, a seventeen
one because they sold like crazy. Who
percent increase in just
else remembers loving
over a decade. This is
Karen, a memoir written
Why do I assume
only one subgroup, which
by the mother of a plucky
my son with autism doesnt include children
young girl with cerebral
palsy? Or The Heart Is a
cant relate to a story with physical impairments, chronic condiLonely Hunter by Carson
about a girl in a
tions, or mental health
McCullers, with a deafwheelchair?
issues. Include those and
mute protagonist? Flowers
its not an exaggeration to
for Algernon by Daniel
say disability is everywhere and yet
Keyes, about Charley, the cognitively
puzzlinglycharacters with disabilities
disabled man miraculously cured?
are less prevalent in books today than
Or Joanne Greenbergs classic I Never
they were in the past. To take a quick
Promised You a Rose Garden, which took
snapshot (and, admittedly, comparing
us inside the mind of a schizophrenic
apples to oranges), last years ALA list
teenage girl? All beloved bestsellers (and
of Best Fiction for YA featured 7.8%
the latter three made into beloved movauthors of color, 4.9% LGBTQ main
ies). All featuring main characters with
characters, and only 2.9% characters
disabilities. Why did this once popular
with disabilities.
trend die away?
Of course there are exceptions. ForI would argue that my old fascination
rest Gump (starring that ping-pong and
with those stories must have (at least
running savant, among other talents)
in part) sprung from the mystery their
paved the way for a legion of magically
main characters represented. I came of
abled disabled characters. Deficient in
age before federal law mandated the
one area, theyve been given the ability
inclusion of students with special needs
to fly or read minds or otherwise more
in public schools. I never saw anyone
than compensate for their limitations.
with Down syndrome until I was in
Following this trend another one has
eighth grade and met the thirty-yearappeared, by which two of the bestold daughter of my grandmothers
selling (and best) recent books about
friend. In my diary, I noted that she
36 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2014

disability focus on characters who are

challenged physically but not cognitively. In Out of My Mind by Sharon
Draper and Wonder by R. J. Palacio the
protagonists are exceptionally appealing, bright, funny, thoughtful creations.
Melody might sit immobilized in a
wheelchair, but shes the smartest girl
in her class. Auggie is also well read,
advanced in science, and, as he and his
friend remind us more than once, He
doesnt have special needs!
Its almost as if were ensuring acceptance of disabled characters by making
them extra smart and appealing. I fault
no one for thisin fact, Ive done it
myself in my own book, Say What You
Will, in which Amy, nonverbal from
cerebral palsy, speaks through a computer with wisdom that, well, I never
had as a teen. Its not a crime, because
many kids with disabilities do have normal intelligence, and their experience
living as an outsider has made many
of them wise and thoughtful beyond
their years, but I want to make a plea to
myself and others. Lets all remember,
as readers and writers, that the best
storiesand the most lastingare the
ones that sound the grace note of truth.

Reread Flowers for Algernon now and

marvel at the prescience Keyes had for
the debate about cures and what is
lost in the impulse to eliminate disability from our world. More importantly:
the operation Charley undergoes is
science fiction, but the character is not.
Charley is a complicated, multifaceted
man in every phase of the story.
Living with disability is a fascinating
and complex journey. It is a balancing act of tolerance and love. I dont
just want books that put a few kids in
wheelchairs, I want books that tell the
truth of this experience in all its complexity. As much as I love The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,
Id love to read about more characters
with autism who arent high-functioning. I want to see kids who are distant
and difficult and the wonder of how
they are loved even so. We dont need
to sell disability or put a polish on it.
We need to show the humanity that
lies beneath the difference. The real
stories will resonate not just within
this community but with every reader
like the one I waspulling books
with disabled characters off the shelves
because those were the good ones. n

November/December 2014 The Horn Book Magazine 37

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