Boots for a Bridesmaid; Are We There Yet?

These two books are published with the support of the Spinal Injuries Association and with the aim of offering all children a positive image of family life with a disabled parent. They are straightforward accounts of family events - a day out with dad, and getting ready to be a bridesmaid - clearly illustrated and interestingly told. Both stories have a parent who is in a wheelchair, but this isn't mentioned in the text at all and it's left to the pictures to show dad taking his children through the wheelchair access at the theme park and mum dancing in her chair at the wedding reception.

This approach is much more valuable, I think, than the 'I Have a Spinal Injury' sort of book, worthy though those are, because these show the disability being taken absolutely for granted and, what's more, concentrate on the person in the wheelchair, not the chair itself. Especially suitable for young disabled children and their class-mates since they're allowed to assume, matter of factly, that they'll grow up to lead an active, normal family life ... despite the difficulties.