Reflecting Disability has announced the results of its study into the representation of disabled people in children’s books showing that 10% of children’s books feature disabled people in some way. Funded by Arts Council England with analysis carried out by The Reading Agency, it is the first project of its kind to offer a comprehensive and robust exploration of the extent and quality of disabled characters in picture books, fiction and non fiction across a full year (2024) of UK children’s publishing for 3-11 year olds.

With 90% of children’s books not yet featuring disabled people in any way, the findings highlight valuable opportunities for publishers and creators to build on the promising initial picture. The study  also found that books rarely reflected the specific conditions, impairments and differences that children most commonly experience (social/behavioural, learning and mental health). Books depicted characters with mobility conditions (for example, wheelchair users), deaf characters and those with vision impairments more often but usually placed them in the background. Many representations of disabled people and the equipment they use also lacked accuracy and/or consistency.

Beth Cox, Creative Editorial Inclusion Consultant and Reflecting Disability Co-Facilitator says, ‘For true inclusion we need to go beyond representation. The stories that were truly nuanced, where the disabled characters came across as fully rounded people, were a joy to read. But there were a frustrating number of books where a small tweak, or just asking the right questions at the development stage, could have completely transformed the representation and made it more authentic. I would urge publishers and creators to consider the whole context of a disabled person’s life and convey that through nuance rather than didacticism. To show rather than tell.’

The study also analysed potential barriers to reading, including inaccessible design and layout, hard to read text and language that makes the book unnecessarily hard to understand – 67% of books reviewed had at least one barrier to reading. This is a significant gap that leaves many disabled people, including children and the adults reading to them, struggling to access books that reflect their own experiences.

Alex Strick, Author and Reflecting Disability Co-facilitator says, ‘Over two thirds of the books reviewed had at least one barrier to reading. While we need more books in different formats (like audio, digital and braille), we also really need all books to build in basic accessibility from the start. Things like layout, font, visual clutter and the relationship between words and pictures can have a huge impact on how easily a child can access and enjoy books. And what makes a book more accessible for disabled children often makes it better for everyone.’

Facilitated by Beth Cox and Alexandra Strick, Reflecting Disability was developed through a disabled-led process. It was guided by a Steering Group of authors, illustrators and experts and alongside advice and guidance from The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) who have carried out the Reflecting Realities research since 2017. The Steering Group researched and agreed category labels to describe d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent characters in children’s books, with the aim of allowing comparative analysis against UK population statistics.

Reflecting Disability will launch a toolkit later this year which will provide in-depth analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data and, most importantly, practical guidance to support publishers and creators.

To view the Reflecting Disability announcement in full, click here.