This section of the In The Picture website aims to support established and aspiring authors who would like to include disabled characters in their stories.

"Getting it wrong" and "causing offence to disabled people" is an issue that many authors - both well known and novices - have concerns about.

Click here to read how Jacqueline Wilson has pondered over the issue and here to read Moira Munro's thoughts.

The guidance below is closely linked to In The Picture's 10 Guiding Principles and should be read alongside them. You can download a copy here [69.2kb PDF].

This section of the site will be added to as new ideas and experiences are sent to the project.

Please contact us if you have any guidance that you think would be useful on this page.

To begin with ...

• When writing stories try to introduce the way all people are different in a casual way - keep away from the "special" perspective that has often been portrayed in the past.

• In all stories [but particularly illustrated stories] there are opportunities to show inclusive environments and settings. Just by adding a ramp, showing children signing or having a wheelchair casually in the background, for example, gives a subliminal message to your readers of an inclusive society.

Some things to guard against ...

• The presence of a disabled character making the non-disabled characters seem more sympathetic, kind or sensitive.

• A disabled character being included merely as a catalyst for change.

• A disabled character being a second fiddle to the real protagonist and not a real independent character in the story.

• The story conveying a sense of a disabled character as tragic, poverty stricken or powerless.

• The story making a disabled character the hero for doing perfectly ordinary things that are well within their capabilities.

Try to make sure that ...

• Disabled characters are naturally incorporated into the telling of the story, rather than their presence being some kind of issue or device.

• Where the story involves an issue that highlights difficulties a disabled character might face that it emphasises the social and political restrictions on their lives imposed by prejudice and access problems.

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