YA books with disabled characters (crossposted)

[haddayr]

I am looking for some that aren't hateful, disablist crap that, for instance, say that a girl in an iron lung should want to die and we're all so relieved when she DOES die.

Anyone with a few good recos?

Comments

[elettaria]

Right now all I can think of is the 19th century classic What Katy Did, which is hateful disablist crap in a different way. I'll keep on thinking.

[dzurlady]

When I was the target age to be reading YA books, I read a series of six books with a Deaf detective as the protag, and my memory is that she was portrayed positively. However, a) I read them when I was younger (about 10 years ago?) so my memories are a bit hazy, and b) I am a lot more aware of ableism now than I was then so who knows what I missed. But it might be worth a shot? The series title is 'Hear no Evil', and they are by Kate Chester. The first book in the series is Death in the Afternoon.

[pandorasblog]

A Different Life by Lois Keith - it's a realistic portrayal of a girl getting used to an acquired disability, and fighting for proper access at her school. What's awesome is that it shows her continuing to do the normal teenage stuff like make friends and start dating, but it neither does it in a messagey way nor erases the fact that there are new practicalities to figure out because she uses a wheelchair. It's one of the few fictional books I've read that really reflected my experiences as a teenager in hospital, going through a lot of tests, and for that alone I would've appreciated it, but the whole book is great. And, as I'd guessed, I've just read that the author is herself disabled

[elettaria]

Just wanted to say thanks for the lovely message, I've been a bit brain-dead lately and keep forgetting to do stuff (yay for codeine. Or not), but I will get round to it sooner or later, kick me if I forget.

[pandorasblog]

Oh, no worries; I know the braindeadness all too well!!

[dwgism]

Good article and well worth the read! Thanks for pointing it out.

[rj_anderson]

We had a big discussion about this on my LJ a few weeks ago after I read an MG fantasy novel which treated a character with a disability in a way that made me furious. I asked for suggestions of books that did a better job of portraying characters with disabilities, and quite a few people commented -- you can check the post and the recs out at this link.

[elettaria]

Interesting post, thanks for linking to it. I was particularly struck by the point about how blindness is popular because it's suitably pretty, and is often bestowed on beautiful young womaen.

I didn't read all of the Dean Priest debate, but did anyone bring up the borderline paedophilia business with him? That was one of the most striking aspects of that character, I found. I was never rooting for Dean to hook up with Emily, because he was latching on to her starting from when he was an adult man and she was, I'm trying to remember, pre-pubescent? Very definitely a child, anyway. I was squirming in discomfort, and while I too noticed and disliked the deformed soul in deformed body motif, I'm damned if I'm going to like a character just because he's disabled and I therefore ought to. I'd agree that the character was screwed over by the author, though.

[rj_anderson]

It's been a long while since I read the books, so I'm not sure how young Emily was when Dean befriended her, but I think you're right that she was pretty young. I wasn't looking for their friendship to turn into anything romantic -- in fact I'd cynically assumed that it wouldn't because Dean was so clearly identified as someone with a disability and classic literature seldom allows PWD's to have any sexuality whatsoever -- so the idea of his interest being borderline pedophilia hadn't occurred to me. In retrospect, though, I can see how his fascination with her could be interpreted that way... although I doubt LMM meant to Go There and I'm not sure that Dean as a character wouldn't have been appalled by the idea (while Emily was still a child, that is) as well.

[elettaria]

I can't remember what I thought the first time I read it, but the second time around I knew what was coming and noticed the signs. Emily is very young, pre-teen I think, and completely clueless about sexuality. Dean keeps dropping joking hints, the "I'll show you when you're older" type. He very definitely picks her out as his future wife (if he can wangle it) from an alarmingly early age, and is basically waiting for her to grow up. ICK. You shouldn't look at a twelve year old and think, "Yay, I want to marry her!" if you're a fully-grown adult. And then of course when they do grow up, he's so used to being the adult while she's the child that he continues to behave as though he should still have that level of power over her

[lara_everlong]

Okay I am late to the party (as per usual) but I have a few. Cause when I WAS a YA I think I probably read the entire library, lol.

Angel Baker, Thief by Jeannette Eyerly. This one averts pretty much every horrible disability trope out there. Main character is a girl, Angela, who gets caught stealing, spends some time in juvi and then in a foster home, because her social worker decides her home environment is not conducive to her reform. She starts at a new school. She notices a very rich and attractive guy and develops a bit of a crush on him. He uses crutches to walk and sometimes a wheelchair. He neither "suffers" from his disability nor "overcomes" it. It's not a plot device or a metaphor or anything like that. Just part of who he is. He's also an arrogant asshole in that bad-boy kind of way and Angela is quite taken with him, enough to put aside her own morals and common sense. The book is about her and her battle with herself - just like every teenager.

My Life As A Body by Norma Klein. Main character is Augie, a