Confession #1:
I'd never heard the term disablism until I read my friend diceytillerman's Blogging Against Disablism post over the weekend.
Confession #2:
Although I haven't run into anything cringe-worthy yet, it's pretty darn unnerving to be reading up on this topic now, nearly three years after publishing a novel about two of the most famous disabled people on the planet. But it's also making me think - a lot - about how disability is portrayed in children's literature.
Case in point:
Through a weeklong session of link-clicking, I found my way this morning to one of the best book reviews I've ever read:
2 Comments on Discovering disablism, last added: 5/8/2010
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Confession #1: I run into the, "Oh, f***, I wish I'd done this reading earlier/thought about this sooner!" problem a lot in my writing, too. I think we just need to keep our eyes and ears open as writers in the world, listen to as many people/viewpoints as we can, and try, as best we can, not to fall into the mindtraps of ignorance all around us. And, when we make mistakes, acknowledge them to ourselves, and try not to make them again in future books. I *hate* discovering that I have potentially contributed to some hurtful and unjust way of thinking in my novels, because of my own lack of thinking. It's going to happen, though. We're creatures of our culture and our culture is so flawed in so many of its assumptions. Plus, as writers, we're trying to keep track of so many things when we're writing a novel. It's too easy to miss things.
(I"m not suggesting you've done anything wrong in your writing, btw! Just saying that I think I understand, and I'm also trying hard to think through these important things.)
*blink* Thank you. I was very startled and pleased to discover that a) my review/rant had been linked to, and b) it was enjoyed.
Disablism is something that I live with and yet still find myself guilty of, quite often (being one type of crip doesn't stop me from accidentally wounding any number of people, because I don't realise that my language is, while institutionalised, wrong. Alas.) I think the only thing anyone can do is keep an awareness of such things.
Looking forward to reading (or listening to!) Miss Spitfire. I promise I won't read it specifically for any type of language--it just sounds very interesting! *grin*