What disability studies can do for children's literature

It is unusual to find discussions of disability issues in commentaries that examine broad genres of children's literature, although these texts have often included observations on race, gender or other major forms of bias. Critical works looking specifically at the subject of disability and/or disabled characters in children's books have appeared only sporadically, primarily in response to legislation bringing disabled children into inclusive schooling, for example, Baskin and Harris 1977, 1984 and Robertson, 1992 in USA with Quicke, 1985 and Reiser and Mason, 1990 in the UK. Pinsent (1997) examined disabled characters in some modern texts as one influence among several forms of bias. Rudman's (1995) "issues approach" to children's literature commented on selected constructive portrayals.