FAQ

Disability in Kidlit is on indefinite hiatus. As such, much of the below information no longer applies.

About our reviews

I wrote/represent/publish a book featuring a prominent disabled character. Will you review it?: If the book is published by a major publisher — in our case defined as having significant bookstore and library presence — and the disabled character is prominent, then yes, we’d love to try to review it! We’re always open to review copies, whether the book is a new release or backlist title. Please e-mail us with details about the book (role of disabled character, nature of the disability, etc.) and the format(s) available. We’ll do our best to find a reviewer for the book. It may take a while, however. We typically won’t ask for a physical review copy until we have confirmed a reviewer, although we’re happy to receive books in ebook format before that time.
I strongly disagree with a review you posted concerning my disability. Can I submit a review of my own?: Absolutely! Reviews are always subjective, and disabled people are not a monolith. Our goal at Disability in Kidlit isn’t to give a verdict on books and stick to that forever and ever, amen, but simply to show what people within the community think. If those people disagree, it just means there’s an interesting conversation to be had. So, yes, we’d be delighted to consider reviews of books that have already been reviewed. Our only request is that the new review differs significantly from the existing one(s) — if you only have a few minor comments, they’re probably better suited for the comment section.

About contributing to or helping the website

Can I contribute if I’m not disabled, but my partner / child / friend is? Or if I’ve thoroughly studied disability-related topics?

Sorry, but we make no exceptions. As much as we appreciate your interest in disability and willingness to contribute, discussions of disability are often dominated by non-disabled people. It’s important to us that we not add to that trend. The comments section is open to everyone, however. And if your partner / child / friend would like to contribute, we’re all ears.

Is there a different way I can help?

Yes! There are several ways, and we’re so glad you asked.

If you work for a publisher, we’d love to be in touch with you about review copies of books featuring disabled characters.
Sharing our posts via social media helps a lot! That’s how we find new readers and contributors.
If you know of an forthcoming book featuring major disabled character that’s not already listed in our Goodreads account, give us a heads-up! We also hugely appreciate corrections to our Goodreads list — for example if a book is shelved incorrectly.
If one of our reviews, articles, or discussions is useful to you, please take the time to comment and/or share it on social media. All of our contributors work for free, and we love when our readers show their appreciation.

About asking for our help

I’m an author writing a disabled character, and I want to make sure I get it right. Could you put me in touch with a sensitivity reader?

We love that you’re so dedicated to respectful representation! We have, in the past, attempted to set up authors/publishers and disabled sensitivity readers, but being the middle man puts us in an awkward situation for several reasons. That said, we do always encourage authors to seek sensitivity readers, and we recognize that we’re one of the first places authors will look to find these readers. We’re still debating how we can best be of assistance.

I’m an author writing a disabled character, and I want to make sure I get it right. Could I run a situation by you?

Again: thank you for caring! We may attempt to offer our thoughts on a particular situation if you share it with us on our Tumblr – we prefer to do this publicly so that others may benefit. However, we’re cannot give our “stamp of approval” on anything we haven’t read, and it’s usually hard to convey the full situation/nuance in such a limited space. In other words: feel free to ask, but we make no guarantees, and we will not accept any responsibility for your novel or criticism you may receive.

What about asking for resources?

We can certainly try. Please contact our Tumblr. That way, we can post it publicly, meaning others may benefit or pitch in with further information.

Do you ever cover picture books or adult books? Do you know of a website like yours that does?

The answer to both questions is “no,” I’m afraid. This is probably the most common question we get, and we’d love to help; I’m sorry that we can’t.

I’m a librarian/teacher. I would love specific book recommendations, or your thoughts on a certain title.

We’re always happy to hear from educators! In addition to helping authors with their portrayals of disabled characters, we hope to be a resource for anyone working with teenagers. It’s so important for both disabled and non-disabled teenagers to have access to books featuring respectful, accurate portrayals of disability. Via our reviews and articles, we hope to give you the tools and insights necessary to judge these portrayals yourself. We also maintain a list of books we recommend on our Honor Roll.

However, we’re still delighted to help out if you need help beyond that. Please send an ask to our Tumblr.

Miscellaneous

Why wasn't my comment approved?

Due to a deluge in spam comments, we manually approve each comment. If your comment wasn’t approved, it may mean:

the editors haven’t gotten to it yet [note: given the site has been on hiatus since 2017/2018, many comments ended up trapped in moderation for months or even years]
it was mistaken for spam by the spam filter
it was disrespectful, antagonistic, or trollish; we welcome respectful disagreements, but we value our contributors too much to expose them to personal insults or comments that are clearly people just looking for a fight or jumping to the defense of their favorite book without actually engaging with the content of the article

Critiquing depictions of disability and interrogating the effects of these depictions on society is the whole point of this website. We want to make Disability in Kidlit a safe space for disabled people to have nuanced, thoughtful discussions, even if that means we disagree with each other. Comment that boil down to “why are you so easily offended, just let authors write what they want!” do not meaningfully add to these discussions. We’ve heard it a hundred times before.

Do all articles/reviews represent Disability in Kidlit’s views on those subjects/books? Can I attribute quotes to you?

Our website quite literally wouldn’t exist without our contributors; they put so much thought, time, and effort into their articles and reviews, and we appreciate them to no end. But we’re all individuals, and we won’t always agree with each other. Sometimes a contributor expresses a view that the editors or another contributor might disagree with — and that’s fine with us. We’re here to provide a platform for disabled voices, not dictate said voices. (We do, however, edit our pieces carefully, and won’t run content that we consider to be harmful.)

That means that contributors’ pieces are not official Disability in Kidlit statements, views, opinions, or recommendations; to that end, positive reviews are also not an official endorsement.

Therefore, when quoting from an article or review, please attribute it to the individual rather than the site. For instance: “Reviewer Extraordinaire at Disability in Kidlit” instead of simply “Disability in Kidlit.” If you strongly want to attribute the quote to Disability in Kidlit itself, ask us first. If the editors have read the book and feel comfortable standing behind it, we’ll work something out.

So, I’m a little confused … your contributors aren’t actually part of your website?

Correct. Because of our policy to have contributors talk only about their own experiences, having a fixed team of contributors isn’t practical. Instead, we rely on a wide range of guest writers in order to be able to represent as many views and different disabilities as possible. This means that our contributors aren’t staff positions; they send in content on an article-by-article basis. We have several recurring contributors who we adore and are very grateful for, but they cannot speak for or otherwise represent the website. The only people officially affiliated with Disability in Kidlit are listed on the About page.

What do you think of the disability portrayal in this one book? Why haven't you reviewed it yet?

There’s a good chance we haven’t read it, but talk to us on Twitter or Tumblr and we’ll see! Most likely, the reason we haven’t reviewed it is because it either doesn’t match our criteria or we haven’t found a suitable reviewer yet. Trust us, we want to feature as many books as possible.

Why haven't you featured this particular disability?

This answer feels like a cop-out, but: We work with what we have. We welcome every disability, and we’re always excited to feature people whose disabilities we haven’t discussed yet, but it’s not always that straightforward. The following factors play a part:

Our website make no money, which means we can’t pay our contributors. We’re 100% dependent on the enthusiasm and goodwill of our contributors.
Due to our policies, if we can’t find a contributor with a certain disability, that disability isn’t discussed in-depth.
We make an effort to reach out to people with underrepresented disabilities, but due to sheer variety in disabilities and our limited time — all editors have day jobs and work on this website in our spare time without compensation — we’re unfortunately limited in how proactive we can be in seeking out new contributors.
Certain disabilities (for example: mental illnesses, autism, blindness) are depicted in children’s literature far more often than others (for example: fibromyalgia, scoliosis, cystic fibrosis), which means we have more books to review and more problematic tropes to discuss.

If we made any money from this website, finding and paying contributors with underrepresented disabilities would be high on our list of priorities. In the meantime, however, please believe us when we say that it’s purely because of circumstances, and not because we don’t care or are actively exclusionary.

You featured (condition) on your website, but (condition) is not a disability.

Disability is a complex thing. We try to be inclusive, rather than exclusive. Even if you don’t consider chronic conditions, neurological differences, or mental illnesses to be disabilities — the editors do, for the record — there are many commonalities in how they’re depicted in popular media and treated in real life, which makes them relevant to our website.

If you only want to see content relating to a certain disability, that’s your prerogative. Use the tags or search functions to your heart’s desire. However, we don’t take kindly to people disparaging our contributors or their experiences.

Are you part of We Need Diverse Books?

We’re completely independent. Disability in Kidlit is a website/resource started in 2013; We Need Diverse Books is an organization started in 2014. We’re supportive of each other, however, and are in regular contact.

Although Disability in Kidlit co-founder Corinne Duyvis has been a member of the We Need Diverse Books team in the past, her work at Disability in Kidlit stands alone and does not represent the We Need Diverse Books organisation.