Disability

Book List: Manga and Disability

Bee Trudgeon shares a list of manga featuring characters with disabilities. Over the past decade, Japan has made strong progress affirming the rights of people with disabilities, working towards removing the physical and social barriers that have stymied their interactions…

Review: New YA from Mandy Hager—Gracehopper

Mandy Hager’s latest young adult novel is a family drama bringing together issues of care work, disability, and identity. Elizabeth Heritage reviews. Gracehopper is Mandy Hager’s new YA novel about Grace Murphy, a Taiwanese 18-year-old living in Wellington with her…

The Reckoning: Deaf Culture and our Stories

A lithe superhero with infinite power in the hands slides beneath to the underworld, guided by the hypnotising eyes of a Pīwakawaka. A tuatara locks it in a death grip, but she manages to break free by finger-spelling the magic…

NZSL Week: Storytelling in sign

This week is NZSL or New Zealand Sign Language Week. Many of the books for young children featuring signed languages or Deaf characters or by Deaf authors – though much loved – do come to us from overseas. So to celebrate…

Here We Are, Read Us: Disability and Writing

Jane Arthur reviews an enlightening new book celebrating eight New Zealand writers. Here We Are, Read Us: Women, Disability and Writing is a must-have for every school library and classroom, and there’s no excuses: the book is free! This little…

Book List: Experiences of disability

Disability consultant, activist and blogger Robyn Hunt suggests 21 books, from picture books to YA, that illuminate experiences of disability. Designing a book list for children and YA on disability is difficult. Such books are not usually at the top…

Reading, literacy and access to books – for all

Disability consultant, activist and blogger Robyn Hunt explains the literacy challenges faced by children with disabilities, and the many different ways they are able to access books – as long as the resources, regulations, funding and technology allow. The earliest…