April 2024 Characters with disabilities in books

Welcome! This month we are reading books which have characters with disabilities portrayed in the novels. Below are some lists you might use to find books, tho you all may already be thinking of one or two. Childrens books on the subject are especially interesting, esp if you compare books from today with what was written pre 1970 .tho there are plenty of adult novels to choose from (see my list below)

One of my favorite books growing up was heide about an orphaned swiss girl sent to live with her grandfather. She becomes friends with a girl with a physical disability. In the book someone tosses her wheelchair over a cliff, Lo and behold she learns to walk. As a kid it was just a story, but my eyes were opened in college we learn this was another example unrealistic portrayal of someone who is disabled. In this case the friend is pitied, spoiled, and then somehow miraculously is cured. I researched childrens books to see how children with disabilities were portrayed, and was surprised to see how negative those portayals often were.

Some things to keep in mind:

A disability is any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limitation) and interact with the world around them (participation restrictions)

"Disabled people (in literature) are often portrayed as helpless, super- abled (pure and good), or evil monsters. Some of these books romanticized the character, some were infantilized, while others portrayed the disabled characters as avoiding the world. Such portrayals did not reflect lived reality;While these portrayals may seem unimportant—after all, literature isn't “real life”—research has shown time and again that portrayals are extraordinarily important and influence culture(s) for decades and beyond.(Exploring Issues of Disability in Children's Literature Discussion (Saunders, 2000)

Here are some lists that have plenty of examples

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/the-read-down/8-beloved-book-characters-with-...

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/characters-with-disabilities

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/78631.Books_With_Disabled_Protagonists Mostly Adult Fiction

Some of my favorites

the dork of cork

all the light we cannot see

deafening

in this sign

deaf sentence

Max Tivoli

stones from the river

a tree grows in booklyn YA

how to build a boat

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime

my brilliant life

it's A Quiet Kind Of Thunder by Sara Barnard.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus YA

the country of the blind

speed of the dark

Flowers for Algernon

of mice or men

looking forward to your choices and thoughts!

Here is the link to the Wiki:

https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Reading_Through_Time_Challenge

I am going to read Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. I believe the stigma of the disease and the disfiguring aspects of leprosy make it a fit with this topic.

>4 DeltaQueen50: I have that on my TBR and never thought of it for this prompt. I think I will also go with Molaka'i.

ETA I do not have that book; thought I did! It's on my WL. However, I did find Covenant of Water on my shelf and it has been marked in LT as "leprosy." I will go with this one!

For those who wanted to get around to it in either the February or March themes, there's still a chance to do Abraham Verghese's The Covenant of Water for this month. Yes, it's a doorstopper (which made it good for someone like me who participates in the Big Fat Books Challenge), but don't let the page-length intimidate you. It's broken down into lots of parts, and within the parts there are lots of chapters. In fact, as I recall, there's 80+ chapters in the book all told but just a bit over 700 pages – which means that the chapters average out fairly short, and the parts themselves aren't really all that long either. This lets you break it down into fairly short chunks of daily reads. The only caution I would have is that the medical stuff can sometimes get a little wearisome in its techi-ness. And BTW, it does include leprosy (>4 DeltaQueen50: >5 Tess_W:) — along with a potentially debilitating genetic disease.

Anyway, I'll be doing, as my primary read, Notre-Dame de Paris (as Hugo's Hunchback is titled in the Oxford World Classics Krailsheimer translation). If I can get up the oomph, I'm also going to take a stab at Hugo's L'homme qui rit (en français, but it's a long one at 768pp and I'm nervous about the quality of my French after all these years).

Both of these Hugos are ones that I bought since the New Year so I don't include them as ROOTs, but they're good for my 19th century French novel project. I'm trying to avoid buying any more books for now, but one that I'm sorely tempted to buy for this month's challenge is Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun.

Some others that I already own and that pop up on an LTT tag search for disabilities:

Padma Venkatraman, A Time to Dance (leg amputation. YA verse novel, so it should be a quick-read.)

Mary Webb, Precious Bane (disfiguring hare lip)

Clare Vanderpool, Navigating Early (autism. Middle Reader, so i it should be a quick-read.)

Sarah Weeks, So B. It (mentally disabled mother, agoraphobic neighbor. Another Middle Reader quick-read.)

The quick-reads can be nice for me to boost my ROOTing progress, to compensate for some of the Big Fat Books. Also, I'm trying to clear out some of my YA/MR books that I can, once I've finished them, give to a 5th-grade teacher in my congregation for her students.

I read johnny got his gun while sitting in my professors office; it was so powerful I could not move. Still think about it. Didnt realize until I saw Trumbo that this was not his only work. He was blackballed by McCarthy gang, Had no idea he wrote Roman Holiday or Philedelphia story; I know there are many more that once the ban was lifted came to light. Really good movie if you are interested

and yes to the Hugos; wanted to do notre dom but its just too huge and I am trying to finish Covenant for march.

Ive seen Molokai but never read it, might be a good idea (and I have no idea what I am reading yet. Tempted to reread the dork from cork by chet raymo, about a man who has dwarfism with an interests in the stars

>3 DeltaQueen50: thx

Incidentally, for a short story on leprosy, see Koolau the Leper (online text of the Molokai-based story) by Jack London. We normally associate London with the cold north, but he did do some work set in the Pacific (see also Mauki, online text of a story about a Solomon Islander).

>7 cindydavid4: Just ordered Johnny Got His Gun from ABE some hours ago.

I hope to finally get to All The Light We Cannot See!

>11 MissBrangwen: That is one of my top all time favs!

>10 CurrerBell: looking forward to your comments!

LOL, Move along! Nothing to see here!

tanya, I think you meant to post this in the March theme :)

>15 cindydavid4: Yep! Deleting and removing....

ETA: I haven't decided what I'm going to do for this month's theme yet.
I have a copy of Johnny Got His Gun (by Dalton Trumbo) as well as Robert Graves's I, Claudius but I'm not feeling a strong pull to either right now. I'm still recovering from the flu and my reading mojo is a bit off :-/

mmmm. I, Claudius could be a really interesting read for this theme. Hope you get to feeling better soon and your reading mojo is back!

I want to add a caveat to Johnny got his gun- this is about a character who has a disability, but it was written as an anti war book.;.Thinking about it tho, Trumbo uses his characters disabilties as a way of making his point. hadnt thought of that before. Thats not to say you shouldnt read it for this theme, just wanted to give you some context about the book.

I think I will finally read The War That Saved My Life.

Interesting article about The Alienating Lack of Disability Representation in Literature

Is a non-fiction book about people with disabilities okay for this theme, e.g. how mental health was treated in history?

We did a lot of that in the mental health themebut it could be ok. I wonder how disabilities were treated in history, not just Mental health.. but tbh, its about the same way for both so yeah go for it

>22 cindydavid4: Thanks Cindy. I'm thinking of this book on my TBR list Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots: A History of Insanity in Nineteenth Century Britain and Ireland.

I could find an alternative probably, though.

Sure, like I say, the history of how people with mental illness fits pretty much with the history of the disabled that it probably wont matter much

On reflection I may read Wilkie Collins's Poor Miss Finch, about a blind girl, as this fits with the Monthly Author Reads Group April choice of this author.

Oh that sounds good! He addressed deafness in Hide and Seek which I might seek out,

>26 cindydavid4: your touchstone is wrong, my friend :)

I may try Hide and Seek instead, as I have had some professional dealings with deaf organisations and sign language.

Fixed my touchstone too :)

oh I thought id fixed it. thanks Whats your connection with the world of the deaf if I may ask?

mine is correct now

>28 cindydavid4: I led a team developing a qualification for school students in British Sign Language.

Cool; I dont know BSL the two handed spelling looks odd to me but I should learn it. Funny story - we were flying from phx to london on Britair when the screen was giving safety information. there was an interpreter, but I couldnt figure out what they were signing till I realized it was BSL. I mentioned to a stewardess that a deaf person on this flight who uses ASL may not understand that. Of course she had no idea that sign languages are not universal. I get that most people know that but Id think the airline would know better....either use the language of the majority of signers, or use captions....That being said, many people I know who are deaf learn multiple languages rather easily so its probably not a big problem

How did you get into signing?

I don't sign myself, it's part of my professional duties in the government department where I work. But yes, as you say, sign languages can be mutually incomprehensible, and I think a lot of people don't realise that.

shoot not sure how this was deleted but Ill try again Interesting review; knowing how Collins treated this character mirrors the way he treats Madonna who is blind as well. Im now reading armdale as well and note how well he treats his characters, both with physical and mental disabilities, and wonder what made him so progressive in his writing; very different than Dickens.

BTW you probably know this, but we no longer use the term dumb to describe someone who is deaf; mute is better, but non verbal is better,

this article is very interesting, not just for these two books, but about several from the victorian era, how the characters were treated

You might be interested in this paper, written last year

BLINDNESS AND THE BEAST: DISABILITY, FAIRY TALE AND MYTH
IN WILKIE COLLINS’S POOR MISS FINCH>

>34 john257hopper: your touchstone says Patterson

double post

I somehow managed a triple post. I lost one of them so repost and suddenly there were three....

n Interesting review; knowing how Collins treated this character mirrors the way he treats Lucilla who is blind in poor miss finch as well. Im now reading armdale as well and note how well he treats his characters, both with physical and mental disabilities, and wonder what made him so progressive in his writing; very different than Dickens.

BTW you probably know this, but we no longer use the term dumb to describe someone who is deaf; mute is better, but non verbal is better, there are many people with hearing loss who can speak.

Ive always wondered what in Collins background with illness allowed him to write such complex character. the paper below answers that question as well as look at how fairy tales and myths have been used to give a negative percepttion of those with disabilities, from a very young age

excuse the caps

https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&context...

BLINDNESS AND THE BEAST: DISABILITY, FAIRY TALE AND MYTH IN WILKIE COLLINS’S POOR MISS FINCH

Its long but very interesting and really is the point Ive tried to make by choosing this theme

“nvm

>35 EGBERTINA: yes, thanks, and it won't let me fix it either for some reason however many times I select Collins as the author. Damn.

>38 cindydavid4: Thanks Cindy, yes, I was using the language of the time, of course, I get the point. :)

>40 john257hopper: Huh. Weird. I can select it from the "others" list: Hide and Seek, but I have had trouble before adding the correct title, so I understand your frustration.

>40 john257hopper: When it gets stuck like that, the only solution I ever found was to brute-force it out:
1. Remove the square brackets completely and save the message
2. Edit again to add them back and pick the correct one from the list now.

>43 AnnieMod: thanks Annie, I did try that but it didn't work. I will try again though.

So I have now finished Hide and Seek, a mystery novel by Wilkie Collins. The mystery essentially revolves around the identity of the father of Mary ("Madonna") Grice, a deaf and dumb child of around 10 years old, a man who abandoned Mary's mother, the young woman he had made pregnant. Different characters have different levels of knowledge about the truth of Mary's origins, so there is more mystery for most of the characters than there often is for the reader. The author's depiction of Mary as a disabled child who is somewhat more than just a passive figure was seemingly quite unusual for the time, and he apparently researched it quite well, though these elements only make a small proportion of the story.

>43 AnnieMod: thanks I've managed to do it now, though it's reposted at the bottom of the thread, and I've deleted the original message.

I’m reading Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior from the International Booker Short List. One of the characters, 6=yearold Bellonisia, is mute because of an accident with a knife that happens when the book opens.

I did complete The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese and there were quite a number of people who had added leprosy to the description. However, no more than 2 pages of the 700+ page book was dedicated to this disease, so I won't be counting it for this prompt. I will struggle to find and read something else this month as it is finals at the university and all my finals are essay which entail so much reading!

>49 Tess_W: I think you certainly should credit it for the prompt. Don't forget the genetic disability that contributes to the drownings and fear of water which I reference in >6 CurrerBell:.

ETA: And isn't there a lot more than just two pages referencing leprosy? I mean, there's the early years of the leprosarium and then there's the very important conclusion where we discover that the mother "abandoned" her husband and her daughter not because of marital issues but because she herself had leprosy and she didn't want the stigma to apply to her family, ahd she's in the leprosarium operated by the doctor who loves her. I think leprosy is a lot more significant in this novel than you're giving it credit for.

Oops! I didn't read the intro for this month! I didn't read a novel, but a biography (I tend to prefer nonfiction - if something on my tbr fits - for this group).

Anyway, this is what I read:

The Story of My Life / Helen Keller
3 stars

This is Helen Keller’s autobiography (for about the first half). Then, it includes some of the letters Helen wrote to various people. Helen, of course, was both blind and deaf in the late 19th century as a child when she and a teacher had a breakthrough as her teacher, Annie Sullivan, was trying to teach her to communicate. Helen grew up to become very educated and published more than one book.

I listened to the audio, and it was ok, but I did lose focus more than I would have liked. It turns out Helen loved books and reading, which was interesting. It was kind of repetitive between the biography portion, then much of what was in the letters had already also been mentioned in the autobiography. Helen Keller was a pretty impressive woman.

>51 LibraryCin: its fine other people read bios for the RTT themes

Glad you read it (and I have trouble focusing on taped reading so dont feel bad) the timing of the book is interesting; this is the victorian era, where people who had disabilies were often hidden or kept home, or heaven forbid sent to institions (annie was after she was orphaned) But her parents were desparate to find help for her and they were lucky to find Annie. and get real help for their child

One of the myths about people with disabilities is that they have extraodinary powers, and Helen was often put out for show, implying other people with disabilites should do as well at least that was the attitude. But she came from a wealthy and educated family, and she herself, having been a normal hearing and seeing child for 18 months had a much better chance of success than children with congenital deafness and blindness Since language is a major prerequisit of reading, she had the lanuguage to learn more from her reading and hence learned more language, so she had a bit of a head start than her peers. She was indeed a remarkable woman, and Annie was on of my models in teacher children with hearing loss

You might be interested in reading a relative recent bio of her by Joseph P Lash. Its a BB tome but very through account of her life and Annies Helen and teacher: The story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy

>50 CurrerBell: Yes, I forgot about that genetic disability! Well alrighty then, I will count it. Glad it counts, it was a 700+ page chunkster. I seem to remember there was cancer and deafness, also, but I think those were parts of the disorder. For the life of me, I can't remember any mention of leprosy except for Digby while he was working/living at the leprosarium. There's also Mol, who was "forever" a child. Not sure if it was a thyroid issue or an intellectual disability.

>51 LibraryCin: I was also thinking of reading that one. I have it on my shelf and haven't read it for about 20-30 years.

>52 cindydavid4: Oooh, thank you. I will look that one up!

I also recently read a fictional account of a very short time frame of Helen's life when she first met Annie Sullivan and the famous breakthrough happened. That's what led me to the autobiography. But I'm going to look into "Helen and Teacher", as well.

I just finished Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris (Oxford World's Classics, trans Alban Krailsheimer) 5*****, with part of that rating due to the quality of the translation along with the OWC's tradition of helpful endnotes.

This wouldn't have been the kind of book for me to use in getting back to half-century-old high school and college French. Its length – along with Hugo's use of some period-language as well as some punning – would make it far too difficult without a high quality translation and helpful endnoting. If I'm going to use Hugo for a refresher in French, it would be shorter works, notably his plays (I have Hernani and Ruy Blas in French), as well as a dual-language edition I have of some of his poetry. I've also got L'homme qui rit, but its length is intimidating in French.

Doing Notre-Dame de Paris for this month's prompt has also been a good contribution to my 19th century French language project. I'd been planning to put my emphasis on a complete read of the 1899 centenary translation of Balzac (primarily trans Ellen Marriage), and I'm going to be continuing with that, but next month I'll be doing Hugo again for "international Labour Day" reading (in translation) Toilers of the Sea.

>13 cindydavid4: I'm really hoping to get to Johnny Got His Gun this month, but I've got at least a couple disability-related TBRs that I've had around for quite a while and that will boost me toward my goal of 50 on the ROOTs Group; and the two I'm thinking of are also Middle Reader books that I want to pass on to a fifth-grade teacher in my congregation when I finish them.

Note: I'll be posting Notre-Dame de Paris to the Wiki, but there seems to be some problem with the Wiki pages – all of them, not just ours.

>56 CurrerBell: Yes, the problem with the wikis is still ongoing at this time.

I have finished Watery Grave which features Sir John Fielding, a real 18th century Bow Street Magistrate, who was blind.

>56 CurrerBell: no worries! You have quite a bit on your plate now! Ill be interested in which ones you pick off your shelf.

Oh I havent heard of that; my DH probably has, if not this might be up his alley)looks like an interesting read esp having a person with visual impairment be the main character.

>57 MissWatson: I just posted my Hugo/Notre-Dame read to this month's Wiki listing and did so without any trouble. The "Bug" thread is still open, though, so I don't know if the problem's been fixed to everyone's satisfaction. I'm going to post on that thread to let TPTB know the Wiki seems now to be working at least for my one attempt.

I’ve finished Crooked Plow, an extraordinary novel written by African Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira Junior. The novel’s main character is Belonisia, mute from about age 6. Well over a third of the novel is narrated by Belonisia, with the other two sections narrated by her sister Bibiana and by St. Rita, an encantada, or spirit/saint in the Jaré religion. Belonisia develops into a true heroine within this story of mythic proportion. (On the Shortlist for International Booker Prize)

>60 CurrerBell: It worked for me, too, for another challenge, so I'll update later.

>61 dianelouise100: Great review! Taking a BB for this as I need a book for another challenge by a Brazilian author or set in Brazil.

>63 Tess_W: I’ll be so interested in your reaction to this book, Tess. I’ll be posting a longer review on the book page and on my CR thread as soon as my mind has finished mulling and is ready to synthesize.

>61 dianelouise100: oh that sounds good, Ill have to check it out

I have finished my read of Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. This was a very well-written and informative read. Covering some 80 years, I learned a lot about leprosy and the treatment of it's victims. The author also provided a lot of information on Hawaiian culture and history.

I just noticed that the april state of the thing mentions this theme, and I really like what they call it "Books Featuring Characters With Disabilities" which I like much better than my title. Will have to remember this..

Looking through the list I included, noticed So B. It and thought it looked very unusual and interesting. Think ill read that for this month

I just noticed this list in the State of the Thing - and I can't believe you haven't yet listed The Warrior's Apprentice. Space opera at it's finest!

>68 sarahemmm: You’re absolutely right; but I never think of Miles as handicapped😅

Its not the same but for some reason this made me think of T The Ship Who Sang: A Novel remember loving it as a teen, then read it again for a book group and found it rather creepy It starts with " children who are born with an immobilizing or other severe disability are raised and educated to be the 'brains' that steer Starships. They are also assigned a "Brawn" to be their companion and assist with activities that can only be done by a person with a functional body." the idea is that someone who is disabled can continue to be a major part of society, and in the 60s when it was written, that was an idea ahead of its time. But like I say, it just gets creepy and uncomfortable, reading it through the eyes of the 21st cen

A character’s epilepsy is a key plot point in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.

I just finished so be it The book is written for YA but I had no problem enjoying the story. the character in question is Mom or sof, a young woman with cognitive issues, who gives birth to a daughter named Heide. She is limited in language and cant tell her daughter much, so she sets out to find more about her family. I loved the way the this author draws this mother. She fits what i know about peole with cognitive issues, and yet it shows how much she loves her daugther. I loved how much her daughter yearns to know. I was curious if there was somone who inspired that character, but she doesnt mention that in the interview; If I were teaching upper elementary kids, this is a book Id have them read (unless its banned for being about an un wed mother) its a beautiful gentle way of learning about complexity of people with special needs have, and how they have the same wants and needs of us all

5* Highly recommended

and crooked plow just showed up at my doorstep!

Saw both The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom listed above, found they were both available through Libby, and since I'd heard so much hype about them in the past I decided to read these two for this challenge. They are told from the prospective of characters who are interacting with other characters who are disabled by disease. There is first person perspective on disability in The Fault in Our Stars as well. The books both seek to find a sort of lessons learned about interacting with people who are disabled or dying. Both books are well written stories and easy to read. I'm not sure there's any characters in either book that are even a bit unlikeable - so the challenges or conflicts in the book are really about the struggle for life. I personally appreciated the gentle reminder not to stand aloof or give too much space to those battling potentially lonesome journeys with illness.

I'd read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon recently, and because that story's main character was born with a disability, I can appreciate the opportunity to think about the difference between the circumstance of always having had the challenges versus the circumstance of having illness deprive one of an ability one is already accustomed to. (no, I'm not a genius, just an observer, and I don't have an Aha! moment to share)