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Kayla Whaley talks with thirteen-year-old activist and author Melissa Shang about her recent middle grade debut.

Eli is a refreshing wheelchair-using character who regularly surprises and aids the protagonist with his skill set and mind.

Linette is more a convenient plot device than a protagonist, and disabled readers deserve more. Young Knights of the Round Table is a prime example of incidental disability done wrong.

For as long as I could remember, I had been surrounded by people with special needs; I wasn’t aware that there were kids my age that didn’t have disabilities.

We have so few stories — especially lighthearted ones — with wheelchair-using characters that I’d hoped I’d be able to recommend I Funny, but it’s a dangerous narrative wrapped up and presented as “good messages.”

Although it lacks detail in its portrayal of spina bifida, this is a well-written, cute series featuring a very cool character with the condition.

This is a book about a girl with an autistic brother. The autistic brother is crucial to the plot, but her actual brother is really more of a plot device than anything else.

Despite elements that I saw as didactic or inauthentic, there is a lot that kids will like in this book.

Clichés, ableist language … what kinds of words, phrases, or situations used in book or character descriptions send up warning flags for our contributors?

If our contributors could tell an author writing a character with their disability one thing – besides “do your research” – what would it be?

What concerns me is that disabled characters are often integrated in the form of tokenism, meaning one token character that could be considered “different” is included in the plot. And even then, such characters are frequently depicted in stereotypical ways, despite being created by authors who may have the best of intentions.

I’ve talked a lot about the ways my disability has affected my body image, my sexuality, my confidence, and my social interactions, and all of those things are important to consider when writing a disabled character. Today, however, I want to focus on the ways my disability affects the logistics of my life.

I don’t remember the first time I was bullied, but I do remember the moment I finally realized that I had been bullied.

What you won’t be able to see when you first meet me is this: I’m a published author. I read all the time. I write all the time, too. I dictate, using an old-fashioned cassette recorder, and my mother types up my finished drafts.

All too often, portrayals of disability in literature mirror the common assumption that disability signifies helplessness.

What kind of tips do our contributors have for authors seeking to respectfully write disabled characters?

A poster child, to me, is a child with a disability who is “shown off” as a way to generate funds, awareness, understanding, more funds. Mostly funds, in my experience.