Dis/abled Childhoods? A Transdisciplinary Approach offers a comprehensive and concise overview of the intersecting arenas that make up disabled childhoods. The book, composed of 11 chapters by different contributing authors, presents and discusses themes ranging from the history of disabled childhoods to policy-making to education and research. The text is simultaneously heavily referenced and accessible. It therefore provides a sound knowledge of what constitutes and affects the experience of disabled childhoods in a manner that is useful to students and researchers alike.
The book starts by introducing the reader to the current terminology and cultural and sociological frameworks that shape childhood and disability studies. Besides setting the reader’s foundation for the subsequent chapters, this introduction is also particularly useful for students who have just started engaging in childhood disability studies. In this introduction, Allison Boggis gives a short and clear explanation of the complexities encompassed in both childhood and disability arenas and affirms the thought given to ensure that the terminology used throughout the book is that most suited to the work’s purpose. The following two chapters, written by Sarah Richards and Pere Ayling respectively, draw on local (UK) and international legislation and conventions to present how both historical and activism-based change have shaped polices and services offered to safeguard the rights and quality of life of disabled children. Although highly informative and of relevance in ensuring good practice in different spaces within disabled children’s lives, the data provided are based on what has and is happening in the United Kingdom; therefore readers from outside the United Kingdom, like myself, may unfortunately not be able to fully apply this information to their needs.
The collection of essays then moves on to discuss the issues of impairment, identity and embodiment in three different chapters that focus on the contrasting representations of disabled childhoods as presented in medical classifications, psychological and social sciences, as well as art, literature and the media. I found these chapters extremely interesting and refreshing, particularly as issues of impairment and the body seem to have been neglected in present literature, with the latter being more focused on issues pertinent to the social, educational contexts and service provision. Being presented with the issues of definitions and classifications related to impairment, body and identity shows a reality that I feel academic literature has often shied away from in fear of falling back onto the trappings of the medical model of disability. However, the impaired body and its effects on self-identity and the stereotypical preconceptions that disabled children still encounter on a daily basis needs to be discussed. These three chapters brought these issues to light and, in my opinion, can serve to help mediate and bridge the gap between the medical (the impaired body) and the social (the cultural, physical and attitudinal barriers).
Allison Boggis then proceeds to discuss the level of protection and safeguarding measures in place to protect disabled children and young people when compared to their non-disabled peers. Again, this chapter is wrought with an honest reality that is often hidden behind policies and acts which state that all children have equal rights. Boggis rightly argues that often disabled children are at a higher risk of abuse then their non-disabled peers. In keeping with the importance of safeguarding disabled children, the following chapters discuss the importance of early intervention and education systems that are tailor-made in ensuring that the holistic needs of the disabled child are adequately met. Here, both authors build their arguments on theoretical perspectives as well as what really happens in present-day practices. The book then proceeds to focus on the landscape that shapes research with disabled children, by presenting the past, present, ethical and power relationships that serve to give disabled children a voice. The book then concludes by bringing together the work of the various authors and by acknowledging the diverse and transdisciplinary components of disabled childhoods, whilst affirming the belief that disabled children still encounter disabling barriers which prevent them from having fully-abled childhoods.
Although, as stated earlier, Dis/abled Childhoods? A Transdisciplinary Approach covers a well-rounded spectrum of the important discourses relevant to dis/abled childhoods, I believe this work lacks one important voice – the voice of disabled children themselves. Having a chapter that gives space for disabled children to express first-hand the way they experience their childhoods, in my opinion, would have added a valuable layer to the discussions put forward. Notwithstanding this lacuna, the book provides an excellent balance of theoretical frameworks, historical background and present-day practices, whilst inviting the reader to consider whether they are creating spaces that marginalize and disregard rather than empower disabled children.
In conclusion, texts covering disabled childhoods are often based on the findings of particular individual or nationwide studies. However, the chapters in this book tend to offer a well-rounded review of the different knowledge already present in the literature and then combine this with everyday practices within the different institutions and environments prevalent during childhood. The reader is therefore being presented both with the ideal scenario as provided by academic literature and available policies whilst, at the same time, being invited to critically reflect on whether these are actually being implemented and on whether they are having a positive impact on the everyday lives of disabled children. In my opinion, this interweaving of literature and current practice offers an honest and valuable insight that at times is lacking in other texts discussing childhood and disability. As a professional working with disabled children and their families, I have often felt that there is a discrepancy between the frameworks and portrayals being presented in academia and the actual lived reality my clients experience. Reading this book confirmed this difference and actively acknowledges the possibility that disabled childhoods are not yet abled childhoods.
Department of Disability Studies, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
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