Disabilities Portrayed in Picturebooks with the Américas Book Award

ABSTRACT

This study analyzed how disabilities were portrayed in picturebooks with the Américas Book Award to address the intersectionality of LatinX racial identity and disabilities. The pool of 41 picturebooks recognized by the Américas Book from 1993 to 2020 was used as the data for our systematic content analysis. Then 22 picturebooks developmentally appropriate for PreK-2^nd Grade children were selected from this pool. Then six picturebooks were further analyzed as they portrayed characters with any disabilities. Only three characters whose presence impacted the story were identified to have a disability. The characters with disabilities and the types of disabilities were represented disproportionately in the books compared to the general PreK-2 population with disabilities in the United States. Four characters exhibited an orthopedic impairment, one was with emotional disturbance, and one was with a visual impairment. More materials that mirror LatinX children characters with disabilities are needed in the U.S.

KEYWORDS:

• LatinX
• disabilities
• intersectionality
• the Américas book award
• picturebook

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.