Friday, March 30, 2018

Authentic Experiences of Disability in Young Adult Literature by Gretchen Gales

It may not be hard to find literature featuring characters with disabilities, but it can be difficult to find good literature portraying disabled characters. After all, if society still rampantly promotes ableism, its presence in literature and pop culture are not too far behind. From problematic classics such as Of Mice and Men and Frankenstein to modern books such as Me Before You, the availability of inauthentic experiences with disabilities is unfortunately higher than more accurate portrayals of disabilities. In an effort to promote more diverse and authentic texts about disability, particularly in young adult literature, I wanted to examine three young adult novels featuring protagonists with disabilities: On The Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis, Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick, and The Mind’s Eye by K.C. Finn.
 Duyvis’ On The Edge of Gone is an incredibly diverse science fiction piece featuring a main character who is biracial and autistic. In a dystopian society, Denise must prove her own worth to the inhabitants of a generation ship leaving a shattered Earth. The book explores how people are classified as “useful” or “valuable” in society, and people who are disabled or neurodivergent are typically cast aside because they do not possess neurotypical or able-bodied traits. As opposed to many novels with autistic characters, the plot is advanced by actual events or other characters as opposed to the character’s autism.  Instead, Denise must keep track of her mother, who is an addict, and must find her trans sister Iris, all while trying to prove she is worth saving.
The author is also autistic, making the authenticity of the experiences Denise has in the book more reliable. But the humility of the author is also key to the novel’s appeal. In an interview with Disability in Kid Lit (2016), Duyvis noted her own tendencies to place autistic tendencies in the novel without a clear explanation of why Denise felt a certain way. On The Edge of Gone is also quick to show that while Denise is autistic and suffers from severe anxiety, she must develop her own coping mechanisms in order to survive.
Denise has a decent grip on her coping skills and built-up tolerance to less-than-understanding people in her life, which is why she acts more maturely and sensible than her own mother, who is shown to be selfish and irresponsible on more than one occasion. The beginning of the book (2016) shows her mother wasting the time they have left to get to their pre-approved shelters to stall for Iris as Denise urges for them to leave and get to shelter before it is too late (Duyvis, pg. 10) . When her mother is kicked off of the generation ship, she tries to guilt Denise into smuggling her back on board without taking any time to consider how it puts both Iris and Denise at risk of losing their own resources (Duyvis, 2016, pg. 222) . Denise’s narrative is a much different approach than what many see in books with autistic characters who are often cast as burdens on their families and society. Because of the stigma of autism, Denise has long had to adapt to neurotypical people around her to blend with the world around her.
While Duyvis has first-hand experience with living with neurodivergence, many authors attempt to portray disabilities without the same personal experiences or knowledge.  Though Selznick does not have firsthand experience with deafness, he manages to create a very thoughtful literary experience reflecting the lives of people in the deaf community with extensive research. What results is Wonderstruck, a novel and graphic novel cross-over that touches on many important themes and topics: disability, grief, collections, visual aids, and many more. The novel switches between two characters’ stories: Ben and Rose’s. Ben is a boy living in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota in 1977 while Rose is a girl living in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1927. Both characters are deaf and must navigate through a world that does not accommodate their needs, but insists on as much conformity to able-bodied culture as possible. Wonderstruck switches between the 50 year period with two distinct but intertwined stories, both with the same surprising amount of obstacles related to their deafness.
Collections are also shown to be a major topic in Wonderstruck. Ben’s mother was a librarian and he keeps old trinkets of hers in a wood-carved box. He carries them around with him, which represents who he is and where he is from without writing or speaking about it. Rose collected pictures and newspaper clippings of her mother in scrapbooks and made many skyscrapers out of paper to bring an inaccessible city directly to her (Selznick, 2011, p. 38-39). Like Ben, Rose uses visual expression and symbols to communicate with others, even when they want her to use a method that is more convenient for someone else. Both Ben and Rose are connected to the Natural History Museum, both through familial ties as well as a shared joy of seeing information presented in a way that is accessible for both of them. Themed exhibits cluster related information and objects together the same way Ben and Rose collect their own information.
Wonderstruck does a particularly good job with demonstrating how advancements in technology are not always the best means of assisting people with disabilities. It also features a significant scene where technology sets Rose’s character back. In order to “spend time” with her mother Lillian Mayhew, Rose goes to the movie theater to see her silent films. To Rose’s horror, the movie theater is about to install “Talkie” equipment, which enables movies to be both seen and heard without the supposed interruption of word cards on the screen (Selznick, 2011, p. 142). For people who can hear, this is considered advancement in innovation. To Rose, it is a shocking setback that not only further isolates herself from her absent actress mother, but at chances to enjoy activities that people who are not deaf can as well. Another way Rose is pressured into blending in with people who are not deaf is through lip-reading. Rose hates being pressured into learning how to read lips, and defiantly makes another skyscraper out of her lip-reading curriculum book, a rejection of the standards that people with hearing place on people who are deaf (Selznick, 2011, p. 191). Like Duyvis’ book, Wonderstruck challenges what it truly means to be disabled, demonstrating a wide variety of ways disabled people cope with a lack of accommodations from a young age.
My quest to find more books similar to Duyvis’ and Selznick’s was harder than expected, even with my specific calls and searches for these type of narratives. I would often find plenty of books featuring characters with disabilities, but were riddled with ableism. Books that had ableist narratives were — surprise, surprise — not written by authors who have first-hand experience with the disability they are writing about. Finally, I found The Mind’s Eye. Labeled as a “paranormal romance”, it stars Kit Cavendish, a girl living in 1940 sent to live in Wales during World War II. Kit possesses telepathic powers but is also a wheelchair-user due to M.E. / C. F. S., a neurological condition that causes pain, fatigue, and sometimes paralysis. Her powers lead her to a boy in Oslo named Henri, who is attempting to escape from Nazi occupation in his village. It is the first book in a series (the SYNSK series) written by UK author K.C. Finn (2017), an author who knows about ableism in young adult literature all too well.
“It irritates me when you do find characters with disabilities are there because it’s a gimmick. It’s a hindrance and it is never to their advantage,” she told me. I was pleased to find that Kit’s powers were instead genetic and were in no way connected to her condition. In later chapters, it is revealed both of her parents as well as her brother possess the same telepathic abilities. Finn also does not dwell on Kit’s character for the series, but instead features another member of the family for each book, including her younger brother Leighton. In The Mind’s Eye, we are first introduced to the family’s powers while also witnessing Kit’s grueling rehabilitation process for her paralysis. While Kit’s condition is a large factor in the book, it is not the driving force for the events that happened. Instead, the driving factors were the intelligence she picked up through her telepathy, creating relationships with the rest of her safe house family at Ty Gwyn, and helping Henri escape, and the war itself.
When speaking with Finn (2017), she made it clear that the importance of having a strong connection to a disability before writing about it. “When it comes to disability and diversity, the most important thing to me is that when writing about those topics is that comes from somewhere real. It’s best to have real personal experience of the disability or have someone close to you in your life with the condition.” That is what makes finding good narratives on disability difficult; people often want to “help” by writing an inspirational story about someone with a disability without consulting someone who actually has the disability. Though all three books featured have protagonists with very different disabilities, all three bring accurate narratives to what having a disability is actually like while maintaining a firm sense of humanity.

Biography: Gretchen once wanted to be a veterinarian, Shania Twain, and a writer all at once. She has since settled with creating a variety of written and artistic works. Gretchen's written work has appeared in Bustle, Ms., The Establishment, and many others. She is currently the managing editor of Quail Bell Magazine. See more of Gretchen’s work at

·         Ada Hoffmann, Jessica Walton and Corinne Duyvis. (2016, March 24). Interview with Corinne Duyvis about Otherbound and On the Edge of Gone. Retrieved December 10, 2017, from
·         Duyvis, C. (2016). On the Edge of Gone. New York: Amulet Books.
·         Finn, K. C. (2017, December 8). Skype Personal Interview.
·         Finn, K. C. (2015) . The Mind's Eye. The Colony, TX: Clean Teen Publishing.
·         Selznick, B. (2011). Wonderstruck. New York: Scholastic Press.

Friday, March 23, 2018

My Hopes for H.U.P.

Everyone who knew this little blog was coming into the world almost two years ago probably thought, "meh".  No one they knew was behind it.  We don't pay writers $100 per guest post (I wish we could).  There are many amazing blogs out there, already.

This blog (I hope) is a starting point.  It is a hub for all the programs I fancifully dream of launching for our community.  I don't have financial resources, but I have faith that everyone will band together and think, "Hell yeah, let's do it".  And then... it happens.

Note:  Just because I list it, doesn't mean it will occur.  I just want you to know what I hope for.  Tell me what you think!

My dreams for The Handy, Uncapped Pen:

1.  More guest post submissions and reviews for the blog.  Maybe we'll open up the blog to disabled/neurodivergent artists of all kinds (painters, dancers, singers, knitters, etc.)  A couple dedicated writers to join the team full-time would be nice.

2.  Have a successful mentor program (2018).  If the mentor program works out this year, I want to expand it next year and include a branch for teenage mentees.

3.  Start a YouTube Channel (2019). The channel would have a reading series, craft talks, and whatever else.  Every video would have complete captions, no exceptions.  I'm unsure how many people would participate, but it's something I think would be beneficial.

4.  Start a writing contest (2020?).  Realistically, I'm talking a (very) small cash prize with publication on the blog for the best individual poem, essay, and short story.  Fancifully, we partner with a press for longer works and this gets incredible.

5.  The blog starts publishing poetry and flash fiction by disabled/neurodivergent writers.  I don't want to create a literary magazine, but it would be nice to showcase some of the talent in our community.

6.  A free, online writers' conference with forums, chatrooms, craft talks, and more.  This will probably never happen, but this is the goal I want the most.

7.  I'd love to start a press.  Unfortunately, it costs way too much and takes too much time to do alone.  Still, I dream of (at least) a chapbook press. (Maybe if I win the lottery.)

Friday, March 16, 2018

Able-bodied/Neurotypical Writers and Our Stories

A lot of disabled and/or neurodivergent people don't want able-bodied/neurotypical people writing stories with us in them.  I understand why.  Writers tend to cling onto stereotypes, write about real people without getting permission from the people they're writing about, don't interview people with the actual disability/neurodivergence, and on and on.

The writers who aren't willing to do what it takes shouldn't write our stories.  Some writers will spend weeks researching cars from the 1960's but not interview one person with the disability their protagonist has.  The writer checking off "diversity boxes" is less likely to do what it takes to create authentic neurodivergent characters.

But, there are some writers who are able-bodied/neurotypical who will do the work involved.  They will hire sensitivity readers.  They will interview actually disabled/neurodivergent people.  They will make balanced characters and listen to feedback at all stages of manuscript creation.  They are compassionate.

I know that able-bodied/neurotypical authors who write disabled/neurodivergent characters often make it bigger (obtain higher advances, get more movie options, etc.) than disabled/neurodivergent authors writing our own stories.  It sucks.  But, any author who is doing things "right" will also be a passionate advocate in the publishing industry for brilliant disabled and/or neurodivergent writers; any writer who uses a marginalized group in their work and fails to promote and fight for that group shouldn't touch that group's narratives.  They won't ally themselves with ableist organisations and will struggle with us to widen doors for our success in any way they can (that includes putting clauses in their movie contract that disabled and/or neurodivergent characters will be played by disabled and neurodivergent actors).

While we don't need books with ableist, problematic portrayals and tropes, we do need more books that reflect authentic, whole experiences of our community.  If the next book with a disabled/neurodivergent protagonist that makes it big comes from a diligent, passionate author who does things right?  I'm okay with it.

Friday, March 9, 2018

Cover Letter Templates (Literary Magazines)

Submitting to literary magazines can take serious time.  For writers with certain disabilities/diseases/neurodivergences, it can take even longer and sap what little energy they have.

One trick for faster submissions is the use of a cover letter template.  A great thing about them is that only the first paragraph and salutation need to have blanks.


Dear editor (Last name),

Thank you for taking the time to review my short story (title here), which is (word count here) in length.  It is (exclusive or a simultaneous submission).  I really enjoyed (name of piece read in their magazine).

The rest of the letter will stay fairly static between submissions unless you move, change your name, publish somewhere new, or get a new job.  


I received my MFA from Middle-Fiddle College in 2014 and am now an adjunct professor.  My work has appeared in Prestigious Magazine, Well-known Literary, and Fairly Impressive Review.  I live in the middle of Middle Earth with my cat, Precious.


Oblib Baggins

3 One Ring Road
Middle of Middle Earth

Create a clean copy of your template, and save it on your computer.  Some literary magazines request different things in a cover letter, but having this document to work from will save you some time... especially if you submit a lot.

Friday, March 2, 2018

Updated Market Tabs

I finally updated the "Links of Interest" and "Inclusive Mainstream Publications" tabs. If anyone knows of other publications or websites that would fit the tabs, please contact me. Email:
Twitter:  @HandUnPen

Changes to "Links of Interest"

Blanket Sea
Reclamation Press

Pentimento (Defunct)

Changes to "Inclusive Mainstream Publications"

Wear Your Voice
Seneca Review
Poems & Numbers
Francis House

Hermeneutic Chaos (Defunct)