Putting disabled children 'In the Picture'
By By Penny Dickinson
Jan 29, 2008, 15:23

picture n & v.t. in the picture "….fully informed or noticed"
picture n & v.t. out of the picture "….irrelevant"
The Concise Oxford Dictionary

The books we read as children have a profound effect on our attitudes, values and development. By identifying with the characters in these books we learn about ourselves, and how we fit in and interact with the wider world. The first books for young children are picture books. Through their imagery and illustration they give powerful messages to children at a very early stage.

In The Picture is an innovative Big Lottery funded projectled by Scope. It aims to change the culture of the book world so that the 770,000 disabled children in the UK who have virtually no role models in literature will find themselves included. The project is working with writers, illustrators and publishers to encourage them to include images of disabled children casually and incidentally into all story books alongside their non-disabled peers.

The project has contributed to the growing recognition within the book world that diversity must be recognised. Not just for its own sake, but because there is a large potential market amongst schools, nurseries, playgroups, childminders and parents - all eager to buy books that promote a more inclusive world.

The project is supported by leading names from the world of children's books, including illustrator Quentin Blake (best known for his illustration of the Roald Dahl books) who has donated three illustrations to the project. Quentin says "A picture book has an effect on a child not so very different from a good lesson. In The Picture will help reflect disabled children's experiences, and all children will benefit. I am delighted to be involved."

Now in its third and perhaps final year, In The Picture has developed resources and a website packed with information to support nurseries, schools and other early years' settings in providing a more inclusive service to all children. These include:

• An A2 size poster for display in reading areas showing disabled and non-disabled children in a fantasy story book setting
• Links to inclusive booklists and a list of recently published children's books that demonstrate good practice around the inclusion of disabled characters
• A fun way to learn about the social model of disability based on Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul's Winnie The Witch story
• Original page turning stories on the website including a signed nursery rhyme that children could be directed to on the computer
• Information sheets to assist inclusive practices and giving ideas of how to make stories more accessible to all children
• A children's section with pictures, which include disabled children, to download and colour in and a gallery showing work sent in to the project by youngsters from around the country. The children's gallery is also used as a resource by authors and illustrators to find out how young people put disabled children "in the picture".

• A series of art based lesson plans to use with children to help them learn about how we live in society
• Demonstration image banks – illustration and photograph – are continually evolving to inspire and assist illustrators who want to put disabled children "in the picture". These images can also be used with children to facilitate discussions around disability equality in a bright and lively way.

The In The Picture website changes almost every day as the team make the most of the time they have to inspire and inform people to include disabled children.

Another strand of the project has been looking at how information is shared with young disabled children about their condition and experiences and a research report, Sharing Information With disabled Children in the Early Years, was published in November 2006. Based on the findings of this report training workshops have been devised to support organisations in the development of methods and practices to include all children and a demonstration toolkit has been assembled to show practical examples of good practice.

In The Picture is keen to involve people as much as possible in the project and have built in many opportunities along the way. Visit the website to sign up to the project's Ten Guiding Principles or leave a message in the guestbook. Let us know what you think about the resources available and what has been missed. Send in pictures for the children's gallery, download and colour in the pictures in the children's section and enjoy the stories!

You can find out more about this exciting project by visiting the website by clicking this link!