Picturing Difference
Parents use own experiences to devise new children's picture books
Liverpool John Moores University unveiled a unique exhibition of picture book illustrations on Thursday 1 June.
The new illustrations and multimedia animations have been devised by LJMU art and design students as part of the national 'In The Picture' project.
What makes these illustrations really unique is the fact that they all feature disabled characters in storylines devised either by disabled writers or parents of disabled children living in Liverpool.
LJMU Lecturer Nicole Matthews, pictured centre with Becky Cherriman (l) and Susan Clow (r), explains: ''Seven months ago we gave the people of Merseyside a challenge - can you tell entertaining and original stories for all kinds of kids that include disabled children? Thanks to the hard work and imagination of our aspiring writers we now have a potential new library of children’s stories that are entertaining, realistic and empowering.''
Funded by the Big Lottery, the 'In the Picture' project was launched by Scope, one of the UK's leading disability charities, to literally put disabled children ‘in the picture’ by encouraging publishers to commission more inclusive children's books.
Under the direction of creative writers, Becky Cherriman and Sandra Ikin, aspiring disabled writers alongside parents of disabled children were challenged to use their imagination and experiences of family life to come up with page-turning plots.
Glen Fletcher, whose six year old daughter Jen has Down's Syndrome and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), has written a fairy story, based loosely on her own family, called 'Mo Starts School'.
She explains: "From the first session I was hooked and it was great to meet like-minded parents and hear about their experiences. My story features four central characters, two elves and two fairies, of mixed abilities who work together to help Mo, who has Down's Syndrome, overcome her anxieties about starting school. It's also a story about acceptance as it shows that even if you look different you can be accepted as part of a group."
Once Glen and the other authors had written their stories, they were handed over to LJMU art and design students who had the task of bringing them to life.
Final year graphic arts student Kathryn Wilson explains: "I produced a range of characters for a number of stories but Mo is definitely my favourite - she's the cutest. In many ways the disability is just an incidental detail and that's the whole point. We're not producing a set of illustrated medical encyclopaedias; we are writing children's books that just happen to include disabled people."
Graphic arts student Helen Thornhill has been so inspired by the project that she started writing her own picture book, featuring customised wheelchairs. She explains: "If you had to sit in one all day what would you want it to do? I came up with ships, rockets and even a chair that could take you up to tree tops. I allowed my imagination to run wild in creating the crazy contraptions and enjoyed making the whole thing as lively as possible."
Over the coming months Scope plans to pilot the 20 stories devised by the Liverpool-based writers with reading groups across the country before launching the most popular online on their new website - www.childreninthepicture.org.uk
Susan Clow, Scope’s In the Picture Manager, explains: “Research shows that children as young as three form prejudices against people who are visibly different. They are more likely to accept disability if they see images of disabled people at an early age.
"It’s empowering for all children to find a character that reflects their own lives. Picture books are a superb medium for this. This project will make a huge contribution to promoting the idea that disabled children are equal to other children. It will also help teach non-disabled children about lives that may be slightly different to their own."
Glen Fletcher and the other Liverpool writers, the LJMU students and Dr Nicole Matthews are planning to take part in Scope's national conference on the 'In the Picture' project on 11 October, which is aimed at encouraging publishers, writers and illustrators to produce more inclusive children's books.
