Happy Ever Afters - disability awareness in children's storybooks - based on the book Happy Ever Afters.
DICSEY Example - an easy reader picture book
Celebrate the International Day of Disabled Persons with fables from Greece!
Aesop's Fables retold by Jacqueline Morley and illustrated by Giovanni Caselli
1995 Macdonald Young Books ISBN 0-7500-1678-7
Aesop was a slave who lived in Greece over 2,500 years ago. Little is known for certain about him but he became a free man and is famed for retelling ancient stories about human nature by describing well known animal habits in a very simple way so that everybody could understand what was meant without the need for complex arguments.
He was said to be ugly, which leads modern artists to draw him with various physical deformities that match their personal ideas of ugliness, and he may have had a stutter too, so he could be one of the world's first recorded disabled persons. Aesop's society had not developed ideas of human rights or equality. He had personal experience of the limitations forced by slavery, disadvantage and oppression by more powerful people.
His fables survive and can be updated to illustrate the position of many disabled people in countries around the world today, " with a view to the achievement of the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and participation in society by persons with disabilities...". (United Nations Declaration)
This selection of fables includes DICSEY elements Disability, Image, Control, Society and Enable.
If needed, a quick link to 'An Introduction to the DICSEY Code' is here.
The Vixen and the Lioness - Disability: quality of life is important.
The Tortoise and the Hare - Disability: slow progress can be successful
The Peacock and the Crane - Image: don't judge by outward appearances
The Lion and the Mouse - Image: there are many different ways to play a part
The Lark Knows When to Leave -
Control: if you pay fairly for others to work you should get what you want
The Lion's Share - Society: laws should be fair to all people
The Fox and the Stork - Enable: allow for different ways of living
The Crow and the Water Jar - Enable: there are different ways to get work done
The Donkey and the Lyre - Enable: everyone should have easy access to learning
Above all, let children enjoy the stories!
International Day of Disabled Persons information
Link to Archive page for more suggestions
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© K. Saunders 2000/2001