Happy Ever Afters - disability awareness in children's storybooks - based on the book Happy Ever Afters.
DICSEY Example - an easy reader for juniors
Celebrate the International Day of Disabled Persons with a story from Australia!
Toad Rage by Morris Gleitzman
1999 Puffin Books ISBN 0-141-30655-6
Limpy the cane toad with a 'crook' leg is certain that humans hate cane toads. He sets out to persuade them not to squash any more of his family with their car tyres. His quest takes him to the Olympic Games where he becomes a hero by helping a human. He narrowly escapes the awful consequences of fame and returns home to Queensland with a very good idea.
This tale has a deceptively simple scenario which provides an opportunity to explore what constitutes disability in different communities, artificially constructed social barriers and the values placed on various skills. The characters exchange opinions on the personal appearance and abilities of other species in delightfully irreverent and very accessible style. The main DICSEY code element here is Image, together with Society, Control and Enablement.
If needed, a quick link to 'An Introduction to the DICSEY Code' is here.
Limpy has one short leg
Question: Which society disables Limpy most? Answer: His short leg is not a problem among Cane Toads, but humans reject him because they despise his handsomely ugly image. Another obstacle to respect between the two communities is that most humans do not understand Cane Toad sign language. Question: Why didn't the young athlete like being used for publicity? Answer: The publicity staff used her prettiness to present a good image for the Games. She wanted her athletic skill to be recognised but they ignored this and focused only on her glamorous appearance.
Limpy changes his mind about wanting to stop humans hating cane toads.
Question: How does he use his image to prevent Cane Toads becoming stuffed mascots? Answer: Limpy knew the newspaper journalists could influence how humans think. He wanted to keep control of the outcome so he presented a deliberately revolting image to persuade humans to keep their distance.
The animals decide to have their own Games.
Question: Why did the other animals ban Cane Toads from their Games? Answer: Although they had all been rejected by humans, when the other animals wanted humans to like their TV broadcasts, they accepted the human's prejudices about Limpy's ugliness and refused him an opportunity to compete. Question: Was this fair? Answer: It wasn't fair to Cane Toads because the competition was supposed to be for all the animals. Society's rules should try to ensure that everybody is included.
Limpy finds a special games event for elite cane toad athletes.
Question: What made his solution ideal for cane toads? Answer: Toads can hop well and grip long sticks securely with their 'hands'. This also enabled them to jump well clear of human's motor car and lorry tyres.
What are the Paralympic Games?
They are the Olympic Games for elite athletes with disabilities. The Paralympics, named to mean 'with', or 'parallel to' the Olympics, will be held in Sydney from 18 - 29th October 2000. In these Games 4000 athletes from 125 countries will compete in 18 sports which have slightly modified rules to enable athletes who are wheelchair users or who have other disabilities to compete fairly against each other at the highest level of achievement, with some records being equal to those obtained by non-disabled athletes. Some competitors in the main Olympics are also disabled, but their disabilities do not disadvantage their sports performance compared to non-disabled athletes. The animal mascot chosen for the Sydney Paralympic Games is Lizzie, the frill-necked lizard.
Above all, let children enjoy the book!
International Day of Disabled Persons information
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© K. Saunders 2000/2001