and customs shared by members of the disability culture. One of the ways to
counteract this is to weave disability into curriculum and instruction.
Unfortunately, materials that are culturally responsive to disability are lacking in
both quantity and quality.
The low prevalence of blindness and visual impairment in society naturally
leads to under-representation and/or misrepresentation in the curriculum. As such,
most sighted students only learn about the extraordinary accomplishments of
historical figures such as Helen Keller, Louis Braille, Stevie Wonder, and Erik
Weihenmayer who are treated as savants. As such, sighted children are not
incidentally exposed to the ordinary and multi-faceted experience of living with a
visual impairment. The reason this is so important is because this incidental
exposure fosters empathy that can ultimately lead to the acceptance and inclusion
of people who are blind and visually impaired. While celebrating gifted individuals
with visual impairments is important, disability needs to be infused throughout the
curriculum in nuanced ways beyond holidays. Hence, this article describes a rubric
that can be used to critically analyze fictional children's books featuring characters
with visual impairments.
Truly "[i]nclusive books are not stories about disability; nor are they tools to
teach others about specific impairments. Rather, they are books with interesting
and engaging plot lines and illustrations which happen to include a character that
