In the Picture
The latest Scope campaign under the banner is a three-year project to include disabled children in early years' picture books. is being run by Scope in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University.
Quentin Blake (illustrator of, among many other things, the Roald Dahl books) is backing the project. He 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".There are two drivers for the project. The first is that there are 700,000 disabled children in the UK who have no role models in literature. The second is that research has shown that children form prejudices from as early as three years old against people who are visibly different. It's believed that they are less likely to be prejudiced against people with visible impairments if they are exposed to images of them from an early age.
Scope are very keen to point out that it's not their intention to create a separate strand of children's literature. Instead, they're aiming for disabled children to be included in mainstream books, behaving as children rather than being used as vehicles for tackling disability issues.
There are a number of ways in which you can get involved:
1. Sign up to the .
2. Add your comments to the . (You'll be in good company - Gervase Phinn has left a comment.)
3. If you're an illustrator or a photographer, contribute to the .
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