Aims and Objectives

The aim of this consultative project was to use a range of noteworthy children’s books from around the world, and an innovative workshop approach, to give young people a real voice about how to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of children’s books.

It would set out to achieve this through: 

• The delivery of ten workshops involving artists and translators
• The development of five innovative in-school projects focussing on different aspects of accessibility and inclusivity
• The creation of a downloadable resource for schools based on the outcomes of these school projects.

The project would build on the recommendations of our first ‘Reading the Way’ (RtW) project and use as its focus a number of the books it identified.

It would aim to introduce young people to these books and then inspire in-school projects which would explore the areas raised by the books, identify good practice and excellence and provide sound feedback about ways in which books might be adapted or enhanced.

The project would aim to consult participants regarding:

Accessibility – including the use of tactile content, communication symbols as a tool for communication, sign language and Braille.

Portrayal of disability – avoiding stereotypes and developing a diversity of approaches to including disabled characters in stories/pictures.

The project would involve authors, publishers, translators and disability experts, allowing them to collect and learn from the children’s knowledge and expertise. This would also ensure children/young people the benefit of meeting ‘real’ book creators.

Most of the activity would take place in selected special schools and mainstream schools with support units, and be devised with the school, shaped around curriculum subjects.

The legacy of the project would be a collection of valuable resources to enable future schools to explore such books in the classroom.