Creator's Toolkit: Writing Authentic Disability Representation

A Guide for Writers Who Want to Get It Right

Welcome to the first installment of what I hope will become a valuable resource library for paid subscribers! As someone who has spent decades sitting in various seats around the IEP table—as a parent, gen-ed teacher and special education teacher/director—I’ve seen firsthand how representation matters. And I’ve also seen how it can go terribly wrong.

This toolkit is born from conversations with my own children and students (watching their eyes light up when they see themselves reflected authentically in stories), and from the moments when they’ve shared their frustration at superficial or even harmful depictions of disability life. It comes from years of intentional inclusion of window and mirror texts in my home and classrooms, my conversations with grad students in the teacher education program about the importance of diversity and authentic representation in literature, and from the ongoing work of raising a child with diabetes and celiac disease alongside siblings who have navigated schooling with IEPs and 504 plans for various needs.

Let’s dive in.