HandiLand by Elizabeth A. WheelerISBN: 9780472054206
Publication Date: 2019
HandiLand looks at young adult novels, fantasy series, graphic memoirs, and picture books of the last 25 years in which characters with disabilities take center stage for the first time. These books take what others regard as weaknesses--for instance, Harry Potter's headaches or Hazel Lancaster's oxygen tank--and redefine them as part of the hero's journey. HandiLand places this movement from sidekick to hero in the political contexts of disability rights movements in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ghana.