Hi everyone! So can I just first of all ask
Can you all here me at the back before I start?
Audience: Yes
Because I'm aware sometimes I don't project my voice loud enough when I don't have a microphone in front of me.
So, my names Emily Davison and I am a writer, I'm a student and I'm also a journalist.
So, I've written for publications including Huffington Post UK and the Guardian.
And I recently worked alongside Channel 4 for their No Go Britain Series.
And I work very closely alongside charities, I'm a disability campaigner.
I've worked alongside RNIB, I've worked alongside Blind Children UK, Guide Dogs, Scope...
On camapigns around making disability more inclusive and making society accept disability.
Most recently
I worked alongside the RNIB on their Talking Books Campaign to make more books accessible for people with sight loss.
But today I'm going to be talking to you all about the need for more diversity representation in Children's Literature.
Because, what i have heard from people in the past is that
'Oh but there is this character in this book and they've got a visual impairment. Or this character's got a disability.'
Whilst its great that there are disabled characters that are a presence in literature or are of diversity.
The point of the matter is more often than not they are not 100% accurate.
Thats what essentially the Ambassador Network has been set up for.
I think its amazing that so many of you are here, because you all care about diversity in children's literature.
And you all think its an important matter, as do I.
I also just want to say if any of you saw the dog flirting with everybody thats Unity my guide dog.
At the moment I'm actually working on a picture book idea which includes a guide dog.
(whispers) Any publishers who want that.
Naturally literature has always been a really important part of my life ever since around the age of six.
I used books to transport me to other worlds, find out about new paces and other walks of life.
I used it as a mode to transport myself from my hospital ward when I was very ill to other world where I could be whoever I wanted to be.
But as I was growing up I never found characters of diversity in the books I read.
I was always surprised to see that there was never a character who had a guide dog or a character who used a wheelchair in these books.
Growing up that made me feel very alienated, because the only characters I was seeing that had a disability or some form of impairment was either of two things.
So on the one hand, they could be very weak, unable to be self-sufficient and they were unpalatable characters.
Or on the other hand they could be very mean, biter characters like Captain Hook from Peter Pan.
For me, I felt very perplexed because I thought to myself why is it that characters who don't have a disability are often given the roles of protagonist
where their possibilities are boundless. Yet, characters like myself are not.
I think that in turn meant for why I often felt so alienated and estranged from my peers when I was growing up in primary school especially.
More often than not I would find myself sitting in the playground thinking to myself 'why is it that people can't understand me?'
Why is it that I can't find myself and I can't relate to the books I'm reading.
My classmates didn't understand why I needed to have a cane or why the print of my classwork was 5 million times bigger their own.
They didn't understand it.
But, perhaps if there had been characters of diversity and in particular visual impairment or disability in these books
who were living their lives as they wanted to and were presences in literature and lived their lives as they wish.
And maybe had a mobility aid and that discourse could then follow and teachers could explain
that this person has to use this because of this. But, that doesn't mean their different it just means they have to do something differently.
Maybe that would have in turn, made things more better for me.
And it would have stopped the bullying.
I mean I now know this, I'm currently studying for a Masters Degree in Children's Literature.
This year one of my projects was disability representation in picture books.
Because its something i'm very passionate about.
I went to a Primary School in Hackney and I worked with two groups of five to six year olds.
in a classroom setting
I read them some picture books with different representations of disability.
Some of them were immersive fiction and some of them were more like inclusion fiction.
What this in turn mean after I read these books to this children it facilitated a discussion where they
were developing signs of showing advocacy, of empathy and understanding towards disability.
Because they were seeing characters of diversity and they were able to have a discussion with myself, the staff and their peers about disability and what it meant.
I think that was a really positive thing that they were able to form a connection with disability.
One particular book that I want to mention as an example of consultancy and how getting it right can be a positive thing when someone consults people of diversity.
Is a book called Moses Goes To A Concern by Isaac Millman.
Some of you might have heard of it if you're in to disability and picture books.
This book was published in the US and the reason it was made was because the author wanted to have characters with a hearing impairment.
So, Millman worked alongside two deaf teachers who taught at a deaf school.
And studied very closely the way they used sign language and how their facial expressions changed and was thus able
to produce a picture book where sign language was
used and it was portrayed very clearly through the illustrations.
That was a very positive example and received a lot of awards and very very well received by a lot of people in America and also is known here in the UK.
I mean I couldn't use it alas in my session because it was American Sign Language and we use BSL.
But thats an example of how consultation can be a positive thing.
This is why i'm so passionate about serving as an Ambassador for Inclsive Minds.
Because I'm all about communicating the message that there needs to be more accurate representations of diversity in children's literature.
Because I want to enable children to feel accepting and understanding towards disability.
And to move forward with building a more inclusive community and a better society towards disability in general.
Because I don't want there to be another child sitting there on the playground step feeling alienated, feeling unvalued and secluded like I did.
Thats why we are all here today, we are all here because we care about diversity in literature.
and making children's literature a more diverse place.
Thats why Inclusive Minds have founded this network and why I'm a part of this network.
Because we want empower you as a body of individuals in the production and publication of children's literature
to feel more empowered to effectively research and create characters of diversity in the books you will produce.
Consultancy is a key part of this journey, if you want to place a character who is of diversity this network is designed to help you to
research this and collaborate with us as people of diversity. To ensure that you are creating characters that are accurate, realistic and above all positive.
If you invest in creating these characters that represent what a diverse culture we are.
It can only in turn help the children's literature genre grow and flourish into something truly amazing.
I'm going to just quote someone who I read recently in my children's literature degree.
A famous children's literature scholar once said that children's literature can serve a mirror to reflect readers
and a window for readers to see other people's worlds.
Together we can work collaboratively as a group of people who care about diversity we can truly ensure this this is the case.
And that in the future children who open a book can say 'that person's lime me!'
And they can feel truly accepted and that they have a place in society.
Thank You.