Superhero Comic Books as Frameworks of Inclusivity and Advocacy for Youth With Disabilities

Abstract

This article explores cross-cultural collaborations between Syrian and American youth with disabilities interested in promoting social change by creating comic books to advocate for human rights of people with disabilities. During participatory human rights education and storyboard activities, youth drew from personal experiences with disability to create comic book characters that raise public awareness about disability issues. These characters and storylines aimed to promote inclusion, empowerment, and the readers’ respect for diversity. The authors discuss issues of disability and activism across cultures that emerged from our visual art and human rights curriculum framework. This curriculum and resulting comic book are proposed as tools to promote disability awareness, increase personal empowerment, and raise consciousness around social activism and cultural understanding. From the perspectives of professors of special education and art education, we investigate the transformative aspects of advocacy, representation, and expression for youth cultivated within the comic book creation.

The Intersection of Dwarfism and Gender in Alisa’s Tale: Raising Awareness through Graphic Narrative

“…The comic was created by Al Davison in collaboration with seventeen teenagers with dwarfism, who all shared their experiences with him (Starling, 2008). According to Karr and Weider (2012) the ability for young disabled people to create comics that draw on personal experiences, in order to raise public awareness, is not only empowering but also promotes inclusion through encouraging the reader to respect diversity.…”

“…This is all dependent on the content of the media piece. According to Karr and Weider (2012), comics are beneficial for promoting disability awareness. The mix of imagery and text within comics makes them accessible to a wide audience.…”