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"Challenges the ableism of fairy tales and offers new ways to celebrate the magic of all bodies. In fairy tales, happy endings are the norm - as long as you're beautiful and walk on two legs. After all, the ogre never gets the princess. And since fairy tales are the foundational myths of our culture, how can a girl with a disability ever think she'll have a happy ending? By examining the ways that fairy tales have shaped our expectations of disability, Disfigured will point the way toward a new world where disability is no longer a punishment or impediment but operates, instead, as a way of centering a protagonist and helping them to cement their own place in a story, and from there, the world. Through the book, Leduc ruminates on the connections we make between fairy tale archetypes - the beautiful princess, the glass slipper, the maiden with long hair lost in the tower - and tries to make sense of them through a twenty-first-century disablist lens. From examinations of disability in tales from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen through to modern interpretations ranging from Disney to Angela Carter, and the fight for disabled representation in today's media, Leduc connects the fight for disability justice to the growth of modern, magical stories, and argues for increased awareness and acceptance of that which is other - helping us to see and celebrate the magic inherent in different bodies."--
About the author
Amanda Leduc's essays and stories have appeared in publications across Canada, the US, and the UK. She is the author of the novels The Miracles of Ordinary Men and the forthcoming The Centaur's Wife . She has cerebral palsy and lives in Hamilton, Ontario, where she works as the Communications Coordinator for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD), Canada's first festival for diverse authors and stories.
Amanda Leduc's essays and stories have appeared in publications across Canada, the US, and the UK. She is the author of the novels The Miracles of Ordinary Men and the forthcoming The Centaur's Wife . She has cerebral palsy and lives in Hamilton, Ontario, where she works as the Communications Coordinator for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD), Canada's first festival for diverse authors and stories.
Summary
Challenges the ableism of fairy tales and offers new ways to celebrate the magic of all bodies.
Foreword
- Misconceptions about disability -- what "disability" even means, and how society conceives of disability -- is prevalent in the cultural conversation.
- In November 2018, the British Film Institute announced it will no longer fund films in which villains appear with facial scars -- the beginning of a movement away from using disability to show character traits.
- Excerpts in Buzzfeed and Uncanny magazine.
- Books like THIS YOUNG MONSTER by Charlie Fox (Fitzcarraldo, 2018) ask: "How does the concept of the monster irradiate our thinking about queerness, disability, children and adolescents?"
- Also aligned with THE RIGHT WAY TO BE CRIPPLED AND NAKED edited by Sheila Black, Michael Northen, Annabelle Hayse (Cinco Puntos Press, 2017).
- Part of the Exploded Views series, a series of probing, provocative essays that offer surprising perspectives on the most intriguing cultural issues and figures of our day.
- Announced print run of 5,000.
Additional text
"Leduc persuasively illustrates the power of stories to affect reality in this painstakingly researched and provocative study that invites us to consider our favorite folktales from another angle." —Sara Shreve, Library Journal
