Hello all!
I have a query that I often discuss with my partner, to which I am very interested in hearing other people's views. It's one of those things that probably has no right or wrong answer but is to me a very important and interesting topic.
I'm very keen on the power of representation to have a positive effect on how a person views themselves and their place in society. And how a lack of representation has a massively negative effect. Seeing a vast array of people with a vast array of differences on social media and in blogs has certainly helped me to identify as a 'disabled' person and feel positive about that no less.
So to my point: I'm training to be/practicing at being an illustrator and would like to design some greetings cards for children which clearly show a child/character with a disability but that mirrors the other kinds of greeting cards available. As an example, I've seen cards of a child-character dressed as a superhero; I would like to draw that character with an obvious disability. My intention is to 'normalise' disability for children and to give children with disabilities the opportunity to see themselves in the characters on everyday things like greetings cards.
I suppose part of my question is, do you think people would shy away from buying a birthday card for a child with a disability that showed a child/character with the same disability for fear of offending/upsetting the parents? If somebody gave me a birthday card with a character on who was using a wheelchair, but say was also diving with sharks (I love sharks), then I would be ecstatic and it would go in my 'keepers' drawer!
If you have made it all the way to the end of this post, then thanks! I would love to hear your thoughts.
