ABSTRACT
The Harry Potter novels take place in a secret magical society that exists in an unknowable liminal space apart from the broader non-magical world. Access to this society is tightly controlled. Expanding or restricting access, primarily through controlling admission to Hogwarts, shapes the central political struggle of the series. This chapter discusses how magical society deals with Squibs – non-magical children born to magic parents – whose identities destabilize the boundary between the magical and non-magical worlds. This chapter argues that wizard identity is not based on the possession of magical ability alone, and that Squibs have a cultural place in magical society. In arguing that the Squib condition is analogous to disability, and that disability is not about impairment but rather about social and economic restriction, this makes the case for changes at Hogwarts – and thus changes in all education – to empower students with disabilities to be full members of the magical community. Beyond creating educational opportunities within magical society for Squibs, the chapter also points to other curricular changes that could have taught wizard children (and thus Rowling’s readers) that there are other ways of being “normal”.
