ABSTRACT
What does it mean to say “we are all disabled”, “we are all different”, or “we are all special”? At first blush, these phrases seem to represent a movement towards greater inclusivity in society, in education, in life. In the chapter that follows, I illustrate how the phrase “we are all disabled” appears in two children’s storybooks: 47 Strings: Tessa’s Special Code (Carey, 2012) and Different Kinds of Special (Koffman, 2011). Influenced by Michalko’s (2008) discussion of disability in education, I show that the utterance of “we are all…anything” represents difference through sameness and normalcy. My intention in this chapter is to show how, through children’s storybooks, the phrase “we are all disabled” acts as an overly simplified solution to the complex problem of how disability, or any sort of difference, is represented within the lives of children. This chapter asks: What is really being done when the phrase “we are all disabled” is uttered?
