Disability Representation in Children's Books: Where Things Stand and Why It Matters

Whether you're a parent, a grandparent, an aunt, or a family friend, all you really want is a book where the child you love feels seen. Their wheelchair, their hearing aids, their leg brace. These things are part of what makes them, them.

You'd think that would be easy to find. Personalized children's books are everywhere. But when you start looking for one that includes adaptive equipment or their AAC device, the options are almost nonexistent.

That's what we couldn't stop thinking about. So we started digging. And what we found wasn't just a missing option or two. It was a gap that ran through the entire industry.

A gap that's bigger than most people realize

About 1 in 6 children in the United States have a developmental disability. That's roughly 12 million kids. Over 8.2 million students received special education services under IDEA in the 2023-24 school year, and that number grew 3.8% in a single year.

And yet, according to the Cooperative Children's Book Center, only about 7% of children's books published in 2023 featured a character with a disability. That's up from 3.4% in 2018, when they first started tracking. It's moving in the right direction. But for families living this every day, that number still has a long way to go.

The books that do exist

There are children's books about disability, and some of them are wonderful. But if you've spent any time looking, you've probably noticed a pattern. The disability tends to be the story. The child overcomes something. There's a lesson, and the lesson is the point.

A 2024 study in the Journal of Research in Childhood Education looked at how people with disabilities perceive their own representation in picture books. What they found confirmed what a lot of families already feel: characters with disabilities are frequently reduced to their diagnosis, framed around adversity or isolation. The characters exist to teach something, not to live a full life with interests and friendships and adventures.

And then there's the other kind of book. The one where a kid who uses a wheelchair just goes on an adventure. Where the chair shows up in the illustrations and the story is about finding a hidden cave or befriending a talking fox. Where the disability is part of the world, not the topic of it.

That second kind of book is incredibly hard to find. And for children who are actively building their sense of who they are, that absence matters. A book that says “here is what makes you different” lands very differently than one that says “here you are, and the story is about something great.”

Why personalized books haven't solved this

Personalized children's books have been around for years. You put a child's name in a story, choose their hair color, pick a character that sort of looks like them. Millions have been sold.

So it should be easy, right? Just add a wheelchair option. Add hearing aids. Add a leg brace.

But that's not how most of these companies work. They build from templates. Pre-drawn characters, pre-written stories. You swap in a name and pick from a handful of appearance options. A few companies have started adding a wheelchair option on select titles, which is a real step. But the vast majority still don't include adaptive equipment, mobility devices, or visible markers of disability at all.

And even where a single option exists, there's a difference between a checkbox on a template and a story built around a real child. A story that reflects their specific equipment, their personality, their world. The template model wasn't built with these families in mind. And a checkbox can only go so far.

What we think good representation looks like

We've spent a lot of time on this, through research and conversations with disability advocates. Here's where we've landed so far:

Disability shows up in the art, not in the narration. If a child uses a wheelchair, it's in every illustration. She wheels around the corner, pushes through the park, rolls up to the table. You see the device. The words are about the adventure.

The child is a whole person. Funny, or stubborn, or obsessed with dinosaurs. Their disability is one part of who they are. Not the plot. Not the defining trait.

Everyday life is just that. Going to school, playing with friends, having a bad day, being silly at dinner. Good representation treats a disabled child's life with the same ordinariness it deserves, because that's what it is. Ordinary, full, theirs.

The story is about something else entirely. Friendship. Bravery. The bond between a kid and their grandparent. The disability is present, naturally. But it's never the problem to solve.

What we're building and why

Wallace Stories is a personalized children's book company. But the reason we built it is the gap described above. Every child deserves a story where they're truly seen. Not as a lesson, an exception, or through a template that's “close enough.”

If a child uses a wheelchair, it's in every illustration. If they wear hearing aids, they're on every page. If they have Down syndrome, or use a leg brace, or have a port-a-cath, those things are part of the character, because they're part of that child.

We build each book from scratch. Not from a template. We think that's the only way to do authentic representation in personalized books, because no two children experience disability the same way.

If your family has been looking for a book like this, or if you work in disability advocacy and want to help us get this right, we'd love to hear from you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is disability representation in children's books important?

When children see themselves reflected in stories, research shows measurable improvements in self-esteem, emotional development, and sense of belonging (CDC, Data Brief No. 473). For disabled children, who make up about 1 in 6 kids in the U.S. (roughly 12 million, according to CDC data), that representation is especially important during ages 2 through 8, when they're actively building their sense of self and their understanding of where they fit. Good representation also shapes how non-disabled children understand disability, making it simply part of human diversity rather than something unfamiliar or separate.

What percentage of children's books feature disability representation?

According to the Cooperative Children's Book Center, about 7% of children's books published in 2023 featured a character with a disability, up from 3.4% in 2018. While that's progress, it's still a fraction of what it could be, given that approximately 1 in 6 children in the United States have a developmental disability and over 8.2 million students receive special education services under IDEA.

In personalized children's books, the gap is even wider. Most companies use pre-drawn character templates that rarely include adaptive equipment like wheelchairs, hearing aids, or other devices.

What should I look for in a children's book with disability representation?

Look for books where the disabled character has a full personality, interests, and relationships beyond their disability. The best representation shows disability as one natural part of who the character is, not the central plot or a lesson for other characters.

Watch for respectful, current language: “wheelchair user” rather than “wheelchair-bound,” “autistic child” rather than “suffers from autism,” “disabled” rather than “special needs.” Avoid books that frame everyday activities as extraordinary simply because the child is disabled. And look for stories where the disability is present in the illustrations but the narrative is about something else entirely. An adventure, a friendship, a family bond.

Can personalized children's books include disability representation?

Most personalized book companies use pre-drawn character templates with limited options that rarely include adaptive equipment like wheelchairs, hearing aids, or leg braces. A few have begun adding options on select titles, but the industry as a whole has been slow to move.

Companies that create each book from scratch rather than working from templates are better positioned to represent children authentically, including their specific devices and physical characteristics. If authentic representation matters to your family, look for companies that build custom illustrations for each child rather than offering a fixed set of character options.

Sources