Portrayals of disabilities in Children's fiction: A literature review of anglophone, francophone and hispanophone studies.

This article provides a comprehensive literature review of 163 studies on portrayals of people with disabilities in children's fiction, focusing in detail on 78 analyses of books intended for children aged 3 to 12. It finds that most research centers on neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) and that the majority of studied books are written in English, raising questions about the generalizability of findings to other languages and cultural contexts. The review highlights an increase in research since the 1990s, coinciding with the rise of inclusive education policies in North America and Europe, and notes improvements in the quality and positivity of disability portrayals over time. However, it also identifies gaps, such as uneven attention to different types of disabilities and limited exploration of portrayals across diverse linguistic and national settings. The article underscores the educational potential of children's fiction to foster empathy and support school inclusion, while emphasizing the need for adult mediation to maximize these benefits.