Why We Need Statistics on Disabled Authors and Disabled Characters in Fiction - By Penny Batchelor
ID: Penny, a white woman in a wheelchair smiling at camera, wearing a bright pink blouse and jeans. She has straight light brown hair in a bob. Behind her is greenery and pink flowers.
Penny writes psychological thrillers with secrets, lies and lots of twists! Her debut My Perfect Sister was longlisted for The Guardian's Not The Booker Prize 2020 and her second is Her New Best Friend. She is co-founder of the Thriller Women blog and a columnist for The Bookseller.
“With disabled authors and disabled characters, we’re lacking in quantitative and qualitive research.”
When you open a novel, do you see someone like you inside? If you’re white, heterosexual and non-disabled you probably do. But what if you’re not? The charity Scope’s latest figures report that 21% of working age adults, and 42% of pension age adults are disabled, a fact that isn’t represented in publishing, either in staff recruitment or characters in novels.
Why? We don’t know because we’re lacking in quantitative and qualitive research. It wasn’t until last year that a publishing company, Penguin Random House, began to include disability in its staff survey. Yet with disabled authors and disabled characters there’s nothing.
Cat Mitchell, Lecturer in Writing and Publishing at the University of Derby, finds the lack of data frustrating, saying “I'm hoping to do more work on the diversity of authors in the industry but the stats just aren't there (or at least not made publicly available). I think most publishers weren't strictly gathering the data until recently… Hachette and PRH have spoken about reporting on these figures but I'm not sure if they've made anything public.”
“It’s difficult to know if there are only a small number of novels with disabled characters that have been published, or whether publishers just haven’t tagged books in the category. I suspect it’s the former, but without statistics that hunch isn’t provable or trackable.”
When it comes to subject matter in fiction, there’s also a yawning silence. Along with fellow author Victoria Scott I successfully campaigned for Amazon’s UK arm to include a disability fiction category in its adult book section, but it’s difficult to find, or to know if there are only a small number of novels with disabled characters that have been published, or whether publishers just haven’t tagged books in the category. I suspect it’s the former, but without statistics that hunch isn’t provable or trackable.
To find out why disabled and chronically ill people are under-represented as authors and in novels we have to turn to non-scientific anecdotal evidence. I’m a member of the Society of Authors’ ADCI group, which stands for Authors with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses. Many of us, both new and longstanding authors, have spoken of pressure in the industry to not include disabled characters in fiction as it’s ‘not commercial’ or to play down their own needs for fear of being demanding. In this industry we know all too well that many more writers are fighting for a book contract than those available.
“In the rare occasions when disabled people are represented in novels their disability is often written through an ableist lens, relying on stereotypes purely to be used as a narrative or plot device.”
DCI writers speak of outdated attitudes in the publishing industry, where disability is viewed as a niche ‘depressing ‘and ‘not relatable’ subject, with guides to individual disabilities in non-fiction prevailing over novels. As a writer of psychological thrillers myself I find it incredible to believe the ethos that readers can identify with serial killers but not a character who happens to use a wheelchair, hearing aid or have a mental health condition. Plus in the rare occasions when disabled people are represented in novels their disability is often written through an ableist lens, relying on stereotypes (such as the blind person who has amazing hearing, or the autistic person who is brilliant at solving crimes), purely to be used as a narrative or plot device.
Securing a book contract is difficult for any new author in today’s risk-adverse climate (unless you’re a celebrity with lots of social media followers) but for disabled and chronically ill people there are extra barriers to entering, and staying in, the profession. The obligatory networking and attending courses is hugely difficult if you are unable to travel, with the boom in online events engendered by the pandemic sadly ebbing away in some quarters, which led me to co-found the #KeepFestivalsHybrid campaign. Then of course there’s lack of affordability to pay for courses if you’re existing on benefits or are on a low income; the fact that the industry is primarily based in London, making life much harder for writers living elsewhere; the need to work around your own health rather than a 9-5 day; and the exhaustion of constantly having to reinvent the wheel and explain your access needs to agents and publishers.
“There’s a huge untapped market for our work – yes, disability can be mainstream!”
We need change and I hope that the ADCI Literary Prize, co-founded by Clare Christian and myself with support from the Society of Authors and which is open for inaugural submissions until 31st October, will be a catalyst to showcase the tremendous talent that DCI novelists have, offering authentically diverse voices direct from our community. I also hope the prize will encourage more of us to pick up a pen; improve disability representation of both authors and characters in fiction; and prove to publishers that there’s a huge untapped market for our work – yes, disability can be mainstream!
Yet without reliable statistics we won’t know if positive change happens over the next few years. Publishers announcing diversity policies is all well and good, but we need to be able to track if they have an effect or are just PR that leads to nothing. What we need are industry reports on the number of disabled and chronically ill authors and also data on the number of various intersecting identities (for example disabled, queer, BPOC, working class). For stats to be accurate all publishers will be required to opt-in.
“Agents and publishers need to promote their equality policies and be loud and proud about their willingness to sign and work with DCI authors.”
Publishers should confidentially record the details of authors when they sign them, fostering an enabling and supportive culture. Authors may fear that declaring a disability or chronic illness could count against them, therefore agents and publishers need to promote their equality policies and be loud and proud about their willingness to sign and work with DCI authors. Inclusivity should be built in at all areas of the industry too, from offering online and hybrid events, ensuring in person meetings are accessible, providing disability awareness training to publishing staff, all to ensure that no disabled writer ever feels again like ‘the other’. Recruiting more disabled staff in publishing will help normalise a positive disability culture as well as address commissioning bias and prejudice, as will the recognition that writers can choose to write about what they please, whether that be about disability/illness or not, and shouldn’t be pigeonholed.
I call on the industry to be a disability ally and start collating and publishing the necessary statistics to track progress. Authors and readers will then have the information they need to make their own choices. The spending power of disabled people, known as the purple pound, is estimated at £249 billion a year - when we know which publishing companies are not representing our diverse society in the authors and content they publish, we can vote with our wallets.