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Why The Publishing Industry Needs To Be More Inclusive Of Autistic And Disabled People

AGXStarseed

Well-Known Member
(Not written by me. Click the link at the bottom of the page to read the full article)

In December of 2017, autistic advocate and YouTuber Amythest Schaber started the #BoycottToSiri hashtag as a reaction to the widely criticized memoir To Siri With Love by Judith Newman, a book written by a neurotypical woman about her relationship with her autistic son, Gus, who uses Siri to help him navigate the world. Autistic advocates — including Kaelan Rhywiol in a story for Bustle — wrote that they believed the book maligned the autistic community and exploited Gus's right to privacy. The memoir and hashtag consequently began a conversation about media portrayals of the autistic community and why it’s so important to have autistic and disabled people writing and telling their own stories.

There’s a deeper problem behind this hashtag than a single memoir. As writer Jennifer Baker points out in an article for Electric Literature, the publishing industry needs marginalized people behind-the-scenes at publishing houses if they want to create a literary landscape that accurately reflects everyone. Autistic literary agents, editors, marketing professionals, publicists, early critics and reviewers, or authenticity readers could have caught problematic aspects of this or any other book.

“I was reading a manuscript about an autistic teen boy when I caught some ableist language,” Sara, an autistic woman who works in marketing at a children’s publishing house, tells Bustle. “I worked with the editor to suggest revisions in several places throughout the book, to clean up ableist language, add dimension to the characters, and alter some stereotypes and tropes.”

According to Lee & Low’s 2015 Diversity Baseline Survey, 92% of publishing industry staff members are nondisabled, and although there aren’t statistics for books published by disabled authors or about disabled characters, the figure is probably similarly low.

“When we look at the books published about disability, the vast majority are written by non-disabled authors,” Marieke Nijkamp, author of This Is Where It Ends, founder of DiversifiYA, and former senior VP of We Need Diverse Books, tells Bustle. “And prioritizing non-disabled voices instead of normalizing disabled voices strongly (and most often, negatively) colors the way we think about disability.”

Editors and other publishing professionals have an impact on how readers view disability — including the autistic experience, which is often steeped in harmful stereotypes and myths. “Taste-makers—agents, acquiring editors, critics—shape opinion,” Nicola Griffith, an author of seven novels and founder and co-host of #CripLit Twitter chats, tells Bustle. “If all opinion leaders are nondisabled, disabled perspectives will not be highlighted—or even noticed.” If the publishing industry has more disabled and autistic literary agents, for example, it’s likely that more nuanced portrayals of the disability experience will be submitted to editors for potential publication.

The problem isn’t just in catching issues with nondisabled writers’ books about the disability community. Disabled and autistic publishing staff bring diverse talents to all levels of the industry: Mentoring and shepherding the careers of disabled writers, marketing books toward the disability community, and seeing the value in a variety of stories, not just ones that shoehorn the autistic or disabled experience into a set of established tropes.

“Only by publishing autistic authors and allowing us the freedom to explore our truths can publishers begin to repair decades’ worth of stereotypes and marginalization,” says Lyn Miller-Lachmann, an autistic middle grade and YA author. “And having more autistic and disabled employees in editorial and marketing will go a long way to ensure that the books published will be more authentic and better targeted to their readers.”

In order to create real change, the industry needs to take a look at accessibility and inclusion at every step of the hiring process. It’s a challenge, because autistic and disabled people are not a monolith and we each have different needs, but there are many ways to make it more accessible to everyone.

Job applications across many industries often casually exclude people with disabilities. Many jobs in book publishing look for pre-requisite experience in a bookstore or a library, which can be inaccessible and heavily physical work, or several internships (often unpaid) to land an entry-level job. Publishers should consider the essential requirements needed to do a job and offer the opportunity to nontraditional candidates — people who may have had a break in work history, or who showcase a passion for publishing through their YouTube channel or blog instead of internships with top houses.

“I'd love to see just one company, in any industry, look at its candidate search and selection process and say, ‘Okay, if I were blind, could I really do this? What if I couldn't walk or drive? How else can candidates demonstrate their knowledge during this process?’” Dani Alexis Ryskamp, a developmental editor at Autonomous Press, tells Bustle. “Or better yet, ask actually disabled people to walk through the process and tell them where it fails.”

Companies need to think about different ways they can offer support to their potential hires. “Offer remote, paid internships and jobs. Offer relocation stipends if necessary. Help with finding accessible housing. Provide funds for attending conferences,” Kayla Whaley, a YA writer and senior editor of Disability in KidLit, tells Bustle.


Full Article:
Why The Publishing Industry Needs To Be More Inclusive Of Autistic And Disabled People
 
Holy cow... This just gave me one seriously insane idea...
Now to figure out how to get that insanity out of my head and into real life...

Great article, but sometimes I pick up something out of the background and now my head is running at like 400 mph, at a totally different level.

Thanks for the SPARK! : )
 
In the US the publishing industry has been infested with ridiculous MBA thinking where it is not about the culture, serving the public, or anything else but paring down the workforce to make the most profit.

The author is right. But will it make any difference?
 
It would seem that there is money to be made with not all that much investment on the company's part. That $$ should be noticed by owners &/or stockholders. This current situation could be changed and become wonderfully vibrant with opportunities. Positive thinking maybe.
If someone in their echelon perhpas could point out to the MBA people that yes really there is n as yet untapped market but that demographic is not gonna purchase the same old NT stuff.
 
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