Book Studies
Disability Acceptance Through Literature
The Arc of PA’s Include Me program is excited to present “Disability Acceptance through Literature,” a virtual book study for students. Books selected by our facilitators provide opportunities to learn about the many aspects of disability through the perspective of school age protagonists.
Discussions center on understanding, acceptance, presuming competence, and friendship. Values like compassion, honesty, authenticity and diversity steer the ship, and we love when conversations are led by students’ interests. These book studies are an innovative way to provide students interested in reading with a structured opportunity to connect with other students across Pennsylvania. We strive to make the book studies accessible, with:
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- audio recordings of each chapter,
- vocabulary resources,
- engaging visual content for discussions, and,
- by providing copies of the book to families as the book studies gear up.
These four or eight week book studies make room for silliness and curiosity, and we’re proud of the stigma-blasting power of the program (and that of the students themselves!).
Include Me connects each book study and accompanying lessons to the Pennsylvania Academic Standards.
For more information, contact: cmorrison@includemepa.org
SEE OUR SPRING 2025 BOOK STUDIES!
(click on an area below to view)
Children Ages 5-8 ; Wednesdays at 5:00 pm, beginning April 1
Theme: “Another Way”, a Disability Acceptance Story Series
Group: Kids 5-8 years old
Day/Time: Wednesdays, 5:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Dates: April 1 – 15 (3 weeks)
Join us Wednesdays at 5:00PM starting April 1 for this Spring’s DATL Story Tour, our Disability Acceptance through Literature program for 5- to 8-year-olds! The group will meet weekly for 45 minutes via Zoom. We’ll read a different children’s book aloud each week and talk a bit about the story together. All learners are welcome!
Registering will save you a seat. Register with your mailing address and we will send a copy of each book for your household to share. Before our first meeting, you will receive an email with the zoom link we’ll use to join in every week. *Spots are limited! Registering means you’re committing to join us for the full virtual story tour. If your availability changes, please let us know ASAP before the program begins.
Lineup for our Spring 2026 Story Tour includes:
– Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion, by Shannon Stocker and Devon Holzwarth (Illustrator)
– Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille, by Jen Bryant and Boris Kulikov (illustrator)
– Lonnie and the Wolf Within, by Eddie Hall
Click here to register. (Registration opens February 6 at 12 pm)
Questions? Contact Celia at cmorrison@includemepa.org
Children Ages 8 - 12 ; Thursdays at 5:30 pm, beginning April 2
Title: Get a Grip, VIvy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit
Group: Kids 8-12 years old
Day/Time: Thursdays, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Dates: April 2 – May 21 (8 weeks)
Join us Thursdays at 5:30PM beginning April 2 for our middle grade pick for Disability Acceptance through Literature this Fall! The group (8- to 12-year-olds and our Include Me facilitators) will meet weekly via Zoom. All learners are welcome!
Registering will save your child a seat. Include your mailing address so we can send you the book! Before our first meeting, you will receive an email detailing the resources we share as access tools and the Zoom link we’ll use to join in every week. (Access tools like audiobook recordings, adapted chapter summaries and PODD pages will be provided to help participants access the reading and the conversations each week.)
“Vivy Cohen is determined. She’s had enough of playing catch in the park. She’s ready to pitch for a real baseball team. In this epistolary middle grade novel, Vivy Cohen won’t let anything stop her from playing baseball–not when she has a major-league star as her pen pal..”
Click here to register. (Registration opens February 6 at 12 pm)
Questions? Contact Celia at cmorrison@includemepa.org
Teens Ages 12 - 17; Mondays at 6:00 pm, Beginning March 30
Theme: Disability Visibility (Adapted for Young Adults) by Alice Wong
Group: ‘Teens’ 12-17 years old
Day/Time: Mondays 6:00 pm – &:00 pm
Dates: March 30 – May 18 (8 weeks)
Join us Mondays at 6:00 pm for our Spring pick for the ‘Teen’ DATL book study crew! Starting March 30, the group and our facilitators meet weekly via Zoom.
Registering will save you a seat! Include your mailing address so we can send you the book. Before our first meeting, you will receive an email with info about the access tools available to participants, like plain language summaries and PODD pages, as well as the Zoom link we’ll use to join every week. Audio recordings of each chapter will be available to all participants.
“The seventeen eye-opening essays in Disability Visibility, all written by disabled people, offer keen insight into the complex and rich disability experience, examining life’s ableism and inequality, its challenges and losses, and celebrating its wisdom, passion, and joy. The accounts in this collection ask readers to think about disabled people not as individuals who need to be “fixed,” but as members of a community with its own history, culture, and movements. They offer diverse perspectives that speak to past, present, and future generations.”
Click here to register. (Registration opens February 6 at 12 pm)
Questions? Contact Celia at cmorrison@includemepa.org
FAQ
Questions? Contact Celia at cmorrison@includemepa.org
Click here to view/download a pdf copy of the FAQ
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