More About Stories for Inclusion - Stories for Inclusion

Worldwide, 93 million children live with disabilities. Too often, they are excluded—from school, from their communities, and sometimes even from their own families.

In many places, including the Netherlands and especially in countries in the South, children with disabilities face barriers rooted in cultural taboos, social pressures, and long-standing prejudices. These barriers aren’t just physical—they’re deeply attitudinal.

The biggest obstacle is negative perceptions of what children with disabilities can achieve. Their typical peers rarely meet them, seldom see them represented in books or classrooms, and often remain unaware of the challenges they face. Even teachers in mainstream schools may lack the knowledge and resources to support them.

As a result, children with disabilities are more likely to be teased and ridiculed , left behind in education, and denied the opportunities every child deserves.

“Join us in breaking barriers and building inclusive education for every child.”

The Project

The “My name is Runa” story is the first in a series of children’s stories for the “Stories for Inclusion” project. Runa’s story is available in Dutch, English and Bengali (Bangla) and distributed to thousands of children in Ghana and Bangladesh. An Activity Guide for this storybook is also available for use by teachers and parents during storytelling sessions, to sensitize about disability and the importance of inclusiveness.

Storybooks about children with disabilities are difficult to find, especially in low- and middle-income countries and, when they are available, most books about disability are in English and not in any of the national languages. Hardly any of these books give the child with a disability a voice. Some stories even include negative depictions of disabilities, for example in some classic children’s books, further reinforcing negative stereotypes among children.

The project ‘Stories for Inclusion’ is motivated by this absence of visible role models for children with disabilities, especially in children’s literature. Secondly, it aims to encourage more accepting attitudes towards disability among children and teachers in mainstream education. In the long term we believe this will lead to more inclusive behaviour by future generations.