Out of My Dreams

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses ableism.

Out of My Dreams is the third book in a series that directly addresses issues of accessibility and disability advocacy, using the experiences of the main character, Melody, who has cerebral palsy. Author Sharon M. Draper writes from a personal place, using her experience as the mother of a child with a disability to inform her portrayal of Melody’s experiences.

Disability advocacy has a long history in the United States, with disability rights groups dating back to the 1800s. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and the subsequent ADA Amendments Act of 2008 have greatly increased accessibility for people with disabilities in public spaces and have prohibited discrimination in many aspects of public life. Activists continue to fight for equal rights (“Disability History: The Disability Rights Movement.” National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior.)

The disability civil rights movement also helped to establish the field of modern disability studies, an academic discipline that examines the nature of disability through multiple lenses. Scholars debate the differences between medical definitions of disability and social constructs around it, and view disability through intersectional lenses with race, gender, age, and class (“

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