CREATING AN IMAGE OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN LITERATURE LESSONS

Inclusive education provides an opportunity for students with disabilities to learn with their non-disabled peers. However, inclusive classrooms do not guarantee that non-disabled students will accept or form friendships with students with disabilities. Therefore, there is a need for intervention that facilitates the acceptance of students with disabilities. Literary works are a readily available resource in education to help students learn about society's diversity and its cultural contexts, as long as they depict these social groups appropriately. This study aimed to identify the different recurring patterns of the disability conception within the content of youth literature in primary education, employing content analysis.The research results reveal that people with disabilities are extremely underrepresented and depicted stereotypically in the examined literary works. This representation can reinforce students' negative attitudes toward people with disabilities. Therefore, the stereotypical content should be clarified and discussed during the lessons.