Reifying the Normate: Disability Representation and Ableist Hegemony in Australian Senior Secondary English and Literature Text Lists

Representation within English literature is vital for secondary students at a critical juncture in their adolescent identity exploration. While the literary canon has historically been contested and dominated by white, western, able-bodied men, recent years have seen significant diversification to include post-colonial, gender-diverse, and sub-altern voices. However, the representation of disabled voices and characters within senior secondary texts remains a notable gap in educational research. This article explores the representation of disabled people in senior secondary English set-text lists across Australian Year 11 and 12 curricula. We argue that the texts prescribed for students in their final years of schooling inherently construct a canonical baseline of literary merit. Through a critical disability studies lens, we analysed 357 novels prescribed in ATAR and General English and Literature text lists. Our findings indicate that while characters with disabilities are present in the canon, they are predominantly framed through a deficit model of disability. Consequently, these selections largely conform to ableist constructions of what it means to be human, raising significant questions about the representational resources made available to senior secondary students.