“What If Goodness Ruled the World?”

Abstract

This chapter describes how the Realabilities Comic Book Series and the Addy & Uno Off-Broadway Musical feature five characters with disabilities, who harness the special strengths-associated with their disabilities (Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Visual, Hearing and Physical Disability)-to save their school from bullies. The intent of the following five studies was to utilize pre-post-test designs to examine the efficacy of various iterations of a musical and/or a full comic book series curriculum in enhancing typical children's empathy, cognitive attitudes on the adjective checklist (ACL) and behavioral intentions on the shared activities questionnaire (SAQ) towards children with disabilities. Following the musical and/or comic book series curriculum, the participants showed significantly improved behavioral intentions and improved cognitive attitudes towards children with disabilities. These findings help demonstrate how creative programs like these may foster empathy and serve as a useful antidote to counter negative attitudes towards individuals with disabilities.