“Close your eyes and see”

(Dis)ability, Animals, and Neoliberalism in Anna Höglund’s Barnet som inte kunde blunda

Abstract

^{Theme: Norms of (Dis)ability in Nordic Children’s and Young Adult Literature.}

Disability has become increasingly visible in literature over the past decade, particularly within children’s and young adult fiction. According to the Swedish Institute for Children’s Books, representations of disabled children have become more common in conventional fictional narratives about growing up, falling in love, or acquiring superpowers. The institute has also identified a rise in both fictional and non-fictional books addressing neuropsychiatric diagnoses, offering information about and strategies for coping with them. A picturebook that both participates in this trend and diverges from its dominant patterns is Anna Höglund’s Barnet som inte kunde blunda (The child who could not close her eyes, 2020). The book’s protagonist has an unrecognized disability, and all characters are depicted as animals. Drawing on crip theory and previous research on (dis)ability, animals, power relations, and social norms in children’s literature, the purpose of this article is to analyze the function of – and relationship between – representations of (dis)ability, animals, and societal norms in Höglund’s picturebook. The analysis demonstrates that Barnet som inte kunde blunda aligns the positions of children, animals, and disabled subjects to critique the ways in which the Western capitalist system marginalizes difference. This picturebook further complicates and destabilizes established (dis)ability tropes, presenting difference not as a detachable trait or an obstacle to overcome, but as a narrative necessity and a positive resource. The article concludes that Barnet som inte kunde blunda articulates a pronounced social critique, particularly by exposing the causes and consequences of injustice in relation to (dis)ability and by emphasizing the need for collective, rather than purely individual, change.