Disabilities

This pathfinder will assist you in finding plays tackling issues related to physical or mental disabilities. If you need more help, our librarians welcome any questions you may have regarding your search.

Visit our Library

A great way to start your search is by visiting our library either in person or online. You can find a complete list of resources in our collection by accessing our online catalogue. To locate plays tackling issues related to disabilities, use these suggested keywords and phrases to search the catalogue:

Subject Headings to Search in the Catalogue

To search the catalogue for Subject Headings, perform the following search:

  1. Click the MultiSeek tab in the blue menu bar
  2. Change the first Keyword drop-down menu to Subject
  3. Type one of the suggested words and phrases in the search field and click Search

Suggested words and phrases:

  • disabled
  • disability
  • disabilities
  • handicap
  • handicapped

You can also use the above subject heading(s) as Keywords. Just follow the procedure above but exchange Subject with Keyword in step 2. Your search results will be more extensive and inclusive; however, you may find some items in this type of search not directly related to your topic. Any title with your specified search word(s) in the description will appear among the search results.

top

Recommended Titles

The titles below have been previewed by us and selected for this topic. For additional information on a specific title, search our catalogue or the Internet:

15 Seconds by Francois Archambault, translated by Bobby Thedore (1998)
Brimming with a dark and brittle humour, “Fifteen Seconds” is a play about a young female advertising copy writer, her pro-sports-fan ex-boyfriend, a Gen-X welfare-bum loser and his brother handicapped by cerebral palsy. These four characters are constantly making choices about reality and illusion; imagination and fantasy; the hale and the handicapped – about the way things are and the way they might be. They are utterly unable to imagine each other, and though they all remember that they should try to do so, they seem to have forgotten from where this moral imperative emanates. It is from this vestigal organ of empathy that much of the humour of this play is derived.
Battering Ram by David Freeman (1974)
Irene, a “professional volunteer,” provides a room in her home for the handicapped Virgil. She and her daughter Nora, both sexually frustrated, try to use Virgil to satisfy their needs. All three search for love but find something much less.
Be My Friend by Aviva Ravel (1991)
“A group of ten-year-olds ostracize Ada, a newcomer and burn victim, then learn to treat the outsider with compassion and understanding.”
Beating Heart Cadaver by Colleen Murphy (1999)
“Leona and Danny’s young daughter, Amelia, perishes in a car crash. Paralysed in the accident, Danny is spurned by Leona’s harsh accusations as she clings helplessly to a balloon believed to contain Amelia’s breath. Enter Lola, a pathological grief councillor. Turbulent, daring, Murphy’s writing ventures through dark emotional territory unearthing humour and forgiveness as Leona and Danny fight their way back to each other, and life.” Nominated for the 1999 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama.
Beyond the End of Your Nose by Patricia Henderson (1984)
Two children with mental disabilities find themselves placed among “regular” schoolmates on the first day of school. Through a computer error, they and a friend are thrown into another dimension, where Joe learns to use Bliss symbols, enabling the trio to explore the nature of trust, communication and inner power.
Blessings by Mary Hall Surface (1994)
A drama that looks at the forgoing of an unlikely bond between two very different 14-year-old girls – one a driven over-achiever, one a gifted artist with severe learning disabilities.
The Boys Next Door by Tom Griffin (1983)
The place is a communal residence in a New England city where four mentally handicapped men live under the supervision of an earnest, but increasingly “burned out” young social worker named Jack. Mingled with scenes from the daily lives of these four, where “little things” sometimes become momentous (and often very funny), are moments of great poignancy when, with touching effectiveness, we are reminded that the handicapped, like the rest of us, want only to love and laugh and find some meaning and purpose in the brief time that they, like their more fortunate brothers, are allotted on this earth.
The Crackwalker by Judith Thompson (1981)
This remarkable play about a mentally disabled woman and her friends explores the psyche of those living outside of “normal” society.
Creeps by David Freeman (1972)
Stealing time from their jobs in a sheltered workshop, four cerebral palsy victims spit out their frustrations and, reluctantly, their dreams. They talk about sex, personalities, scandal and despair while their welfare supervisor pounds on the door. Winner, 1972 Chalmers Canadian Play Award.
Dead Heat by W. R. Chadwick (1974)
A hospitalized army officer, confined to a wheel-chair, trains fanatically for a wheelchair Olympiad. His competitiveness is shattered when a fellow invalid, a former Olympics walker, accepts his challenge to a race around the hospital grounds, and wins. A play about the nature of competition.
A Distance from Calcutta by P. J. Barry (1993)
Part of author’s Jericho cycle. Comic drama set in 1923. Catholic woman’s love for younger learning-disabled boarder leads to heartbreak.
Donal and Sally by James Duthie (1978)
Two teenagers from very different backgrounds are day-pupils at the Strathvale Centre for mentally handicapped people. At the centre the boys are taught gardening and the girls crafts and the ‘trainees’ are watched over and encouraged by Miss Betty Green, an instructor, and Bill, the Under-Superintendent. Donal falls for Sally in a big way and she in her turn is his loyal admirer. Their childlike antics cause some amusement in the centre at first, but when Bill catches them dancing alone together he becomes alarmed at the possible implications and decides their respective parents must be informed.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1969)
A mentally challenged man becomes a test case for a scientific experiment which increases intelligence to that of a genius. The experiment is flawed and the man must come to terms with the fact that he will once again be as he was, possibly more than he was prior to the experiment.
Footlight Fantasy by Rod Lathim and Mark Henderson (1981)
‘This script can be adapted in many ways to accommodate a wide variety of individuals with all levels of abilities. Strongly encouraged to integrate disabled and non-disabled performers when using this script.’

top

Haiku by Katherine Snodgrass (1989)
The story concerns a woman who lives with her mentally challenged daughter, who has miraculously at brief intervals been “normal”. In fact, the daughter, Louise, is sometimes super-normal, speaking in beautiful haiku poetry, which her mother has recorded and has had published under the mother’s name. Then an older daughter, Billie, comes for a visit. Billie only knows her sister as hopelessly retarded, and refuses to believe that her mother’s poetry has actually been composed by her sister. 1988 Heideman Award Winning One Act Play.
I’m not Stupid by David E Rodriguez (1993)
Woman murders mentally handicapped son and blames son’s psychiatrist.
Inside Out – Upside Down by Karen Groene & Maggie Mudd (1986)
This is a play about breaking down the wall of prejudice, frustration and misunderstanding that stands between the non-physically handicapped and the handicapped. With it, your audience enters the world of the handicapped with truly remarkable insight and honesty and then looks at both sides of the wall. The writers detail their personal feelings in moving from their world into the world of the physically challenged person. The experience carries them into enlightenment and understanding as they overcome preconceived ideas and learn that for love to exist, the wall must be broken down.
Izzy Icarus Fell off the World by Aliza Goldstein (2008)
Teenage Izzy is fascinated by birds. With beach season fading, he loves to stand on the sand, flap his arms, and watch the gulls take flight for winter. His curious movements have attracted the eye of budding photographer Dove, who waits poised with her camera, convinced he’s going to fly. “That’s why he’s called Izzy Icarus,” she says. “Like the character in Greek mythology.” When her classmate insists that Izzy, who has autism, is dreaming the impossible, Dove is determined to prove her wrong. 2007 VSA arts Playwright Discovery Award.
Keeping Tom Nice by Tom Gannon (1990)
Tom is approaching his twenty-fifth birthday. He is severely handicapped and in spite of growing intervention from the social services has lived in the care of his parents, who have devoted their lives to him. But the unrelenting strain of keeping up normal appearances while caring for Tom’s every need has pushed the family to the breaking point. This play is an uncompromising exploration of attitudes towards people with disabilities and the changing nature of the caring professions. Moreover it is a rich and compelling examination of a family disintegrating under increasing pressure.
Learning the Game by Janice Salkeld (2009)
Meet Lanni, teenage female hockey player – with a secret, she has a learning disability.  On the ice, Lanni is cool, calm and in control, but when she steps into the classroom, number 23 just can’t keep up. Will her secret get out? A one-woman play where life is as unpredictable as a hockey game – at the disadvantage.
Lydia by Octavio Solis (2008)
The tale of a Mexican-American teen who is injured and disabled just as she comes of age.
Mercy Killing or Murder: The Tracy Latimer Story by Michele Decottignies (2005)
As medical ethics promises the elimination of disability and disease from our society, so too does it evoke concerns about eugenics and the elimination of difference and diversity among us.
Mourning Dove by Emil Sher (2005)
Inspired by a true story, this play explores the unspeakable dilemma face by Doug Ramsay, the father of a severely disabled girl. A life of pain is the only life 12-year old Tina Ramsay has ever known, and Doug is not convinced her next operation will make a difference. His wife, Sandra, believes it’s their only choice. Keith, a family friend with challenges of his own, is committed to making Tina laugh again. When Doug takes matters into his own hands, no one is prepared for the fallout: relationships are ruptured, assumptions are turned inside out. A timely reminder of the power of theatre to transform age-old questions into art.
Not So Dumb by John Lazarus (1984)
Two bright but learning-disabled kids get into trouble with the over-achieving school monitor. The three become friends when they learn what they have in common.
Other Side of the Pole by Marnie Heatley (1984)
This ‘play within a play’ takes place in Santa’s workshop at the North Pole and allows for spirited elfin high jinks between separate episodes of the story of the abolishment of Christmas in the town of Split Hoof. … (this is an) affectionate affidavit to forgiveness, giving and joy. It was inspired to create the ‘son of Santa’ whose childhood in the middle of tinsel tensions turned him off Christmas. And in the creation of Willy a (mentally challenged) boy whose love of life outweighs his limitations, the authors have given us a compelling protagonist.
The Private Prop. of Roscoe Pointer by Louis Damelio (1980)
Roscoe, mentally disabled and in his fifties, has to move from the rooming house he’s lived in for years. His banker brother, George tries to convince Roscoe he must move in with George and his family. Roscoe refuses to give up his independence and tells George he can manage – as the odd jobs he does pays his expenses and he has friends. George discovers this is true and reluctantly concedes he is indeed self-sufficient. George goes home with a new-found realization that Roscoe, like some mentally disabled people, can make their own way in life – with the help of kind and understanding people.
Revolutions by Cherie Theissen (1978)
While watching clouds pass overhead, four physically handicapped people find the courage to discuss their social alienation.
Snap by Daryl Watson (2007)
Despite her severe stutter, Susan joins the Clarence Thomas High School Dozens Team, where she must learn to defend herself against merciless and fast-flying “Yo Mama” jokes. As the exhibition battle quickly approaches, the wildly eccentric Coach Latrell uses his tough-love training techniques to help Susan overcome her handicap. The situation seems hopeless until Susan goes head-to-head with Wayne “The Mouth Train” Evans in competition, and unleashes a surprising new tactic.
Stronger Than Superman by Roy Kift (1981)
This play deals with the subject of ‘wheel-people’ and ‘leg people’: in short, with people who have the bad luck to be confined to a wheelchair as opposed to the lucky majority who can still use their legs. And if anyone believes that it is impossible to talk about the problems of the handicapped (which are simultaneously the problems of the non-handicapped) in an entertaining and enlightening way to ‘people from eight years old and over’. This play is not intended mainly for the handicapped, even when they find themselves and their lives so accurately, sympathetically and wittily mirrored as they do here… It is more a play dealing with our attitudes to the handicapped, and a plea for their integration into everyday life.
Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon by D. D. Brooke (1972)
Three handicapped people who meet in a hospital decide to pool their resources and move into a house together.
The Test by P.J Caplan (2002)
On death row, elder inmate Cleveland has taken young, mentally challenged Bradley under his wing and is trying to teach him to read. When word arrives that Bradley’s new lawyer has arranged for him to take a mental competency test, Cleveland tries to convince Bradley that this is one test he does not want to pass.
Through Our Eyes by Rod Lathim (1980)
An original musical drama written for performances by 60 developmentally disabled children and adults from schools and institutions. The script and music are written and tailored to suit the abilities and in some cases disabilities of participants of all ages.
Toronto, Mississippi by Joan Macleod (1987)
Jhana, a mentally handicapped teenager, lives with her mother and a cheerful morose poet. Jhana’s estranged father – a professional Elvis impersonator – arrives unexpectedly. What follows is an exploration of fragmented identities and fractured understandings.

top