Scholar Garland-Thomson writes that wonder and disability evokes traditions rooted in the side show or freak show and that using wonder and disability together erodes the privacy of the disabled person in general, turning them into something observable and othered. 

Claremont Graduate University

The evoking of a sense of wonder in disability adjacent fiction has not been studied extensively despite it being a common thematic element. Some scholars, such as Marguerite La Caze, note that wonder can demonstrate an openness to seeking understanding of the other while other scholars, such as Marion Young, write that wonder is inherently dangerous in literature as it can lead to othering and exoticization. 

Wonder and Disability in Fiction

Cheyne, R. (2019). Disability, Literature, Genre: Representation and Affect in Contemporary Fiction. Liverpool University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvsn3pp7

Disability, Literature, Genre: Representation and Affect in Contemporary Fiction

Academic Nick Watson is sceptical of wonder and disability in any association, whether in fiction or otherwise. He writes that using elements of disability and wonder together often leads into capitalistic voyeurism as this tactic is commonly employed in advertising, turning the disabled individual into a consumable. 

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