Panels and Perspectives: Exploring Disability and Neurodiversity Through Comics

~ Ernesto Priego
Ernesto Priego, Francisco de la Mora, Gemma Plum and Zara Slattery sit behind a table displaying graphic novels. A screen behind them reads “Thank you!”
Yours Truly (left) with graphic novelists Francisco de la Mora, Gemma Plum and Zara Slattery

Panels & Perspectives: Panel on Disability and Neurodiversity in Comics took place at AG01, Thursday, October 1st 2026 in the College Building, City St George’s, University of London. The panel successfully explored how graphic novels can challenge stereotypes, create connections and invite readers to the world from different perspectives. The session was well attended with the room at full capacity.

Calling upon the powerful true stories behind their work, graphic novelists Francisco de la Mora, Gemma Plum and Zara Slattery examined how comics can make visible experiences that are often overlooked, opening up conversations about disability, neurodiversity, care and belonging.

The event coincided with the official UK release of Gemma Plum’s The Great Marc Evers. The True Story of a Champion Against All Odds (Selfmadehero 2026), which tells in comics form ‘the inspiring life story of one of the greatest Paralympic swimming champions, and his family that stopped focusing on a “no” to find a “yes”.’

Each member of the panel spoke of what had first drawn them to graphic storytelling, and made a short presentation about each of the books featured in the event, with themes related to disability and neurodiversity:

The Most Amazing Saturday Morning Rubbish Club, by Francisco de la Mora and Bill Tuckey (Selfmadehero, 2025).

The Great Marc Evers: The True Story of a Champion Against All Odds, by Gemma Plum, Ivo van Woerden and Marloes Dekkers (Selfmadehero 2026), and

Coma, by Zara Slattery (Myriad Editions, 2021).

Internal and external participants, including Human Computer Interaction Design MSc students from the 2025-26 and 2026-27 cohort, who engaged in the Q&A and chatted with the authors, bought their books and got them signed after the panel over refreshments.

Gemma Plum sits at a desk, drawing in an open copy of her graphic novel.

This event also provided an opportunity to talk about Ernesto’s Parables of Care project creating comics about dementia care, and copies were distributed freely with participants who had not heard of the project before.

Copies of I Know How This Ends, Parables of Care and Relatos de cuidado lie on a wooden table.
An audience member holds up a page of handwritten notes and drawings in comic book style titled “Panels & Perspectives”, with portraits of the speakers.
One member of the audience even did some sketch-noting during the panel in comics form!

This activity also informally launched my Sabbatical research leave!

This event was organised in collaboration with comics publisher Selfmadehero.

Participants consented to being photographed for documentation purposes. Thank you to everyone who attended and participated; it was a joyous occasion.

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Published by Ernesto Priego

My passion is creating opportunities for discovery, creativity and innovation. I am an advocate for enhanced access to information as a public good. I enjoy fostering engagement and openness, facilitating collaboration and mentoring. My main focus is multi-disciplinary and involves practically and theoretically connecting the dots between varied, closely-related fields and topics: comics studies; human-computer interaction design, library and information science, digital humanities, scholarly communications, publishing studies, digital innovation and material culture, intellectual rights and open science, access, data and educational resources. I love writing and spreading the word about the things I believe in. I love higher education and the Internet and I define myself as a digital scholarship advocate. I love working collaboratively and on my own. You can still follow me and/or contact me via Twitter @ernestopriego.