I'm a cartoonist, journalist, historian, and mom. A few years ago, I stumbled upon a curious book...

It was published in 1935 and detailed an avant garde approach to raising kids with physical disabilities—kids like my son. It emphasized the inner life, wisdom, and community, not the fix-it paradigm of the medical world. The book described a Robin Hood-themed summer camp in the wilds of Vermont where "spastic" children with few legal rights assumed the personas of empowered outlaws. 

What was happening there? 

Psychodrama? A budding social justice movement? A mini-theme park for crippled kids? My disabled son, Heath, and I were determined to find out. With the help of a small-town history society, Lady Luck, and some very, very old people, we pieced together the fragments of a mythical chapter in disability history.

Gladys Gage Rogers and Leah Thomas, camp directors and life partners. 

The Outlaws: ​A book about that book. And us.

My graphic nonfiction book, The Outlaws, is a 300-page comic in which the story of Robin Hood's Barn is interwoven with my son's and my struggle to understand disability, each other, and our family's place in history. The Outlaws will appeal to comics readers, parents, teens, historians, advocates, and fans of the legend of Robin Hood.

Archival Material

Heath and I were fortunate to receive over 200 pages of camp memorabilia, including rosters, songs, poems, lecture notes, and correspondence. Over 100 photographs taken at Robin Hood's Barn survive, taken by Newell Green, a well-known Vermont photographer with cerebral palsy who lived across the road from the camp. These documents allowed us to vividly imagine the setting of the camp and the people who brought it to life.  Robin Hood's Barn created a unique disability subculture that emphasized adaptation, imagination, solidarity, fierceness, and good cheer.

Campers and counselors in costume.

Campers in costume with bows and arrows.

The book was reviewed nationwide in 1935 and emphasized the intelligence and inner life of children with disabilities. It influenced a generation of mothers who fought successfully for their children's right to public education.

"Who is patient, conquers."

Sherwood Barn. Campers were carried up to the hay loft to sleep and gathered downstairs for morning assembly.

Physical therapist Leah Thomas played the part of Robin Hood and built adaptive devices for the campers in her woodshop.

Dancing at the May Day celebration. Friar Tuck leans his head on a camper's wheelchair in the background.

The 1937 roster of campers and counselors.

Click here to read The Outlaws.