Words Matter (on “Disability”)

[jimhines]

My son’s IEP (Individualized Education Program) meeting was last week. This was his second IEP, and I wasn’t able to make it to the meeting. So I came home and read through the paperwork, reviewing the plans and ideas for next year, when he’ll be in first grade.

Overall, his school has been wonderful. They confirmed our gut feeling about his autism

Comments

[zornhau]

I'm afraid that I don't think you can win with word substitutions. "Gay" for example has become an insult, and I've heard "Differently Abled" and "Mentally Challenged" used in the same way (with hand quotes).

What the correct etiquette should be, I don't know.

However, many of us carry all sorts of minor disabilities.

Perhaps the school should have said...

"...progress in the general education curriculum with the rest of his peers/classmates…”

[jimhines]

I'm not sure what it is you think I'm trying to win. I'm aware that "gay" is frequently used as an insult, and that people will continue to make short bus jokes and otherwise use terms describing mental and physical difficulties as insults. But that's not really what I was talking about.

Sorry that came out wrong....

[zornhau]

Sorry. That came out wrong, possibly due to a British turn of phrase, but mainly due to me tripping over myself.

What I was groping ineptly towards was the feeling that perhaps it's not the terminology itself that is offensive or unfitting, but rather the reduction of people into the binary categories "disabled"/"non-disabled".

A child with autism "has a disability" from an administrative point of view (databases and budgets), but that doesn't make them "disabled", the term is too reductive and too imprecise.

Presumably an autistic child's needs are different from those of the kid in a wheelchair, and different again from those of the blind child. And all three children have needs that are nothing to do with disability.

Of course a disability hinders, but it does not define a person, and it should be the job of schools to know this.

Re: Sorry that came out wrong....

[jimhines]

Okay, that makes sense, thank you. (And as I said below, I'm obviously far from objective about all this, so it's also possible I'm just not reading clearly.)

I don't think it's the binary division that was upsetting to me, though I agree that's a problem. Going off of your comment, "special needs" seems a bit more on-target. My son definitely has some needs that aren't shared by other students. They don't disable him, but they do need to be addressed. (And they definitely make life interesting sometimes...)

Re: Sorry that came out wrong....

[zornhau]

"Special needs" is more descriptive, but it's still very non-specific, and still invites categorisation and assumptions. In most situations, can't you just say "mild autism"? And socially, if required,"...has trouble sitting still".

Re: Sorry that came out wrong....

[jimhines]

Oh, sure. I get the need for categories and such from the school's perspective, for everything from funding to federal reporting. But most of the time, in the real world, it's just something like, "This is Jackson. He's a wigglebutt."

Re: Sorry that came out wrong....

[zornhau]

Well, then I think you have all the terms you need. You should consider being a writer.... (ducks and runs for cover)

Re: Sorry that came out wrong....

[jimhines]

You can run, but you can't hide. I'll find--

Ooh, LOLcats...

[snapes_angel]

"gay" is a much-maligned word. Where Jim's co-worker at work sues "retarded", a lot of my daughter's friends used "gay". Used to be, you could be happy a s a skylark, and that would be considered gay and joyous. Then it became "gay" in terms of a homosexual thing. I wish people would make up their minds, as to which word means what.

Maybe instead of "disabled", they should crate a word like "dif-abled", for "differently abled". It really would make more sense, as it's a blanket term for people of differing abilities.