Overthrowing Ableism

09/04/2024

About a week ago, the AP Stylebook posted a reminder that journalists should avoid using disability euphemisms like "special needs" and "special education." Followers quickly pointed out that this guidance - without alternatives or examples - would be hard to put into everyday day practice.

This little guide doesn't address all possible examples, nor does it represent the preferences of all disabled folks -- but as a writer who has spent a lot of time navigating euphemistic language, I hope it helps.

ID: Series of slides sharing the original Facebook post, response, and examples of how to revise writing that includes "special needs" or "special education." Individual slides are also transcribed into the image captions.

03/06/2023

The Connecting for Kids Developmental Disability Awareness Month campaign is a collaboration to increase awareness for DD.

To quote the late, great Maya Angelou, “when we know better, we can do better.”

We've hinted at it in some of our resource fair posts, but did you know that March is Developmental Disability Awareness Month?

We're kicking off our awareness with some information that may surprise you: 1 in 6 children in the United States has a developmental disability.

One in six.

Whether these disabilities are visible or not, that's about FOUR CHILDREN in every classroom who may be struggling with physical, learning, language, or behavioral skills.

We'll be sharing information on developmental disabilities throughout the month. The more we learn, the more we can promote access and inclusion for every child.

ID: Developmental disability awareness month graphic with the 1 in 6 statistic, along with basic information about developmental disabilities. For more information on developmental disabilities, check out the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/developmentaldisabilities

01/25/2023

Awareness of how people with different neurotypes may approach social interaction can do a lot to reduce bias.

This series, from (Instagram) looks at the ways some autistic people search for and insert detail into conversations.

While being stopped for questions or interrupted to explore nuance may be frustrating to more neurotypical communicators, you can also look at this from a strengths perspective -- these details and nuances can enrich your understanding AND create connection between you and your autistic communication partner.

Note: Images are described in captions to the original post from I CAN Network Ltd.

01/22/2023

Many people say, "special needs," when describing a person with a disability, but it's a troublesome phrase. These slides give you a quick dip into why many disability self-advocates have condemned the phrase.

To learn more from disabled adult voices, check out some of these articles:

USA Today, featuring Lawrence Carter-Long, Lisette Torres-Gerald, and others: https://bit.ly/3D7YLZ7

Medium, featuring Rebecca Cokley: https://bit.ly/3HmV4B5

Harvard Business Review, featuring Lydia X.Z. Brown and others: https://bit.ly/3WvUDZM

ID: Series of 5 images with brief text, describing problems with the phrase, "special needs." Alt text and captions are provided on individual images.

01/16/2023

CW: The parody video included in this post uses curse words. While the closed captioning is censored, the audio is not.

The term, "inspiration p**n," was developed by the late disability activist and comedian, Stella Young. This type of media features disabled people and its sole purpose is to inspire a nondisabled audience.

One of the most common questions I get is how you can tell the difference between inspiration p**n and a thoughtful representation. Stella Young's now-viral TED Talk offers a great litmus test for this - namely, "how does the disabled person feel about their 'achievement'?"

Young tells the story of how, as a teen, she was offered a community achievement award when she "wasn't really doing anything you would consider an achievement if you took disability out of the equation." Like Young (and the rest of us for that matter), people with disabilities are living their lives and doing the best they can. It's not inspirational - it's life.

Representation, on the other hand, is recognizing a person for the work they do without turning it into a spectacle. In this parody video, representation would be an interview where the team assistant talks about the work he does and what it means to him (not setting him up for the game-winning throw). Representation is listening to the voices and stories of people with disabilities - directly from them.

(Stella Young's TED Talk, where she introduced the term and tells the story of the community achievement award can be viewed on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SxrS7-I_sMQ)

Video description: Parody of a common inspiration p**n storyline, where a disabled teammate is given the ball for a game-winning score. In this case, the disabled hero has been replaced with a nondisabled person and the teammates are all disabled. The parody ends with the nondisabled teammate missing the throw and everyone being disappointed.

01/13/2023

An organization whose mission includes advocating for disabled folx shared this meme and a lot of parents/caregivers offered their agreement and re-shared it. It’s problematic and I’m reharing the meme here - not to shame the organization or the caregivers - but to help understand *why* it’s problematic.

First, let’s look at the language (see language note at end). Members of the disability community have asked that we stop using the term, “special needs.” Special needs is what’s called a “euphemism.” This is a word or phrase we use when we want to avoid saying something bad - for example, we say “he passed away” instead of “he died.” When we use euphemisms to describe disability, we imply that disability is so bad we can’t talk about it using plain language.

"Special needs" is also infantilization (making something childlike or baby like). The “grown up” and *legal* term is "disabled." "Disabled" is a protected civil rights status. “Special needs” has no power - it is nothing.

Next, let’s look at the use of “special needs” as an adjective to describe “parents.” Fellow parents - I *know* we struggle, but unless we are disabled too, we are *not* “special needs parents.” For an example, if a parent adopts a child of a different race - would that make them a “[CHILD’S RACE] parent?”

If we want to protect our children’s civil rights, let's be intentional about the use of language describing their identities.

Next, let’s move into the message. The language likens caring for a disabled person to caring for an infant. Granted, I do a lot of things for my child that the parent of a typically developing child would not expect to do - but my child is *not* an infant. My child is a teen with all the years of experience that comes with living on this planet for X-teen years.

Parents - I know we are exhausted, but until we talk about why that is, we’re *never* going to get those services and supports. The reason we are exhausted is that the system is broken. The services and supports are children need are simply not there. It is *not* our child's fault that we're exhausted.

Simply said, my child is a disabled person whose needs are not being met. When my child’s needs are met, my child - and the entire family system - will function better.

What can we do instead? Instead of liking and sharing memes like this one, let's call out the systems. What are they doing to get our children's needs met? What are they doing to solve the problem of parent exhaustion?

It might be a whole new conversation.

Language Note: The disability community is large and diverse. While many have spoken out against the language, “special needs,” others have found power in this language and choose it for themselves. When in doubt, ask what terms a person chooses to use to describe themselves.

ID: white text on brown background that reads, “remember how exhausting having a newborn baby was? Many special needs parents have been doing that for the age of their child. Just let that sink in.” The meme is attributed to feesworld.com

01/12/2023

Many parents/caregivers struggle with their own internalized ableism - after all, we were brought up in a world with core beliefs that disability = bad. Not only do these beliefs hurt us, they hurt our kids.

This list gives some common examples - the more we become aware of how the ableism myth impacts, the better we can do!

01/11/2023

Ableism is very real, but the reasons behind it are based on a myth. Learn more about the myth and how you can flip the script on ableism.

ID: Series of images entitled, "What is ableism and how does it happen?" Individual images are described in the captions.