Do you prefer the term "disabilities" or "special needs?"?

Question

Many people prefer "special needs," but as a person with ADD and learning disabilities, I find "special needs" to be too PC and sugar coated. I also feel as though it makes me seem dependent on others. What do you think?

Vicki- I'm not mentally retarded.

homeatlast- I'm not handicapped either. "Handicapped" means physically disabled.

Answer 1

The words "special needs" in itself is not wrong. I agree with you however, that it does sound "too PC and sugar coated". But it really depends on the context to which the words is being applied to. Many people do use it but in some circles it is becoming less common.

Personally, if I were to describe you to someone else - I would just say "She has ADD and needs extra support" rather than "she has special needs". The words "special needs" implies you are dependent - as you said.

BUT.. I would not EVER consider you to have a "disability".
"Learning difficulty" or learning deficit" perhaps, but NOT a disability.

Language is a powerful thing and the words we use can convey different messages and ideas. Use the right words and it dignifies the person and raise the status of their value in society.

I have an excellent document about this very subject but I can not find the link to it at the moment. But the one below is quite a reasonable one for resources in use of appropriate language when dealing with disability. http://www.equity.uts.edu.au/policy/language/ablist.html

EDIT: FOUND IT!!! here is the link. It is a PDF file and you can print it out as a booklet form.
http://www.addc.org.au/webdocs/Disability%20Advocacy/Manuals/DHS_GUIDE_Communicating%20with%20people%20with%20disabilities_2005.pdf

and another one..
http://www.disability.qld.gov.au/community_involv/communication/way_words/language.html

Answer 2

I'm in a wheelchair due to severe arthritis, and frankly I hate PC talk. So I just flat out call myself a cripple. I am crippled, and if people are uncomfortable with the term, so be it.

I'm not disabled, I am quite able to do MANY things - except use my legs worth a hoot.

I'm not "special needs", no more than any other human being. All people have special needs. Some show, some don't.

I'm not "handicapped" my being crippled has nothing to do with my hands or what I wear on my head. ;)

I am certainly not "mobility impaired", as I get around just fine in my wheelchair, or even on my legs within my own home.

Besides, when I use the word "cripple" in public, like when my husband and I are bantering and I say something like: "Oh, good, just go ahead and push the cripple out into traffic, why doncha?" the looks on other people's faces are just PRICELESS. It's worth giving them a dose of what my friend Eonen calls "white hot WTF-ery".

Answer 3

My aunt fell out a high chair at 2 years old and now I have an aunt that is mentally handicapped. It makes her no different I love her all the same. I never knew her before the accident as that was like 65 years ago. But I would have loved her any different had she not fallen. She is my aunt either way. I think that disabilities and special needs kinda goes hand in hand. First of all she is disabled...She is not capable of doing what an average person can do...However with her disability she does need special care and needs that a ordinary person with no problems would need. So I do not see a difference between the two . And to anyone who wants to call them retarded or slow I am sorry but that is not right. They are people too just like you and it is a label that should have never been put onto anyone. think about it would you like it if people walked around and said um she/ he is retarded. Oh don't worry about it they are slow. No one no matter what the problem is should be labeled like that. Put yourself in their shoes how would you like it. They are just ordinary people like you an me. Personally the ones who label them like that are the retarded people. Your problem is a learning disability. It is something that does not impair you in doing any normal actuivities like most disabled people. And I think you placing yourself in this catagory makes me wonder if someone is not just feeling sorry for themselves. I am sorry but, you can work with the problem unlike may other people. Yours is not a disablitie as much special needs. It is something with special care and teaching it can help you in life.

Answer 4

As the parent of a child with significant cognitive delays, aka mentally retarded, neither term really feels right to me. I have never liked 'disabled' because my son IS abled, just differently. And the whole 'special needs' label irks me. All children are special, and they all have needs of some type, right? I think that term was created by educators as a way of reassuring parents that separating out our children from the general education population was in their best interest, because they were 'special' as compared to their peers.

I do not shy away from telling people that my son is mentally retarded. The word retarded will lose its power to hurt if it is not avoided. Retard means to slow, retarded means slowed down. My son is slowed down, mentally, due to a genetic condition, Trisomy 21. If people are uncomfortable with the 'R' word, then I would say he is cognitively challenged.

I like using 'challenged' to describe our kids. Physically challenged, emotionally challenged, developmentally challenged, mobility, visually, auditorily....you get a clearer picture of what the child is facing in the world.


And a P.S. to Chris/Rose J--calling other people 'retarded' when they do something you don't agree with is how the word came to be considered an insult. Use the word properly, or not at all.

Answer 5

I've worked in general nursing and also with the mentally handicapped in a non nursing capacity. The needs are very different. When I think of disabled I think of physical problems, which to me is a much more limiting idea. I rather the term special needs for people who have non physical disability. I myself have some what I call glitches that make me slightly different from the norm, but I can't say it's as serious as a disability but more presents itself as a special need.

Answer 6

Of the two, I prefer disabled. I don't like the underlying PC connotation in "special needs" that I need to be thought of as "special" in order to feel good about myself. I'm an adult and I will make my own way. Over all, I prefer the term "epileptic" because that keeps me from having to explain anything beyond basic first aid for seizures.

Of course, I've been recently annoyed by someone who told a group I was working in that we need to have "thought showers" instead of "brainstorming" so we don't offend anyone. I pointedly used "brainstorm" while brandishing my medic-alert. To use the cliche: I'm not a hot-house orchid. I'm a weed.

Anyway, the point is that I prefer people to individually use terms that, to them, accord me the respect I'm due. If it's disabled, that's fine. If it's special needs, that's fine, too. All things equal, label with me with my disability to keep others from trying to treat me for diabetic shock. I can't swallow my tongue, but I can choke on candy.

Answer 7

I do not like either of these terms. I am a firm believer of the Social Model of Disability. The social model says that we are disabled by socially constructed barriers therefore, I am a disabled person but I do not have a disability. The preferred term is non disabled as this implies that the person concerned does not have to encounter socially constructed barriers. It all sounds very political but I do believe that we have not developed a suitable alternative to the social model.

Answer 8

If you are an adult in the workplace, there is little need to discuss the learning disability. You simply make sure you have the accommodations necessary to fulfill your job responsibilities. Labels are useful in the educational system because when a person qualifies for this label they are legally provided with accommodations in the classroom to allow them to demonstrate their understanding of the subject.

Answer 9

I use the term "disabled" or "disabilities" only when necessary to maneuver through the maze of official paperwork.

As far as who and what I am, I am just me, with limited mobility from chronic pain, back injury, and other problems. I expect people to relate to me as a capable fellow human being, and I do no less for them.

I have children with various difficulties, including one with epilepsy, one with ADD/dyslexia, one with global juvenile apraxia, and another with Aspergers Syndrome. I brought them up to be productive members of society, within whatever limitations they do have, and to reach for the stars. None of them consider thmselves "disabled" ... they consider that they have some limitations in some areas ... like everyone else, theirs just have labels on them.
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Answer 10

People with Disabilities is Best in My Opinion.