Overthrowing Ableism

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.

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!