The Difference Between "Special Needs" and "Disability"

The Difference Between "Special Needs" and "Disability"

Special Needs and Disability I’ve got to admit that when I joined the “special needs” community a decade ago by way of giving birth to my daughter with Down syndrome, I was confused with all the “special needs” this and that. “Disability“, I was and am completely used to, both as a person with disabilities…

Who Has Special Needs?

Who Has Special Needs?

You all know how much I loathe the way people use the term “special needs” interchangeably with “disability”(my post about that is here ). The term was originally an educational one, designed for kids with extremely unique learning needs. Plenty of people who have real educational “special needs” do not have a disability and plenty of…

Would You Just Quit Saying “Special Needs”?!

Would You Just Quit Saying “Special Needs”?!

I am an adult with a disability. I have a child with a disability (different from my own). And I am a professional educator. I have come to loathe the term “special needs”. I feel like it’s a watered-down euphemism for “disability”, originating in the educational sphere and has since been misused all over the…

The Difference Between “Special Needs” and “Disability”

I’ve got to admit that when I joined the “special needs” community 3 years ago by way of Moxie, I was confused with all the “special needs” this and that. “Disability”, I was and am completely used to. But “special needs”? I wasn’t sure about it all, it really didn’t seem to make sense. It…