To want to know the Something Special disabilities?

[EmmaCate]

I am interested from a science POV about what makes some children on the show the way they are, but it feels a bit voyeuristic sometimes. Especially because it's often the very disabled children that make me wonder what condition they have and why it manifests that way.

I also wonder whether the shows could help people who have just found out their DC has one of the conditions featured. Without knowing what disabilities are featured in each episode though, it wouldn't be much of a reference point.

Would be interested in views of parents with children that have a disability. I heard on Radio 5 a Mum say she liked people asking about her kids because then they understood them better, but this is always a sensitive area to have any opinion on and I don't know therefore if IABU.

What silverfrog said.
Thread should not be pulled. The OP has probably learnt someting from this thread, as may others.

I don't wish to see the thread pulled either, even though I think the OP's idea is unreasonable and I don't much like the wording of the title.

In some ways its very healthy to wish to be more informed and for that EmmaCate YANBU.

If you are genuinely interested, especially in the science of certain conditions/disabilities and how they affect day to day life, then I think the recommendation of perhaps coupling volunteering at either a hospice or special school/unit with scientific/medical reference sources would be a better idea than to use subtitles to explain the conditions experienced by children on Something Special.

I am at the ignorant end of the spectrum, as in, I'm no expert... but my own experiences of work experience through Uni really fostered a very basic understanding of certain disabilities and taught me about appropriate 'times and places' where asking is okay, and where it isn't. It also made me acutely aware that these are children first, individuals who may have to cope with their disability through every second of their day but are firstly, people.

I can understand that you are interested.

I wish people saw children as children first, but they don't. Most people see a black/white girl/boy disabled/ NT child. Descriptors, as a species we pattern-recognise, label and pigeon-hole everyone.

I've been involved in one capacity or another with people with additional needs for my whole life.

Before I meet new clients, I would research DXs to give me a general idea of what to expect/ how to tailor my teaching, but actually, the children are as different from one another as any other group. In addition, many children don't have a named syndrome - "Global Developmental Delay" is the best that can be come up with, which means SFA in real terms.

Anyway, if you see a child with CP, or Sotos, or Angelmans, or Cornelia De Lange symdrome - what does it actually mean for you or them that you can label it? It means your curiosity is satisfied - so yes, a sense of voyeurism there. It means you are further labelling the child - narrowing the pigeon hole you've put them in. For the child, it means fuck all, just another ignorant adult who is more interested in them as a freaky thing to look at, rather than a person with thoughts and feelings, with a whole life that is not defined by the fact that some of their characteristics were described by some doctor and enshrined in a textbook.

This thread's made me cross and I don't know why.

Exactly crunchyfrog.

It is an infuriating thread but has nicely summed up the crap that people have to put up with everyday - the OP is may well have been thinking she all noble & PC & probably tries not to stare at people with disabilities & doesn't call them spazz/mong/tard ... but she doesn't see them as human beings either.

Is that point really so difficult for nt people to understand?

What the op as suggested is nothing to do with education, it does not benefit the specific child or disabled in any way at all - but call it 'education' rather than freak-showery & voyeurism & that makes it okay apparently

why dont you write to cbeebies and ask them what they children have , I dont have little children anymore but i know the programme you are talking about this is a childrens programme and an inclusive programme you do not need to know the ins and outs of their medical conditions/disabilities, Yabu and nosy , I am an adult with a disability and as a disabled child in the 70s when people whispered about people with disabilities and wonder what is wrong with them , its sad some people have not changed and are still nosy buggers ,

the not they

argh was supposed to be '... does not benefit the specific child or disabled people more generally in any way at all ...'

I don't like the idea. I think it would be treating the guest children like animals in a wildlife documentary. (In the style of "Here we see the male Tiger Quoll hunting for crayfish".)

They're still children. Besides, imagine being a parent, whose child wanted to go on the show, if declaring medical information was a condition of appearance. Not Fair.

But the program isn't for the "scientific" interest of adults. It is for children - all children, whether NT or with disabilities or conditions of any sort.

It is important for children to see that disability isn't weird or scary - adults should already know that and really don't need to be educated by a children's program.

Don't think you've thought this one through OP...

How on earth would that work? - a caption under each child!!! - name, age, disability, secondary disibilities, complications etc.

It would go against the very thing that the programme is about....

..and i'm sure the parents of those children would be pulling them out of the show pdq - which would be a real shame all round...

You have to remember that actually not all children (or adults for that matter) have been fully diagnosed. It is never as straight forward as that - I work in an SEN school and only the newbies ask about the kids conditions, to us it simply does not matter - they need x, y and z help and that's what we supply, obviously when it comes to allergies etc that is a different matter.

I also do care work for someone who is 22 and has Leigh's syndrome, but that is not the only condition he has, I'm fairly sure he wouldn't want to sit and discuss it at length anyway, it's often a very personal question. He helps at a support group and it is like an unwritten rule that nobody says "so, what's the matter with you then" it's just rude and gets you nowhere, why does it matter what conditions they have - either watch the programme or don't.

Crunchy frog I agree whole heatedly, it is a labelling thing, you put it perfectly

I can understand why you ask and would like to know out of interest OP.

Lots of very good points made already and can't really add much but - having a child with SN myself I like the fact that the programme hopefully enables children to accept disability at face value. Once we start to label (and don't forget there are usually vast differences between children with the same label - try CP for example) the show would enter into a different territory.

Please don't pull the thread - there are some really interesting discussions on here and I don't think the OP should feel bad for asking the question.

OK - thanks for all the responses. I'm really sorry to have offended but of course I don't tune in to 'gawp at kids', or think that they are there to entertain me in some way.

I watch with my children and love the programme and watching the children! Just sometimes I wonder about the disability; it is natural curiosity, misguided perhaps but I can't help it. I accept though that to ask the question in the context of this show was stupid and off the point.

For the record, I don't see people with a disability as a different species or treat them any differently to someone without recognised disabilities (unless required in a practical sense).

emma i think you have to look past these disabled children and just enjoy the programme with your own children , You are putting to much emphasis on the medical condition even if you did say it was from a scientific POV it was just nosiness ,

But the idea is for the children to see the children with disabilities as "normal" children and labelling them would disolve that, the watching children would then view them as "different".

When Cerrie came onto CBeeBies then it was great for dd2 because she became normal in their eyes because she was "like Cerrie".

And not subtitles!! I think when I originally posted I was thinking more something that would be in the programme information on the internet, and not linked to the children in particular; just saying what conditions featured. Although as I write it does feel awful to suggest!

As I said earlier, I would n ot mind in the slightest if dd1 was 'labelled' (ie her condition named) as long as it was done sensitively (which is somethign I htink that Something Special in particular would probably get right, tbh).

dd1 is different form her peers.

yes ,she is still 'just' a child, and one who likes playing, and who deserves to be treated normally.

but she is still different.

and I don't mind people asking why she is different, as long as it is out of a need to know, rather than a need to label (ie, no judgement, no differing treatment as a result of the knowledge, etc).

dd1 is fab, and funny, and beautiful, and a bit odd sometimes, and hard ot understand sometimes, and oh, lots of other things. she is dd1. but she does have a condition which makes her different. that is a fact. it is not the only (or even the most important) fact about her, but it is one of many which make up who she is.

emma tbh i think you are over thinking this , what does it matter what conditions they have , parents with sn children can find out info elsewhere about their children , you dont need to know little sarah's medical record or to be linked to a support group to enjoy and watch this programme this is a show for preschoolers who happen to have a disability or illness ,

Having not seen it Im guessing its just your usual under5s programme where they go on adventures etc , but if they had an episode where they visited the doctor or a hospital then its a good idea to link info ,

I have 3 dc with autism and I am pleased when people want to know more about it. It's natural to want to know more. I don't think it's appropriate for this programme but I can see where you are coming from :)

I don't think the OP meant any harm. Of course it is natural to be curious about people who look or act differently.

However I always think about the "boob" rule of thumb. I've got big boobs. I'm sure lots of people notice them. But I would be very upset / insulted if someone I didn't know asked me a question about them! If someone walked up to me in the street and said "You've got really big boobs. Are they real? Do they give you backache?" I'd lamp them one. So similarly if I meet someone with a visible disability I wouldn't dream of saying "Blimey, you've got no legs have you? What happened there then?"

Similarly if I appeared on a television program about me going to a zoo or a garden centre or whatever I wouldn't be particularly impressed if they included my cup size in a subtitle with my name, favourite colour and pets!

I've never heard of this programme but I don't think you are being unreasonable to wonder. I don't think you have a right to know but it's natural to want to.

It seems like an odd premise for a programme though - putting SEN children on rv doing ordinary everyday activities surely just serves to emphasise their difference to others not their similarity? A programme wouldn't be made of other children doing ordinary activities would it?

Manic

You need to see the show.
It isn't onlychildren with disabilities. It is just lots of kids doing stuff and some of them have disabilities. The programme is presented with makaton style signing as well as speech.
It's a great show.

There are programme sections and programmes featuring presumably NT children, or children who are mostly NT, doing ordinary things on TV, aren't there? We just don't think about it. Something Special is merely compensating and giving children with SEN some representation.

For example, the teletubbies tummy-tv segment was generally children doing something like puddle-splashing, or feeding calves. Nina and the Neurones features children, who help Nina. There are children on Waybaloo.

There are children all over children's programming, and most of the time, they are NT.