how can we ever take political correctness seriously when normal words suddenly become "hate crimes"

[Charis1]

not sure if this link will work, but this head teacher was investigated by the police for a "hate crime" for using the term "special needs" when referring to ASD.

schoolsimprovement.net/headteacher-cleared-in-police-disability-hate-crime-investigation-for-saying-autistic-pupil-had-special-needs/

SN is an umbrella term for any additional needs, of which SEN are just one branch. SN also incorperates physical difficulties, emotional problems, psychological problems, health needs etc

Eg professor Stephen Hawking clearly has SN which need to be provided for but to say he has SEN is completely inaccurate.

What!!!!'. Do the police not have enough peadophiles murderers and rapists to contend with. To say the police are under funded this investigation is ridiculous

Good God the biggest YNBU. I've ever given anyone.

when I was a kid being spesh...meant having a disability of some kind.

The world special I find patronising, everybody knows there's nothing special about disabilities.....additional needs seem much better.

Is it wrong to admit things like autism are disabilities, there seems to be a current vein of thought that autism is not a disability....it just makes you different, from what I see some children with autism are clearly disabled.

Interesting as a language point. I have often become frustrated by the language police on here who will derail athread becasue a poster has used a word which has chenged in meaning and acceptability.

Posters screamed at for racism because they used the wrong word, (although the word would have been fine twenty years agao or is still fine in another country). Or being told they are disablist for use of an outdated term.

I was told I had to use mixed race although I always thought it a stupid term as it was genreally only used to refer to mixed black/white. And now, so many of us are mixed in some way! But I will call peopel what they want to be called as I don't want to offend of course.

My Japanese/White British friend was never called mixed race and didn't see herself as such. She calls herself "half Japanese" when she is here and "half English" when she is in Japan. My lovely Indian friend does not call her kids mixed race although she is married to a white British guy.

It is the attitude that counts not the exact terms used.

"You are absolutly proving my point. This silly pernickity piddling around with finding this word offensive, then that word offensive, then the next word offensive."

No, it's not that SN and SEN are more or less offensive than the other one, it's just that it's inaccurate that they're interchangeable.

Oh, and I have always preferred handicapped to disabled.

My lovely uncle, paralysed from the neck down in a horrible accident was severely handicapped but he was not DIS-abled. It was far more difficult and he needed a lot of help but he was a man of fierce determination and a positive attitude and in spite of his handicap he worked and lived a relatively full life. Able...

BUT I would not use the term to describe someone if they did not like it.

As I understood it SN was a wider term and SEN was specific to education BUT SN is used as shorthand in educational contexts as the "E" /Educational part is a given in that situation.

So both are right here.

SN and SEN are not the same thing the poster up thread explains exactly why.

And nobody is SN or SEN they have SN or SEN or both

Orange I agree. Like derailing an entire thread because somebody saying they 'went out for a drink with the girls' is perpetuating the patriarchy.

Interesting point about handicapped too. Disabled implies they can't do things. Handicapped implies that all though things may be more difficult they can still be done. If I was in that boat I know which I would prefer.

My ds is dyslexic, so he has a special educational need, and would be noted as SEN, he has no other disability and so I'd not describe him as having special needs. My niece has down's syndrome, is severely disabled and so has special needs, as a result she also has special educational needs.

The more important thing is that they are both people first before any label is attached to them. Neither are 'special' except in the normal use of the word, where everyone is special and unique.

Political correctness to me is about being polite and considerate and thinking before speaking so should always be taken seriously.

Oh and re the disabled vs. handicapped discussion, being disabled can be more about the outside world than the individual with an impairment, the concept being that it is the way the world works that disables the person with mobility issues (stairs vs ramps) or autism (sometimes seen more as different than 'wrong').

I generally think it's best to use the terminology that the group you are talking about prefer, and in the UK that's disabled/disability and not handicapped. Individuals within the community may wish to use different terms and that is entirely their prerogative of course.

^Thanks for the explanation re SN/SN nooka.

SEN/SN gah!

When i was working as a care assistant over 20 years ago in a day centre for people with disabilities an older client there told me where the word handicapped came from. He said it was from the days decades ago and stretching back to Victorian times etc , when people with disabilities had to go "cap in hand" and beg because they wernt provided for and shut in institutions and workhouses.

Helena that etymology of handicapped is false. It was only applied to people with disabilities after the First World War. It has nothing to do with the phrase 'cap in hand.'

The use of handicapped actually comes from the sporting practice of attempting to even up a horse racing field by adding weight to well fancied horse which were thus at a disadvantage. This use far pre-dates the term's application to people with disabilities.

Interestingly a training session on access for people with physical disabilities. There are a small but growing number of people who would self-define as being crippled or having a crippled limb on the grounds that the term cripple refers to the physical impairment whereas disability is as a result of the society we live in.

So having non-functioning legs, doesn't disable you from taking a job, but you are disabled by the fact the workplace is on the third floor with no lift etc. etc.

Obviously the use of the term cripple is hugely contentious but it is interesting food for thought, but thinking about language, how we use it and what it means isn't 'PC loony nonsense' but it matters.

Helena that etymology of handicapped is false. It was only applied to people with disabilities after the First World War. It has nothing to do with the phrase 'cap in hand.'

The use of handicapped actually comes from the sporting practice of attempting to even up a horse racing field by adding weight to well fancied horse which were thus at a disadvantage. This use far pre-dates the term's application to people with disabilities.

Interestingly a training session on access for people with physical disabilities. There are a small but growing number of people who would self-define as being crippled or having a crippled limb on the grounds that the term cripple refers to the physical impairment whereas disability is as a result of the society we live in.

So having non-functioning legs, doesn't disable you from taking a job, but you are disabled by the fact the workplace is on the third floor with no lift etc. etc.

Obviously the use of the term cripple is hugely contentious but it is interesting food for thought, but thinking about language, how we use it and what it means isn't 'PC loony nonsense' but it matters.

Helena that etymology of handicapped is false. It was only applied to people with disabilities after the First World War. It has nothing to do with the phrase 'cap in hand.'

The use of handicapped actually comes from the sporting practice of attempting to even up a horse racing field by adding weight to well fancied horse which were thus at a disadvantage. This use far pre-dates the term's application to people with disabilities.

Interestingly a training session on access for people with physical disabilities. There are a small but growing number of people who would self-define as being crippled or having a crippled limb on the grounds that the term cripple refers to the physical impairment whereas disability is as a result of the society we live in.

So having non-functioning legs, doesn't disable you from taking a job, but you are disabled by the fact the workplace is on the third floor with no lift etc. etc.

Obviously the use of the term cripple is hugely contentious but it is interesting food for thought, but thinking about language, how we use it and what it means isn't 'PC loony nonsense' but it matters.

Helena that etymology of handicapped is false. It was only applied to people with disabilities after the First World War. It has nothing to do with the phrase 'cap in hand.'

The use of handicapped actually comes from the sporting practice of attempting to even up a horse racing field by adding weight to well fancied horse which were thus at a disadvantage. This use far pre-dates the term's application to people with disabilities.

Interestingly a training session on access for people with physical disabilities. There are a small but growing number of people who would self-define as being crippled or having a crippled limb on the grounds that the term cripple refers to the physical impairment whereas disability is as a result of the society we live in.

So having non-functioning legs, doesn't disable you from taking a job, but you are disabled by the fact the workplace is on the third floor with no lift etc. etc.

Obviously the use of the term cripple is hugely contentious but it is interesting food for thought, but thinking about language, how we use it and what it means isn't 'PC loony nonsense' but it matters.

The etymology of "handicap."

www.snopes.com/language/offense/handicap.asp

Quite how I managed to post it so many time heaven only knows.

I'm horrified that someone who claims to be a SEN teacher of 20 years doesn't know the difference between SEN and SN .

I have AS. I therefore have SN. It never affected my education and my schools never made any adjustments because I did not have any SEN. I struggle to function in lots of ways and can't work because of it, but I have and never have had difficulty with learning.

My NT brother is dyslexic. He has SEN because despite being uber clever he needed support with learning. Other than that he has no SNs, his are purely educational.

Special needs is gradually being replaced with Additional Needs, and Mixed Race with Dual Heritage although that might have changed by now as well. But these things filter down into the everyday lexicon of the average person very slowly indeed and unless they are directly affected or involved with people who fit the descriiptions it's not really surprising that they are not on top of the latest politically correct thing to say.

Special Needs was fine for years until people starting using 'speshal' in a tongue in cheek or pejorative way, so now some people consider it to be offensive. The problem is, given a few years, the next pejorative word/phrase will be 'additional.' You can't outrun it, so surely it's better to work on changing the attitudes and behaviours of the people who make offensive remarks, rather than constantly trying to re-brand disability.

Oh don't be silly OP.

Seizing on one silly case in the paper to extrapolate that there is nothing 'we' can say now is just nonsense.

For most people, for everyday life, if you just walk around trying not to be a dick to people everything is just fine.

The 'PC gown mad' thing is just another way of saying 'oh my God, I have to consider the feelings of others - it's all too much! '

Re; they are they interchangeable argument, I thought SN referred to all manner of disabilities, physical, mental, a combination, whereas SEN referred purely to disabilities or challenges that directly and specifically affect a person's ability to learn, for example Dyslexia.