Is using the term 'special needs' offensive now?

[STOPSCRATCHINGTHECRADLECAP]

I've just witnessed a FB conversation in which a mother with children with special needs says that 'special needs' is offensive and it's now 'special educational needs'.

This is new to me, I've not heard of this.

How long has this been the case?

Perhaps they want to ditch the word special because (as a PP said), it's often used as an insult.

As in "So and so is speshul "

FFS

I don't really understand how these perfectly serviceable terms become verboten. I suppose it happens organically. But as people have pointed out up-thread, there IS a difference between having Special Needs and having Special Educational Needs. Theoretically, to cover all bases, we say SEND (Special Educational Needs and (or is it, Or) Disability.

My son has severe ASD (or is severely affected by his ASD. Hey! I actually don't care which of those framings you use, and I interchange between them myself). He is largely non-verbal, not wholly continent, has a whole raft of sensory issues and behavioural 'quirks' and melts down reasonably frequently, often for reasons we cannot fathom.

He has special needs. He also has special educational needs (and a diagnosis and EHCP to support and verify that). I honestly do not care if you say he has either Special Needs, Special Educational Needs or SEN, as long as you make an effort to understand his challenges and approach him with an open mind. And also be prepared to love him, because he is utterly wonderful and very lovable.

If I overheard you, in a playground for instance, saying snidely 'he's a bit ... Special' I would probably march over and give you a piece of my mind. And a bit of reeducation.

Nuance, people. Social interaction is based on subtleties, one reason among many that people on the spectrum can find social interaction so fucking hard.

Is learning disability offensive? I feel like it probably is?

over time & in different countries terms change - some times people can be a bit "political" about things but if anyone has had to deal with PIP or DLA or its ilk they have old fashioned attitudes & its attitudes that are the issue - people are individual & the most important point is to approach this from the way of the individual rather than the "group" when talking to the person (or about the individual") - if you want to look up "The Social Model of Disability" (please note terminology even here) by Oliver versus Prof Shakespeare's argument -

Perhaps they want to ditch the word special because (as a PP said), it's often used as an insult

Isn’t the issue there that whatever term is used, eventually becomes an insult and offensive?

God you’re such a spaz, you’re so retarded etc all highly offensive but used to be the ‘correct’ term.

It was Special Educational Needs in schools after it stopped being "Remedial Education". I think it dates from the very influential Warnock report of 1978. I was certainly a SENCO by the early eighties.

I used to be the Clinical Lead for Specisl Needs Anaesthesia at my hospital. I worked with a team of community dentists who were qualified in Special Needs Dentistry as a specific subspecialty.
The terminology was changed to Special Needs from Learning Disability, and before that Mental Handicap, as it was felt LESS pejorative- it focused on us meeting their needs, rather than on them being disabled.
These people who get professionally offended on others’ behalf would have had a fit if they’d been around when I was a medical student. Patients then were referred to as mongols (Down’s syndrome) spastics, (there was even a charity called the Spastics Society), mentally handicapped, cretins (congenital hypothyroidism) etc.
I think Special Needs is far kinder and perfectly appropriate.
There is a lovely TV show for children with SN that’s actually called “Something Special”.

Like Knitted it annoys me when people say 'is' rather than 'has'. My child is far more than just their needs, however you term it.

Doesn’t SEN include things like dyslexia? I would have thought SN and SEN were two different categories, as a PP said.

What about adults with, for example, autism? People like me who struggle with some situations. I don't have special educational needs as such, though in some situations regarding further education I can need to avoid some things or adapt (but they're not educational needs as such, they'd exist in other situations too). But I do have different needs in some situations. Would I now be offending myself if I said I had SN?!
It's not just children who struggle - adults do too. Don't forget us!

My italics didn’t work there, but you get my drift.

SN here and disabled.
SEN seems wrong to me as its too much of a blanket term, Additional needs also to woolley.
if in doubt just use their name.

Additional Needs is used in Scotland as pps have said and I really like it as a term. It covers everything though: so a child who has just lost a parent in an accident would be said to have an additional need for a while (emotional support); a child with a broken leg in a Victorian school will have an additional need for a while (access); a looked-after child is pretty much always classed as having additional needs, etc etc.

I like it because the things my DS needs AREN'T 'special'. He needs extra things to access his education, but those things shouldn't be classed as special, they should just be completely normal and readily available for him.

That said, I can't get worked up about SN or SEN, as long as the intention is OK that's fine by me.

Language is loaded with meaning and a child with additional needs is about as neutral as it can be as a descriptor.

People call others ‘special needs’ which is awful. I can’t imagine anyone doing the same with the words additional needs.

SEN also gets around this problem.

People should stop stressing about whether it's SEN, SN, additional needs, different needs or whatever and start being offended about the fact that fuck all is done to address those needs, whatever they're called.

I had never heard of additional needs until a mother with AN used the term for her dds needs. Up until that point I thought it was special needs and at school SEN. Probably heard it on tv / read it. (The term child pornography is still sometimes used so the media isn’t great at keeping up). I can understand the speshul connotation but obviously would not use it in that way. It is very hard to keep up with changes.

I don't work in care now but when I did, just three years ago, I would say Jack has additional needs, he has autism. Sally has a wheelchair, she has mobility issues. . Ben has dyslexia etc. Very clear but fairly neutral language. I don't know if this is correct as our training was piss poor. That's another thread. You just do your best to learn and get on with assisting that person as appropriate. You can always just ask them which term they want you to use for paperwork etc. If your in a school setting op, they'll have a policy. Just stick with that.

Bollocks, I think you have a point there.

I have a child with SEN, I use the term SEN or "additional needs". I am tired of the perenially offended to be honest. However, if somebody called him a "mong" or a "retard"...I'd not be responsible for my actions. Those ARE offensive terms.

The language around disability will always change when the current phrases get misapproprated and used with poor intentions, such as the sarcastic tones of "speshul". Really its attitudes that are the problem.

I grew up with a close relative being "Mentally Handicapped". The extent of his brain damage was well beyond the "learning difficulties" in the same pool as needs such as dyslexia. In his case, I don't find the term offensive, but have adapted my description to "brain damaged at birth" so people grasp the severity of his difference. I can understand why the terminology has moved on as some of his peers with conditions such as Down's Syndrome are now seen as having potential of being much more capable within a broader spectrum of the way it affects their lives than going back a few decades. It is better that language has become less about what people can't do. Then again, within broad spectrum needs such as Autism, the way it affects life is so diverse that you can't have a simple one size fits all description. Some people need to use language to empower them and recognise positive differences, some people find that minimises the impacts of the condition on their lives.

Using language respectfully is the most important thing. Some lives are so different to normal range that "additional" doesn't really scratch the surface, and "special" does fit better. Sometimes additional (particularly in the context of mainstream education) is the better fit. I'd rather hear an archaic "mentally handicapped" spoken with love than a sarcastic "speshal" even though "special" used properly causes me no offense.

Other changes I've known have been changing from "resident" to "client" to "service user". "Service user" works better in a broader range of settings, but I found it very clinical in our family's context, and "resident" better reflected that our relative was in their home.

Special/ additional needs are not one size fits all and language struggles to reflect that, and any phrase can be corrupted by being taken over with poor intent.

Just say they have a condition and state what the condition is

It's a private medical diagnosis, why should that be disclosed to any stranger?

Schools cannot disclose a child's diagnosis to another parent who asks. Workplaces, same for employees.

As for any type of educational needs "stopping when a child leaves school," no, it's a lifetime thing but specific support is accessible through FE and Uni if needed. Educational needs are not somehow cancelled or disappear after A levels.

Also there are schemes to help anyone with communication and other difficulties, these do not always mean the person has SEN.
www.blueassistuk.org.uk/What_Is_Blueassist/

I thought it was the other way round, it used to be SEN and now it's SN.

SEND is often used now.Special Educational Needs And Disabilities
www.england.nhs.uk/learning-disabilities/care/children-young-people/send/

Perhaps it will evolve into SPECIFIC needs, if it hasn't already done so. That would encourage looking at the individual, not making assumptions.

I don’t know if it’s offensive but it’s definitely outdated. We used additional support needs/ASN.