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?

Oh yes I was watching Jerk it is a comedy about a guy with cerebal palsy his career adviser said Diffabilities I snorted because it is obviously out there being used on some poor sod!

Adults with disabilities find the term special needs quite offensive
But what do you class as a disability? And you're assuming everyone with a disability thinks like you. Does autism count as a disability in your eyes? I'm autistic but I wouldn't describe myself as disabled though I would on occasion use special needs. And I don't find it remotely offensive because it acts to identify that I have needs different to many others in everyday society.

To be honest whatever you say someone will be offended somewhere. I remember once, when I was still trying to get my head above water with my eldest children who had a diagnosis of ASD and ADHD, that I write I post about "my autistic child" and how I was really struggling and ended up being left in tears because instead of nay support when I was clear I was really not coping at that point, I had numerous comments about "what a horrible person I was" and other comments about how offensive it was to use that term.

I do get it. I totally get it in a professional sense and I do think professionals needs to use the right and politically correct terminology, focusing on the person first. However, I do think people on the whole need to be a bit less reactive to people using the wrong terms, especially when it's not meant to be offensive. Obviously in some context then corrections do need to be made, if someone was calling someone spastic for example, but on the whole I think we need to loosen up about terms like special needs.

I was in a training meeting recently when the entire meeting became a debate about using LAC children. I totally understood the point being made but the reality was the entire meeting got side tracked by focusing in terminology that lost focus of the child when in fact that the exact thing that focusing on the meeting did. The children were lost because someone felt the need to be like a dog with a bone about the terminology. I am not saying they were wrong, of course they were right in what they were saying, but the fact they felt the need to focus so much on that and kept bring it up, meant the purpose of the meeting was lost. That's is often what happens when things get too politically correct, we lose focus in the actual point. Yes focus on the child, yes labelling can be damaging and certainly correct offensive terms but to think consider the child (or individual) first then worry about terminology.

That is such a shame people were so caught up in their wokeness (and it is woke) that they couldn't support you mummyhaschangedhername

A poster above said they refer to their ASD child as having "special needs" - the same term another poster uses to describe her adult brother who is "mentally handicapped".

The issue is there is a world of difference between these two people and what they are capable of - and yet the same word is used so no one really knows what is meant by it.

I've seen SEN used more now than SN tbh. I think special educational needs is more relevant in some cases (but not all).

Saying someone is SN is generally considered offensive. Saying someone has SN isn't although people have different preferences for descriptions of their own needs and that should be respected.
I describe my son as being disabled ( if not stating what the particular disabilities are). I don't use additional needs because I think it minimises his difficulties and I have seen the term used that way on here.

I wouldn't use sen outside of an educational context.

This is something the autistic self-advocacy community is wrangling with, I’ve found, as we’re pushing back against person-first language and functioning labels but recognise the need for some kind of terminology. Personally I think better terms are “additional needs” or “higher support needs”.

I personally prefer additional needs, disabled or plain autistic.

Special has been hijacked by twats who think calling themselves or others 'a bit speshul' is hilarious. Ditto the term 'window licker'

But I wouldn't be offended if the intent was benign, no.

🖕

I think additional needs works well.

I hate when people say “they’re special needs” no they aren’t they HAVE needs it’s not who they are.

My dd has recently been diagnosed ( is that even the right term?) with SEN along the lines of dyslexia and dyspraxia but not exactly those, at age 16. She’s applying for jobs and we had this conversation, neither of us knew how to word it, what was the acceptable terminology. I suppose if it was dyslexia that would be easier as you can just say that, but she has no one named difficulty, just things she struggles with, which together mean she has recognised needs for extra time, a reader etc to complete reading/ writing.
It’s a shame the pp who was so upset by the thread left it rather than gave us an insight, it seems a lot of us struggle with this terminology.

My daughter has additional needs. I like the earlier suggestion of 'specific needs' though. Fuck off to anyone going on about snowflakes. Language is important, as demonstrated by my very deliberate use of 'fuck off' which I mean wholeheartedly.

Ds1 has additional needs he has some mild learning difficulties and was on the SEN register at primary school however there is a world of difference between him and ds2 who is severely autistic and has learning disabilities,he's non verbal etc .

Yeah, bloody snowflakes eh? Always whining about stupid, trivial things like being shoved into institutions and neglected/abused; used for fearmongering by anti-vaxxers; targeted by eugenicist movements; disabled children being murdered by their parents; disabled children being bullied in schools and having no adequate educational provided for them; hate crimes committed against disabled people; disabled people having their much-needed state benefits taken away because the government knows that vulnerable people can’t fight back quite so easily; and just generally being overlooked and pathologised and dehumanised and infantilised.
Oh, will you look at that? It’s not really snowflakery at all.

I do think though (Barring the obvious words which now are offensive in any context) on the whole it is the wider context of the conversation and tone which matters.

On the whole I wouldn’t be offended someone using a phrase that I wouldn’t normally use unless it was being used in a derogatory/ignorant/offensive way.

I'm not keen on the term additional needs as it sounds like a very minor problem that you might need a bit of extra help for like my 8 year old who has mild asthma, glue ear and hypermobility. I think describing someone who has more complex needs as having additional needs is minimising tbh.

It's difficult because I prefer to use the specific terms but I also find that with the less common conditions (e.g. my 10 year old has ehlers danlos syndrome) then people have no idea what I'm talking about and the more common conditions like asd or downs syndrome then people expect everyone who has it to be the same.

@pigflewpast My Dd has similar difficulties to your Dd she is in her 20s though on application forms she has said she has specific learning disability which affect x y z or has said cordination development disorder. Youur dd could also put down dyslexia/ dyspraxia or not disclose her condition at all, it is really up to her

Specific learning difficulty*

There’s no way I could real off all of DT2’s diagnoses - I either say disabled or additional needs because both describe him IMO.

I would prefer to use specific terms although even with specific terms it doesn’t always say much - autism is such a wide spectrum.

With ds that would be impossible though because he has a medical dictionaries worth of different diagnosises and they all overlap so you can’t even just use the relevant ones to the situation! Complex needs works well for us.

It isn't "snowflakery" to be asked to be treated with consideration and respect. People with additional needs don't need to be condescended to and called "special". We are kick ass and valued members of society. How dare you call us snowflakes. A term which is usually used to devalue the opinions of others.

@Pigflewpast people still say diagnosed but the tide seems to be turning in the direction of "...identified as having..." which I actually think might make things easier for a lot of people with additional needs as they don't like to be considered as being "ill".