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?

MrsJayy thank you. She wanted to put something to explain her poor exam results but explain it wouldn’t affect her ability to do the jobs.

Just realising, I've only ever heard the term "special needs" used to refer to people with learning disabilities and nothing else. Is it also used in other contexts? I always liked the term "additional needs" because it is inclusive of all people who need extra support as a result of disability.

Just to say, some disabled people hate the idea that everyone disabled needs extra support. With some disabilities, the issue is that society is designed for able bodied people, and with a different society, there would be no need for extra support.
For example with deaf people who use BSL, if everyone was taught BSL, there would be no issues.

I think the autistic spectrum is a really difficult area too. Aspergers was a diagnosis I understood but since a blanket diagnosis of autism seems to be used at the moment, it's really difficult to work out what the diagnosis is.

I usually use complex needs or additional needs (especially as I once said that ds had special needs and someone said...'what's so special about him'!!)

MumUnderTheMoon thank you for clarifying re diagnosed, that makes sense. I also agree with your comment about special needs referring to people with learning difficulties and nothing else, that’s the context I’ve always heard it in.

When special needs was first used, it referred to all learning difficulties/physical disabilities/and behavioural difficulties. It was a catch all term.
Not saying this to disagree, just saying that the use of terms evolves.

Did anyone watch jerk last night and his unhappiness at how disabled is used to mean almost anything>

Tenpole as we now understand more about autism there is no longer a need to identify people as having different types. Autism is neurological it affects sensory perception and social skills. Regardless of how "severely" a person is affected the areas of development which are affected remain consistent. Aspergers was a term used to soften the blow for those people or parents who didn't like their "high functioning" child being compared to children who have autism and learning disabilities and other co existing conditions which make their autism appear more severe. It was easier to hear not they/ their children were always autistic.

@LatinforTelly that was a fab series which must highlight some very basic daily issues faced by families of kids with (what was her condition, did they ever say?) severe special needs.

@Bekabeech I worked in a Few ASD resource bases years and years ago when it was still quite new to most people, and I was taught that kids with Autism were all pretty much one and the same, depending on whether they were considered Kanners, Aspergers, or HFA. But its total bollocks. And they still haven't updated it properly and they STILL haven't set up a proper diagnostic testing system for females with Autism, which is ridiculous because males and females tend to present differently.

And of course, its a spectrum disorder. They acknowledged this years ago, but you were still taught that ASD was black and white.

My kids are both SEN. That's how I put it. They both are under a SENCO. It was SEN when I worked in schools, but back then a child was 'statemented' (statement of educational needs).

I believe the term statement is out of date now; my children are both being assessed for an EHCP.

Terms change constantly. Behavioural Emotional Social Disorder became Emotional Behavioural Disorder. Autism, ASD and Aspergers has recently been glued together under Autism.

People do spend too much time worried about the wording, or acronyms, than actually treating and helping the people with various conditions who just want a little support to get along as normally as possible.

How autism affects people though is so wide that saying someone is autistic by itself is pretty meaningless in terms of what that actually means. It can mean someone totally non verbal, doubly incontinent and with difficult behaviour to manage; or someone who largely manages fine but struggles a bit with understanding social rules.

@MumUnderTheMoon Dr Asperger and Dr Kanner both separately 'discovered' autism but Dr A came across more people woth what we would class as Aspergers type Autism, where as Dr K was studying people affected severely enough for them to have little or no speech, incontinence, etc.

That is how there were different names, and now scientists and doctors have bridged the gaps and realised they are both part of the same thing.

Regardless of how "severely" a person is affected the areas of development which are affected remain consistent. Aspergers was a term used to soften the blow for those people or parents who didn't like their "high functioning" child being compared to children who have autism and learning disabilities and other co existing conditions which make their autism appear more severe. It was easier to hear not they/ their children were always autistic.

I don’t buy this personally - my twins both have the same ASD diagnosis but present totally differently. I really struggle with the fact that they both have the same diagnosis but are so different. I struggle to believe that it’s not possible to classify this further and give some idea of prognosis rather than being shrugged and at “who knows”.

I see posts from people talking about their children with ASD who are very aggressive / violent and I wonder if that’s what my two will be like - at the moment they’re not like that at all, but I don’t know when those behaviours start. They’ve regressed once, will they regress again? No one can / will tell me. I’m not sure that a single blanket diagnosis for such a broad spectrum is good enough, frankly.

I have cerebral palsy and problems with my vision. I also have autism.

I was registered as partially sighted but not sure if that is still current.

Although I appear to function pretty well I think of my autism as a disability for me. I really needed social skills training/support and struggle a lot.

I generally refer to my disability, “I have cerebral palsy” but I sometimes slip myself especially with the sight “I am partially sighted” not “I have partial sight/a visual impairment”.
I find the context the most important thing. I don’t mind “do you have any special/specific/additional needs” (eg for a job interview). I hated the term spastic as a child, even now I find it hard when it is used about me (in medical context) and would hate it otherwise.

As much as I would like to be able to see autism classified more specifically I don’t see how it would be possible. There is so much variation of how it presents, and not necessarily any consistency even with one person.

Even trying to guess at prognosis, at 5 it would have been said that ds had a prognosis to cope pretty well in the “normal” world. By 9 it is becoming increasingly obvious that won’t be the case. How much long term support he will need though then who knows?

It’s just all so complex!

I have obviously been unclear. People with autism vary just as the rest of the population do. However we generally have sensory issues, problems understanding social mores, problems with theory of mind etc. These things are what identify us as being autistic, how we vary is what makes us human.

SinkGirl Yes other SN is classified further. So we don't just say visual impairments and stop there, although all visual impairment involves the optic nerve and/or how it is processed in the brain. It is broken down a great deal to different kinds of visual impairment that affect peoples sight in very different ways.

I hope it’s something they can figure out down the line - I just can’t handle the extremities of the unknowns. Sometimes I wish they would just guess, eg “based on my experience he will / won’t learn to talk”, the fact that they could be nonverbal adults who can’t live alone or fully functioning independent adults is responsible for so much of my constant anxiety, overanalysing and general panic.

My son also has optic nerve Hypoplasia but because he can’t talk we can’t tell how much he’s affected - they can at least tell me it’s not progressive which is something!

Sinkgirl
My daughter and I both have ASD. I keep a home, raise my child, manage both of our medical needs ( complex as I have multiple diagnosis) etc. Dd has a learning disability, specific learning difficulties and will most likely alway need to be with me for her safety.
When I refer to autism I think of us as being "neuroatypical" this clinical term is something I like as it isn't loaded with emotion or expectation.
People with autism have a lot in common the ways we differ is not significant under diagnostic criteria so the difference can't be taken into account.
Parents of neurotypical children can't predict the future either. Try and focus on the positives where you can. Eg I love that my dd doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks it means that peer pressure will be completely ineffective on her.

I don't find the term special needs offensive, what I do find annoying (and offensive) is people writing "my child is ASD/SEN/SN." For one thing its inaccurate from a grammar perspective, a child can not be Autism Spectrum Disorder, they can be autistic, they can have special or additional needs but they cannot be SEN. By writing it that way people are reducing the child to their issues/disability.
I don't think SN or SEN are offensive, more than anything else it's just confusing.
It's a bit like learning difficulties and learning disabilities in that most people don't know the difference. It doesn't help that not only does the terminology keep changing but professionals aren't all on the same page.

SEN I find particularly confusing because people use it to cover so many things, and most of the time it would be easier if they just wrote what condition/issues their child has. When a poster writes "my son is/has SEN" with no further explanation I'm left wondering why it's relevant and what kind of issues they are referring to. I find it even more annoying when you ask what special needs their child has and they say they're autistic or dyspraxic for example, if a child's issues have a specific name why not just say that?

I do find it curious though, how the terms change over time. When my brother was diagnosed with autism the term ASD wasn't used and now its everywhere, do parents prefer saying ASD to saying their child is autistic or has autism? I really dislike it personally, not because I object to the word disorder (I know some people don't like that) but because I get really frustrated with people who write"I am ASD." Funny, I would have hoped an autistic person would be too pedantic to type that monstrosity. Evidently not.

A person has a learning disability if their IQ is under 70, specific learning difficulties pertains to things like dyslexia, dycalculia etc but people affected by both of these have SENs.

It's actually SEND. In education.

But I say SN, SEND and disabilities. As well as has ASD or had physical disability or neuromuscular disorder.

Can't see any of it's offensive myself.

Anyone of the descriptions is true in my sons case!

A person has a learning disability if their IQ is under 70, specific learning difficulties pertains to things like dyslexia, dycalculia etc

The terminology is different in the US which created some confusion for me when I first went on MN. In the US 'learning disabilities" comprise what is referred to in the UK as learning difficulties, dyslexia, etc. What people in the UK refer to as learning disabilities in the US is usually called intellectual disabilities. The severity of my son's learning disabilities, dyslexia and some auditory processing issues, make him legally disabled in the US, but his IQ is above 100.

We’d never refer to Autistic children or Autistic people but “people/children with Autism”
In my experience, almost all autistic people actually prefer to be called “autistic people” (I feel like there’s no way to phrase that without sounding arsey but I added a smiley face if that helps!)

Both the Children & Families Act 2015 and SEND Code of Practice 2015 refer to Children & Young People 0-25 as having Special Educational Needs &/or Disabilities.

In adults, the Care Act 2014 refers to "an Adult's Needs for Care & Support"

So those are the legal terms currently ....