New MN campaign around children with special needs

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

Following on from this, um, lively thread from a couple of weeks back, we wanted to follow up on kungfupannda's excellent suggestion of an MNHQ-backed awareness-raising campaign aimed at - in kungfupannda's words - 'making it absolutely, uncompromisingly clear that in order to fully include children with severe disabilities, people might have to accept a bit of disruption once in a while.'

We were thinking about something along the lines of our We Believe You campaign on rape myths; that is to say, an ongoing awareness-raising project aimed at the general public, rather than a short-term campaign with specific policy requests attached. We would be thinking about pages on Mumsnet itself featuring the experiences of our posters, activity on our Bloggers Network, ye olde Twitter hashtagge, and any press coverage we can grab.

The suggestion on the thread was for the campaign to be called 'Tolerance is...', but we at MNHQ are a little unsure about the word 'tolerance' (which can suggest barely-contained irritation, rather than the kind of empathetic understanding and generosity of spirit we'd all like to see). So we were wondering whether something along the lines of 'This is my child' would work better?

Please feel free to use this thread to give us any feedback and ideas, and generally let us know what you think.

Thanks
MNHQ

disagree Hothead based on the fact my son is being left with no support at home 24/7, I have even told every disabled child matters and it wasn't for them, so yes everybody matters, just not my DS.

Everybody Matters is the name of Mary Robinson's recently released autobiography, Hotheaded. She is using that as campaign slogan for climate change.

I suggested 'Don't dis me' as I thought it would be eye catching and a bit provocative because of the street slang. It may catch the attention of younger people which could only be a good thing as ignorance can start early and it's easier to educate youngsters than older people who may be stuck in their ways.

Another suggestion is 'Square pegs' as that's what disabled people seem to be (my ds is anyway).

how about 'Let me help you'

but NOT from an able-bodied person helps a person with disablities angle, but from a 'Let me help you re-think/see it differently/see beyond the disability/etc' pov?

could cover jsut about everything with that.

Firstly, I should apologise for not having actually read through the whole of this thread or the one leading to it.

Wanted to say a huge Well Done and Thanks to lovely MN for taking this up. xxx

I have an ASD DS and an NT DD and seem to have spent years trying to get people to treat them as EQUALS. The laws of our lovely country have moved on a long way from the days of just plain old discrimination to a new language of Equality.

It often helps to go with the comparisons of the Black Rights Movements and how they were portrayed in media and public. There's a well known poem, that you might have read that I always try to remember whenever we come up against this really inhumane treatment by the privileged Norms.

I Too, by Langston Hughes (Sorry rubbish at links but it's there if you search)
(Just replace references to skin tones with disability and you're there.

Agree with everyone that ever said that it's about RIGHTS but would add that it's also about humanity and empathy.

Hope this works.

www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177020

I really like Silverfrog's 'Let me help you!' aimed at helping people include us, children with disabilites, parents of children with disabilities and others etc.

I think it is about education too. People tend to think it doesn't affect them or those around them.

Figures quoted recently were (VERY roughly):

Diagnosis ASD affects around 1 in 120 children. But this doesn't include how many siblings and other family members are also affected. Many primary aged children will either be related to or know a child living with a disability.

In Blair's Third Way speech there was lots of emphasis on those living with a disability. He quoted something like 17% of children have a form of disability but this figure is much much higher (think about more than double) in adults.

Therefore, acquired disability. So... (really not trying to be alarmist but factual) a healthy child doesn't necessarily result in a healthy adult. Carers UK report a fast growing population of carers.

This is a subject that was involved in quite recently and used in the context of both social inclusion and welfare costs. (Think tabloid influence together with ConDem policy - Ugghh!).

So maybe not just a case of "Me Too" but more of a Lottery type "It could be You!"

what about 'live with us', it could be blunt and edgy - the 'tolerate us' side of things, for situations where people are judging/tutting. And it could be about inclusion - the way the majority see it, with inclusion in various sports/hobbies/jobs whatever. Or about helping an individual with whatever they need to get on with life, as best they can. Or even better, 'this is me; live with me' - live life to the full with me.

I like this

I always think that people should walk a mile in my dc's shoes to understand their life and the struggles that they will always face.

Havent read all suggestions as on phone but howabout something like

'All it needs is understanding'

Yes, zzzzz that is very true. I was very ignorant before having ds, despite my mother having worked with children and adults with learning disabilities, and having volunteered in special schools in the Summer Holidays when I was younger.

Dh said it was like when Dorothy was whisked away by the tornado, discovering that ds had sn, waking up and walking through that door......'Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas any more....'

Ah Holland, my old friend.............

Can we PLEASE use an image of a dead tulip, or at least have it in there somewhere!!

I know, I can't stand that poem, and it makes me laugh that actually, ds is in Holland now, or at least his DNA is, because that is where the genetics study is based.