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

I . Am . Lidl

Oh stop it. STOP IT!

I.Am.Lidl

I'm gonna keep that forever, plus the new poem, to hand to the next person that hands me Holland.

Slogan sorted mumsnet

My work is done.

Sorry, haven't had time to read all of the above so ignore if repeating what's already been suggested and discounted. Why not go with the words of Temple Grandin: Different, not less. It's succinct and to the point and would cover all disabilities (although she uses it to refer to Autism). I applaud MN for doing this and will be with you on this. Too many people think it's OK to use vile disablist terminology. For one if I have to see the word 'F*kTard' used once more on FB I will scream.

Different , not less

Fab!

Change free for included perhaps?

He can't change his [name of disability] but you can change your reaction.

No. My ds is not different, any more than he is Dutch, special or less. You see the problem as I see it goes back to the label. Some of us like them, and they do help access etc, but some of us hate them. That much is becoming increasingly clear through the hundreds of posts. There have been idea I like and some is hate. Just like the fact there are some other phrases some love and some hate.

But ds is no different to me than I am to my dh etc. (well actually he is probably more like me than dh is given genetics etc). I think emphasising difference would be a mistake.

I like that wilson

I think we need to keep coming back to what it is we want to change. General awareness doesn't do it for me, hence 'you can change your reaction' - putting the action on the non-disabled person. I too am a bit uncomfortable with 'different'. It's too close to 'special'. (Although I do still like 'same. Different. Whatever.)

Coming back to my suggestion of just parents of NT children signing up to just ONE session as a volunteer at a group. Just immersing themselves in amongst the children, and the parents there, should surely raise awareness.

I went to a group when ds was first dx, of children with ASD. DS was almost still a toddler so it was at that point an unknown world. Boy did it open my eyes. It was a bit scary at the time if I'm honest, but it has made me much less afraid now.

I like the volunteering idea Star. Though the head of my boy's school does say she dreads incoming volunteers, as they actually need as much looking after as the kids. I used to feel the same when I managed a division about student interns!

how about, simply, 'Change your reaction'?

ie, if it's a negative one, think about why, and do something about it.

if it's a neutral one, then try to do/say something positive

if it's a positive one, then tell the world.

one small step each time, direct and to the point. it makes no difference what the disability is, nor the label.

Yes I like that too

yes but again the likes of us are still excluded

pmsl I am Lidl.... oh yes!

Yes, but the volunteering thing isn't really about volunteering. Think of it a bit like when groups and things have a 'bring a grandparent' session. This is more like 'bring someone elses parent' session. And rather than the person actually giving up their time to 'help', they are doing it to 'learn' iyswim.

But we are not part of any group. It's still all about nicely fitting disability boxes, those that are usually too complex and challenging are not as easy to come across as they are usually isolated.

dev, there is no doubt that any affect of any change will take longer to get to your ds. The more complex and isolated, the 'harder to reach' by definition almost. That doesn't mean that attitudes towards him can be changed through experiencing others with disabilities.

FWIW, my ds doesn't attend any SN groups either because there aren't really any for him, but I would still love for people in general to go and experience some, as it will help change their attitude when they DO come across him, or when they are planning his care when I am gone.

yeah I see that but it still doesn't help the likes of DS who fit a few boxes. The perception of his visible disability is different to what you actually receive, then it's all the added complications that people don't see. For example, his home tutor is an autistic specific teacher, however she is learning all about PDA, DS and his medical and physical disabilities.

what do you meanzzzzz?