Disability is Natural Free Press

• Revolutionary Common Sense Articles

• Sweatshirts on Sale!

• Featured Article: Identity Theft

• Online Learning

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Revolutionary Common Sense Articles

Check out the articles that have been added to the Revolutionary Common Sense page---short descriptions are below. Enjoy them at home, school, or the office, and share them with others as you explore new ways of thinking!

Advocate or Diplomat?

Explore the definitions of these two words, ponder the outcomes of different ways of doing things, and then decide if you would be more successful as an advocate or a diplomat.

The Case Against Special Needs

It's a descriptor that's commonly-used, but it's not one preferred by people with disabilities! What message do we send with this label? Who likes it, what does it mean, and why do we use it?

Creating Change Through Effective Communication

When we speak, do we mean what we say and say what we mean? As listeners, do we really hear what was said? Many of the difficulties we encounter could probably be solved if we communicated more effectively. Learn from the valuable tips in this article!

Curriculum Modifications: Math

Can a student with a disability go from hating math to loving it? It's possible when the appropriate curriculum modifications are in place, and it's not as hard as you think!

Diploma or Certificate?

Sixteen-year-old Deanna was in regular classes and her grades earned her a spot on on the honor roll. Imagine her mother's surprise when she learned Deanna would not be receiving a diploma---only a certificate. What's the situation in your school district for students with disabilities? Is it time to ask some questions?

Memories: Testimonies About the Living, Not Just the Dead

Listen to a grieving parent or spouse describe the wonderful attributes of a family member who recently died. You won't hear any negative descriptions of the dearly-departed. And this is as it should be. What can we learn from this practice in how we think and talk about the living, breathing children and adults with disabilities in our lives?

Early Diagnosis: Boon or Bane?

The early diagnosis of children is so widely practiced and endorsed that we seldom question its validity or helpfulness. If we examine the issue from both sides, however, potential harmful outcomes of early diagnosis are revealed.

Fatherhood Without Fear

What child doesn't adore being with dad? Fathers, grandfathers, uncles, or other male role models are important in a child's life. But raising a child with a disability can be an unsettling experience for some men. It's time to embrace fatherhood without fear!

Free the Giraffes!

Donna, an outstanding artist, wise woman, and person with autism, shares her extraordinary wisdom, through her ideas about freeing the giraffes.

Home, Sweet Home: Self-Sufficiency

One of the barriers to individuals with disabilities leading real lives is the belief that they "can't take care of themselves" (translation: can't cook). But what does "cooking" really mean in this day and age? There are lots of ways to ensure a person can achieve self-sufficiency in this area, and it's never too early or too late to begin!

From Inconvenient to Ordinary

On a regular basis, we face change and need to adjust to new technology, new rules, or new situations. What begins as inconvenient soon becomes ordinary. Just the idea of a child being included in school or an adult working in a real job may be seen as difficult and/or inconvenient---and so it doesn't happen. But we can change this, and the inconvenient can quickly become ordinary!

New Agreements Create New Lives

Have you read The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz? It's a life-changing book for all! But whether you've read the book or not, this article---which includes the four agreements with a disability-twist---will help you rediscover your common sense.

People as Precious Commodities

They're not listed on any stock exchange, but people with disabilities constitute a precious commodity in the United States. This might sound like a compliment, but it actually represents a sad state of affairs: children and adults with disabilities are the raw material of a gargantuan human services industry.

Visit the Revolutionary Common Sense page to download and read these thought-provoking articles!

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Sweatshirts on Sale!

Stay warm in a toasty sweatshirt and share new ways of thinking---choose your favorite sweatshirt from the 25 different styles available at the Disability is Natural Online Store. Enjoy savings on the sweatshirts during the month of January: regular price is $20.00, sale price is only $14.00! Buy for your family, outfit the office, or give as a gift! Sweatshirts are Fruit of the Loom, white, 50/50 cotton/poly, available in adult sizes medium, large, and x-large.

While you're at the Online Store, check out the new line of bright, colorful, oversized bookmarks, available in your choice of 25 designs, too. And save with Combo Pricing and/or quantity discounts on the bookmarks, mini-posters, and tote bags, as well as the Disability is Natural book, video/DVD, companion poster, and other items!

Several new designs were added in December:

• Equal, Not Special
• Walk in My Shoes
• Ask Me, Don't Assume.
• Help Me Learn How to Help Myself, In My Own Way.
• I Have Dreams. Do You Know What They Are?
• Know Me: By My Name, Strengths, Abilities, Hopes, and Dreams---Not My Diagnosis.
• Work With Me, Not On Me. Do With Me, Not For Me.
• Your Words, Attitudes, and Actions Impact My Life More Than My Disability.

All of these designs are available on tees, sweats, tote bags, badges, mini-posters, note cards, and bookmarks. And don't forget to check out the Abilities Box! It's time to celebrate, value, and share the many strengths, abilities, hopes, and dreams of children and adults with disabilities, and the Abilities Box will do just that---at IEP/IPP meetings or in any other setting!

Visit the Disability is Natural Online Store today to see the many ways to learn and share New Ways of Thinking!

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Featured Article: Identity Theft

Copyright 2006, Kathie Snow, www.disabilityisnatural.com

Identity theft hasn't happened to me yet---knock on wood. I hope it hasn't happened to you. According to the Better Business Bureau website, identify fraud volume for 2004 was $52.6 billion, involving 9.3 million victims. A variety of companies now offer tips and products to help us protect ourselves from thieves who would steal our names, personal information, and more.

But there's another form of identity theft that's been occurring since time began; it's affected millions of men, women, and children; and the loss to individuals and our society seems to be immeasurable. It can happen in an instant and last a lifetime, but there are no companies or government agencies to help "victims" regain their identities. In far too many cases, the individual and her family don't even realize the theft has occurred. And sadly, family members and others close to the person may be unwitting co-conspirators of the crime.

This form of identity theft occurs when a disability label robs an individual of the right to define himself. His identity, along with opportunities, experiences, potential, and hopes and dreams, are stolen. This theft might occur when a physician makes the diagnosis, or it can take place at home, in a school, a human services agency, a therapy clinic, or any other location at the moment those in power decide the diagnosis is the most important characteristic of the individual.

The power of labels to stigmatize, create self-fulfilling prophecies and reduce or enhance self-images is awesome. J. Dan Rothwell

When my now 19-year-old son was very young, I was a guilty perpetrator of this crime. At the time he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at four months of age, our family joined in a conspiracy with physicians, therapists, and early intervention personnel. We allowed "cerebral palsy" to take over the life of Benjamin. Fortunately, some adults with developmental disabilities and a few others who knew the potential dangers of conventional wisdom came to my aid and helped me learn new ways of thinking, which enabled our family to see the real Benjamin. Our son's identity was restored. He emerged from the black hole relatively unscathed. My husband and I are on parole and in rehab---monitoring our attitudes and actions daily. But it's a vigilant parole (and our son helps us), for there are still people and systems that would once again steal Benjamin's identity and turn him into a client, a consumer, a recipient, a "CP," a "special needs" person, or something similar.

We may not be aware that our attitudes, words, and actions can rob a person of his identity. It's easy to commit this crime---and it's done unintentionally all the time. In many cases, it occurs even when people have the best of intentions!

Many physicians, parents, therapists, and early childhood specialists have the best of intentions, and this puts them in a high-risk category. I know; been there, done that. It's far too easy to embrace the-earlier-the-better mentality and attempt to do everything possible to remediate the disability in a baby or very young child. In the process, intensive services, therapies, treatments, and special programs take over a child's life and he's robbed of his childhood. (The family's life is stolen, too!).

School-aged children may have their identities stolen by the special education system. Many are no longer "Ryan" or "Sarah"---they become the "sped student," the "Down's kid," or even the benign-sounding, but ultimately demeaning "inclusion student." Being identified by some "educational status," placement in a segregated special ed classroom, and/or being pulled out of class for "special help," can rob a child of opportunities to be a fourth-grader, a choir member, or other typical roles assumed by the majority of children in public schools. Throughout their school careers, most students proudly enjoy being Sarah, a second-grader; then later, Sarah, a sixth-grader; and still later, Sarah, a senior. Students with disabilities who spend years in ungraded classrooms are denied this rite of identity passage.

Many adults---whose identities were stolen as children---may continue to exist in this black hole. To the identity thieves within the human services system, disability descriptors are more relevant than an individual's name, and perceived deficits are more important than abilities. As a result, far too many adults are denied opportunities to assume the identities of employee, wife or husband, volunteer, taxpayer, and other ordinary roles.

There are many ways to end this form of identity theft. First, recognize that disability descriptors are just words that denote the medical condition a person has, and they cannot be used to judge a person, his value, his potential, or anything else that's important!

In our society, some words seem to immediately confer respect or elevated status. Physician, teacher, initials behind the name, and others come to mind. But as I read in an Ann Landers column many years ago, "Fifty percent of all doctors graduated in the lower half of their class." (And the same is true for other college-educated professionals.) So the second step is to rethink all the different words and labels we use for people, and question the assumptions that go with those descriptors.

The third step depends on your role in the lives of people who happen to have disabilities. When issuing the diagnosis, doctors can reduce the rhetoric about the prognosis, acknowledging that they're not fortune tellers and cannot predict the future of a person based on a medical diagnosis! Most pediatric specialists (who do much of the diagnosing) have little or no experience with successful adults with developmental disabilities, so how do they know what's really possible?

A judgment...is a conclusion... Premature judgment often prevents us from seeing what  is directly in front of us. S.I. Hayakawa

Staff in the public school system and human service agencies, along with therapists and service providers of all kinds, may need to use a person's diagnosis as eligibility criteria for services, but they can leave the diagnosis at the door of the IFSP/IEP/IPP meeting, and spend more time focused on the individual and his abilities, and on what assistive technology, supports, and accommodations he needs to make his hopes and dreams come true.

Imagine what it might feel like if your parents, teachers, and others (including some how hardly know you) spent years trying to change you into their definition of "normal"---under that seemingly altruistic mantra: "for your own good." This is identity theft! Now imagine what it feels like to never be able to meet that artificial standard: to feel that you're a failure, that who you are isn't good enough and what you can do isn't good enough---and never will be in the eyes of those who are supposed to care for you. Who you are is not acceptable to others, so they attempt to remake you, stealing your unique identity in the process. Many struggle against this theft of spirit, individuality, and potential. In response, we may add "non-compliant" and "inappropriate" to their identities.

If you're guilty of this form of identity theft, rehabilitate your attitudes, words, and actions. Put yourself on a vigilant parole, and ask others to help keep you on the straight and narrow. Make amends to those you've hurt. Would you hope for anything less if your identity had been stolen?

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Copyright 2006 Kathie Snow, www.disabilityisnatural.com. If you would like a handout (PDF) of this article, please send your request, along with the title of the article ("Identity Theft ") to: kathie@disabilityisnatural.com. You may share and/or distribute this E-Newsletter or the PDF version of the article (in entirety and unedited) to other individuals and list serves (non-commercial use only). As a courtesy, please let me know how/when you use it. Do not violate copyright laws---request permission before reproducing in any format: in printed publications, on web sites, in chat rooms, etc. Please do not hit your "Reply" button to respond---your message will be delayed. Instead, click on the Email address link above.

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Online Learning

The wisdom I gained when my son was very young (as described in the previous article) came from my participation in the Partners in Policymaking leadership development training program for parents of children with disabilities and adults with disabilities. The Partners training is offered across the country (and internationally, too), but you don't have to be a participant in the program to benefit---several modules of the Partners curriculum, including employment, inclusive education, working with public officials, and history, are offered online at www.partnersinpolicymaking.com. While the Partners training targets parents and people with disabilities, it can provide extraordinary benefits to teachers, service providers, therapists, physicians, and/or anyone else who cares about or works with children and adults with disabilities and their families. Check it out today!

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Thanks for your interest in new ways of thinking! Feel free to print and share this E-Newsletter and/or forward to other individuals and list serves (non-commercial only). But, as mentioned above, please request permission before reproducing any portion of this newsletter in any printed publications, on web sites, in chat rooms, etc.

Also, please contact us with your comments and ideas about this E-Newsletter, the Disability is Natural web site, or anything else of interest. (Note: do not hit your reply button to write us, as your communication will be delayed. Instead, click on the Contact Us link above or the Email address below.) If you received this E-Newsletter from a friend and would like to subscribe, visit www.disabilityisnatural.com and sign up at the bottom of any page, or send an Email to kathie@disabilityisnatural.com with your request.

And thanks for all you do to create an inclusive society where everyone belongs!