Comments on: Scoop Essentials: Disclosing Disability, Tackling A Dicey Proposition

By: eleanorkrall

eleanorkrall — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:27:29 +0000

I agree with these comments. I think knowledge is the key and it is better for students, teachers and everyone involved to know what a disability is and how it affects individuals.

By: CookieMomster

CookieMomster — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:19:03 +0000

Hi! This is an excellent article, and it addresses so many aspects of “telling” and gives so may good reasons to give people the information they need. I love the part that says that letting people know the diagnosis (label) doesn’t make your child different, it just puts reason behind the differences. (Hence, my own daughter’s relief at having an Asperger’s diagnosis, because it explained her to herself and made her realize why things were so hard and stressful.)
However, one thought, and that it, that if your child with the disability is hearing these things repeatedly, and becomes verbal and a little difficult with his/her behaviors (this would be my autistic 11 year old son) the child is possibly prone to telling people that the reason that he has all these bad/difficult/offensive behaviors is because he has autism–so it’s ok to call names, swear at people, throw massive tantrums, etc., when in reality he is able to control them but doesn’t want to. (we have seen evidence of the control…and seen his use his “classic autism” as an excuse rather than taking responsibility for the behaviors that he can control.

By: mschlieder

mschlieder — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:27:29 +0000

With parents permission, in some instances we’ve disclosed information regarding a student’s disability to peers. This is done by starting out discussing that everyone has strengths and challenges, followed by information on a disability a particular student may have. The goal is to show how alike we all are, to promote respect and acceptance of individual differences, to decrease bullying, and foster positive social interactions. In our school we have found that the benefits of peer education far outweigh worries about confidentiality.