People with special needs

I'm more interested in why you've avoided putting your opinion in the first post, and indeed, haven't really posted it at all.

Are you trying to measure the general response before putting your view forward? Scared that you'll be treated harshly because you have a different view from the majority?

It really helps to spark discussion if you put your own views into the original post, rather than just say \"Here's your topic, discuss.\"

Black Magnolia, I take offense to your comment about them being like kindergarten children is there really need for that comment? From personal experience, I'd say people with disabilities are different from kids in nursery (kindergarten to you Americans). I've been around people with disabilities, my friend has at times worked with them and I did my work experience in a local nursery. Due to living with a brother with a learning disorder and from knowledge from a friend who has a brother with autism, I can safely say that they do not really know any different. To them, that is normal life.

Sure, it can be difficult to live with people with some kind of disorder, depending on the severity and indeed, which disorder it is. I do not get along with my brother at times, but I still protect him, because he's my brother. You can't put a blanket term over them, as they can be functioning members of society. At a pub/restaurant near my college, we have been served by someone with a disorder, I do not know which it is, but I can safely say she was doing her job well.

More on my brother, he's 14, his disorder affects his performance at school, and I can say he doesn't really know about the consequences of his actions at times. He's really like a big kid at times, but why does it matter? He could get into society one day easily. A job is a job in the end, and you still contribute to society. Hell, if I go into my family some more, I can pick out another individual with a disability.

I'm going to avoid the term \"special needs\" here, it's easier to use disability. What do people with a disability really need? Patience. It's harder to explain concepts to them, such as right and wrong, and can be difficult to teach them things to do with school, and things that branch off from that. (Again, this only applies to some, not all)

This is a sensitive subject, and honestly, if you're just going to say some general crap and have never really had to deal with someone with any kind of disorder then just don't bother saying anything.

I am a special educator, that's why I opened this thread, I wanted to hear your opinion. Because most people in Croatia don't see the importance of understanding that those people can live as normal life as we can, just if we give them a chance.
I'm using the term \"special needs\" because no one has really agreed about which term to use. We don't use the term mental retardation anymore, it's now called intellectual disabilities. But then again, it is still not covering all terms. Also there was time when we used the term disabled people, but that's really not appropriate, there's still some part of behavior which is functioning normaly. This is why they changed the term into people with disabilites which mean there's only one or a few parts of behavior that are not functioning the way they should.

Kuroboshi, I have a right to say my mind and I didn't mean it offensive when I compared them to kindergarten kids or children in general. I see kindergarten kids walking hand in hand in a line when they go out for a walk, and in the same manner do these people also hold hands and walk in line when they go on an organised walk. (Here I don't mean all people with special needs, but only those which I see near my home. There are different people with different needs...) I think the compression isn't off if you regard children also as people and not like an offense. There is a difference between being a child in your head and just behaving childishly and in the case of these people it's more of a case that they are still kids in their heads.

It's hard to put an adequate word to describe these people, but you have to have in mind that 'special needs' is a lot better then calling them \"idiot\", \"imbecile\" or \"maron\" which are scientific terms for different stages of mental retardation...

I'm studying law and I know how hard it is for those people to fight for their rights as there are a lot of boundaries. They are deprived of their legal capacity and can't in fact do anything by themselves, they need a guardian for everything. Slowly there are changes being made as more and more people see that they can function in society... For example, in the past they couldn't get married at all as for that you need legal capacity; now they can get an exception from the court that allows them to marry and they don't need a guardian for such an act.

Also, Kuroboshi, I'm happy to hear you care for your brother so much. It may sound cruel but not all families care so much for their members that need more patience and time... My friend told me a horrible story about her neighbours that have an autistic son; they don’t care at all for him, laugh him out, leave him to get hurt or sleep outside on the ground the whole night...

black_magnolia wrote:

It's hard to put an adequate word to describe these people, but you have to have in mind that 'special needs' is a lot better then calling them \"idiot\", \"imbecile\" or \"maron\" which are scientific terms for different stages of mental retardation...

Over here in the UK, none of those terms would be acceptable. We're extremely sensitive about political correctness and here, people with autism etc. are known as technically 'disabled' or 'with a disability'. They're both the same over here.

Terms differ in different countries, which is why I'm a tad uncomfortable discussing this topic where everyone isn't British, for example I automatically dislike just seeing the words 'mental retardation' as it just isn't socially accepted here and would be seen as a great insult, whereas I seem to recall Americans use that term as part of their normal, socially accepted language.

Laws also differ in other countries. I actually know a disabled solicitor, and she's no different to any other solicitor. She does her job on her own and a good job she does too. She's worked her way up to becoming a partner of a decently sized law firm and just leads a normal life.

I think in the UK, we're a lot more accepting of people who are: disabled, homosexual or from another country. Some kids still don't understand at around..Age 10-13, but generally, kids aged 13+ understand and accept people who are disabled, homosexual or of another ethnicity as equal. It's just the way our society works - The kids who don't accept all kinds of people are frowned upon by the rest of society and their peers on the whole, and therefore learn to accept people who are 'different' if they want to fit in. Of course, some peer groups will have similar negative views on 'people who are different' and you can get extreme cases where whole villages are racist etc., but generally, those type of people will stick together and become outcast in school, college and society by the majority of other people due to their attitudes.

That's probably the best way I can explain it.

I think that's a good thing. That's why we have to work on awareness in our country. Many people still don't get it.

Envy wrote:

black_magnolia wrote:

It's hard to put an adequate word to describe these people, but you have to have in mind that 'special needs' is a lot better then calling them \"idiot\", \"imbecile\" or \"maron\" which are scientific terms for different stages of mental retardation...

Over here in the UK, none of those terms would be acceptable. We're extremely sensitive about political correctness and here, people with autism etc. are known as technically 'disabled' or 'with a disability'. They're both the same over here.

Terms differ in different countries, which is why I'm a tad uncomfortable discussing this topic where everyone isn't British, for example I automatically dislike just seeing the words 'mental retardation' as it just isn't socially accepted here and would be seen as a great insult, whereas I seem to recall Americans use that term as part of their normal, socially accepted language.

Laws also differ in other countries. I actually know a disabled solicitor, and she's no different to any other solicitor. She does her job on her own and a good job she does too. She's worked her way up to becoming a partner of a decently sized law firm and just leads a normal life.

I think in the UK, we're a lot more accepting of people who are: disabled, homosexual or from another country. Some kids still don't understand at around..Age 10-13, but generally, kids aged 13+ understand and accept people who are disabled, homosexual or of another ethnicity as equal. It's just the way our society works - The kids who don't accept all kinds of people are frowned upon by the rest of society and their peers on the whole, and therefore learn to accept people who are 'different' if they want to fit in. Of course, some peer groups will have similar negative views on 'people who are different' and you can get extreme cases where whole villages are racist etc., but generally, those type of people will stick together and become outcast in school, college and society by the majority of other people due to their attitudes.

That's probably the best way I can explain it.

Yes, people in England may be more sensitive to it now, but you also used those terms (idiot, imbecile, maron) like 30 years ago when they were used all over the world. They are still recognised as scientific names for mental retardation, just with the colloquial use did they get a really negative tone to them and that's the reason people wanted a more appropriate name, one that wasn't as an insult, for such people. Same goes for mental retardation which isn't any more used because of \"retardation\"/\"retard\".
Disability isn't a really good word either, as not all disabilities are the same. You can be blind and a solicitor, but you can't be a solicitor if you have down syndrome. A lot of people that have a slight case of mental disability can easily function in society without any extra treatment.

I also think that talking about these things is better then sweeping it under the carpet under the pretence of being politically correct. From the previous posts it's clear that there isn't a really good term for it, not even all experts agree on it, but by sharing thoughts we can see how in different places there are different approaches to help these people get integrated into society.

In my hometown, for example, there were recently two fashion shows organised for raising funds for a disabled girl, to help her get schooled for a hairdresser. The show was a great success, here is the link to the newspaper article, so you can at least see some of the photos. Generally in my hometown we have often different things organised to help these people; from auctions of art works made by those people, to concerts, games etc.