How do you describe things? How important is a label? Not the designer, fancy kind of labels; the labels I mean are the ones that tell you things about yourself, or describe your niece or nephew, or say something about what you do. For kids with special needs, this poses an extra challenge.

This past July, Governor David A. Paterson of New York officially signed a name change into law, renaming the state agency OMRDD (Office of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities) to the New York State Office For People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD).

Why is this important? According to then-Commissioner, Diana Jones Ritter, “This historical legislation not only removes the words “mental retardation” from the name of our agency, but also from state statute and regulations, excluding clinical references.

“The new name was chosen in March 2010 by consensus of representative stakeholders. It eliminates the stigmatizing language that was part of the agency’s name and instead reflects this office’s number one guiding principle of “putting people first.” It is consistent with the People First language law enacted in 2007 which mandates that in statutory language, we place the emphasis where it should be – on the people we serve, not the disability.”

People. In other words, the kids, young adults, nieces and nephews that we know and love are not and should not be defined by their disabilities. They are just who they are. Sometimes it is easier to group kids with special needs into all sorts of divisions: ADD, PDD-NOS, sensory-integration dysfunction, Asperger’s, low-tone, deaf, bi-polar and more. But what do these labels mean? Every single kid with one of these “educational or psychological labels” will ultimately be, look and act differently than others.  

There are some words we all use in our everyday language—words like slow, retard, stupid, dumb, disorder and more that can be considered hurtful. What can we do to slow the spread of these words?  How can we make the future for our nieces or nephews a little less harsh? Vita is an organization which helps make life better for people living with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health issues. One way they do this is through “Words Hit” cards. Carry the card in your wallet and every time someone uses an offending word, show them this card.

Words hurt people. Let’s show our nieces and nephews with special needs that we care about what others say about them. The old saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me” is, well, old. Names can hurt.

Vita tells us some things to do:
1. Watch your words.
2. Notice the inclusion or exclusion of people with disabilities in your life.
3. Demand your world to be more accessible now. Maybe by the time your nieces and nephews are grown, it will be.

Beth Rosenberg is an Education Consultant for Special Needs, Art and Technology.

Published: September 28, 2010