Disabled vs. Alternately Abled

Disabled vs. Alternately Abled

As a special educator, the term disabled makes me cringe.  When you look up the word disability, you’ll find synonyms such as affliction and defect.  Granted, certain things don’t come as easily to my students as they do to other children, but they’re not suffering, and they certainly aren’t defective!  To the contrary, while my students access aspects of life in ways different than most others, they also have remarkable abilities that few possess. 

SAVOR THE STRUGGLE

I love to see kids struggle. Let me rephrase that: I love to see a child persevere through a challenging task and enjoy a sense of accomplishment when he says, “I did it myself!” It has taken me thirteen years of teaching and sixteen years of parenting to learn the value of independent task completion and how to put aside my ego to let students fail and succeed.