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What do apples have to do with disability?
A green apple is more like red apples
than different,
and a person with a disability is more like people without disabilities than different.
From the U.S. Developmental Disabilities Act:
“Disability is a natural part of the human experience.”
Yes, Disability
is Natural!
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| LINKS TO
DISABILITY
IS NATURAL
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WHICH ARE YOUR FAVORITE SAYINGS?
Click on the links below to see your favorite designs as a bookmark, poster, magnet, note card, badge, or t-shirt transfer!
Ask Me, Don’t Assume
Attitudes are the
Real Disability
Children with Disabilities are Children, First
Within Families,
Among Friends,
and in the Community,
Disability is Irrelevant
Got Manners?
No Staring, Please
I Have Dreams!
Do You Know
What They Are?
What a Great IDEA: Inclusion Works!
Know Me, By My Name, Strengths, Abilities, Hopes, and Dreams;
Not My Diagnosis
Listen to Me:
With Your Ears,
Your Eyes, and
Your Heart
Nothing About Me
Without Me
When You See, Meet, or Think About a Person
with a Disability,
Presume Competence
People with Disabilities
Want Real Lives
Thumbs Down to Pity
Work with Me, Not on Me.
Do with Me, Not for Me.
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Inappropriate Behavior
Revolt against authority was, and remains to this day, the original sin, the classic crime, of the individual.
Thomas Szasz, M.D.
Little value comes out of the belief that people will respond progressively better by treating them progressively worse.
Eric Harvey
“Inappropriate behavior”—it’s a biggie in Disability World. Sometimes we use other descriptors like “problem behavior” or “challenging behavior.” In response, we write “behavior management programs,” create plans for “positive behavior supports,” and/or institute other remedies. It’s been reported that “behavior specialist” is one of the fastest-growing career opportunities. We define something as a problem (behavior), and then we need to create jobs to fix the problem!
Is there consensus on what constitutes inappropriate/problem/challenging behavior? No. What’s inappropriate in one person’s mind may not be perceived that way by others.And I’ve always wondered: who is the behavior a problem for or challenging to? Not the person who’s doing the behavior, right? It’s a problem and/or is challenging to those around him/her! Words like “problem,” “challenging,” and/or others seem to be euphemisms. Read more…
Here’s another helpful article on behavior issues: Joe Schiappacasse on Everyone’s Behavior.
You may make copies of the PDFs of these articles to share with others, for personal use or in trainings. Do not republish on websites, in newsletters, etc. without permission; see our Terms of Use. Copyright Kathie Snow, 2015, all rights reserved.
Click here for other articles to generate conversations and spark positive change. You’re welcome to make copies to share with others as handouts for trainings and more!
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THINK ABOUT IT…
No tendency is quite so strong in human nature as the desire to lay down rules for conduct of other people. William Howard Taft
In some extremely important ways, people are what you expect them to be, or at least they behave as you expect them to behave.
Naomi Weisstein
Logic will never change emotions and behavior…It is perceptions that control emotions and emotions control behavior. Changes in perception will change emotions and therefore behavior. If your perception changes, you have no choice: your emotions and behavior change, too.
Edward deBono
Formerly, we approved or disapproved, permitted and prohibited various behaviors because they were virtuous or wicked, legal or illegal. Now, we do so because they are deemed healthy or sick, therapeutic or pathogenic. Hence the seemingly unappeasable thirst to medicalize, pathologize and therapeutize all manner of behaviors manifesting as personal or social problems.
Thomas Szasz, M.D.
It is easier to behave your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of behaving.
Kegley’s Principle of Change
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CHECK IT OUT
Can you be awakened by autism? Click here and learn more.
Henry Holden, disability activist, actor, and author of the awesome quote, “Attitudes are the real disability,” has published a book of short plays that include characters with disabilities in a non-stereotypical way. Available at Amazon.com.
Regular Lives for Families with Children with Disabilities (featuring yours truly, Kathie Snow) is a series of 22 video segments on a variety of important topics of interest to families, professionals, and people with disabilities. Thanks to the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities for providing this series, as well as many other valuable learning opportunities on their site.
Being Autonomous – The Positive Impact Technology Can Have on Autonomy, was created by my son, Benjamin, for his Master’s degree project. The site features powerful testimony from people with disabilities. Could technology make a difference for the people with disabilities in your life?
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The 3rd edition of my Disability is Natural book is a life-changing book for parents, educators, and/or anyone who cares about children with disabilities. This valuable “how-to” manual covers birth to young adulthood, and focuses on inclusive education, alternatives to traditional services and therapies, living ordinary lives, and much more! 350 pages and still only $30.00.
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PRESENTATIONSI’ll be presenting in Missouri, Florida, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Oklahoma in the coming weeks and months, and events are pending in other locations.
I’d love to see you at any of those events, and I’d also love the opportunity to present for your organization! Click here to learn more. |
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THANK YOU!
Thanks for your interest in Disability is Natural!
Feel free to forward this Email to others. Please use the link at the bottom of the page (instead of the “Forward” button in your Email program).
Before using the contents of this E-Newsletter on websites, blogs, newsletters, etc., click here for our Terms of Use.
Remember to Presume Competence in people with disabilities!
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