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Home : 2007 : March : 17

'Labels'
By maj

In my opinion, labels are not derogatory. I have a disability, my children have disabilities, my students have disabilities (I'm a special ed. teacher). I don't think it's wrong to label those disabilities. Is it wrong to
say that someone is visually-impaired if that person cannot see? Is it wrong to say that someone is hearing-impaired if that person cannot hear well? Is it wrong to say that someone has muscular dystrophy when you explain that he/she cannot use some of their muscles? I don't think these are wrong to say, they are simply truths about that person. I think it's the same for students with learning

disabilities, which are *brain-based* and therefore physically-based in a sense, as one's brain is a part of their body. Learning disabilities do not occur in one's mind, which is not a concrete concept, but rather result from some type of neurological difference, and that refers to the structure of parts of the brain (the 'wiring' or development of the brain's structure is not 'typical'). To deny these differences or to say that it's insulting to acknowledge them is to deny a reality that the person lives with on a daily basis, in my opinion. The real problem isn't acknowledging the differences (and labeling is one way of acknowledging them), it's acting as if to do so is to insult the person. THAT is insulting. If I had a communication-based learning disability and someone said that acknowledging that disability as the cause of my problems is insulting to me, then I would be offended by the person who felt that way, because it is offensive to suggest that my disability is an insult. It's simply a part of who I am (by the way, that's not what my own disability is, it's an example to help me keep my anonymity).
As the mom of special needs kids and a dedicated special ed. teacher, I don't fight against labels, I fight against the idea that these labels are stigmatizing and negative. I choose to try to make the rest of the world understand that there is nothing negative about the words we use to describe the differences, they are terms that we use to help us identify the difficulties so that we can help the person learn. Labels are only a starting point, and from there you have to get to know the whole student, their strengths and weaknesses. But I think it does help to know if someone has Asperger's or a language-based disability, or a communication-based disability, or a non-verbal disability, or a motor-based disability, etc. And yes, if people prefer 'difference' to disability, I can agree to that, because it is an accurate term. The schools in my area need a 'disability' to get services, though, not a difference.
To answer the original poster, we use the term 'classified' here to identify students that have an IEP.