by Zabrina Way
As a parent, you have to juggle numerous questions about what your child should be taught, and how. Add the trend of political correctness to the mix and it’s hard to know how to react when your child asks about a person with a disability.
Some parents brush off their children’s inquiries with a short, “Don’t stare, it’s rude,” or treat a person with a disability rudely, passing along cues to the children to follow suit. Instead, use this opportunity to teach your child about treating everyone with equal respect.
When your child points out a person with a disability, briefly and quietly tell them that the person has a disability that affects their vision, hearing, movement, or mind, but that person is “just like us” in every other way. Emphasize that your child should treat him or her just the same as anyone else, as it can be embarrassing and frustrating to be treated differently because of a disability.
Often, a curious child won’t even ask you, but will ask a person with a disability, “What’s wrong with you?” or something similar. When this happens, resist the urge to apologize and drag the child off. Curiosity is a part of childhood that should be encouraged. Instead, tell the child to be respectful and see how the person reacts.
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Many people with disabilities are actually very willing to tell a child what makes them “different”, and don’t like parents interfering with a chance to educate an impressionable segment of the population on disabilities. Children will remember the experience for a long time, and it will affect how they treat people with similar disabilities in the future. For a person with a disability, this is a great chance to connect with someone who sees nothing wrong with acknowledging and asking about the disability, when others sometimes shun or ignore them because they simply don’t know how to react.
If the person seems unwilling to speak, angry, or embarrassed, then quietly apologize and wait until you’re in a more private place before taking the opportunity to capitalize upon the experience. Let your child know that some people don’t like to acknowledge that they’re different, or are embarrassed to be called out on it in public, and then teach your child about that disability yourself.
Above all, children should be taught to respect people with disabilities and treat them like anyone else.
