"Disability" is an Unfair Term

Webster's New World Dictionary defines disability as an illness, injury, or physical handicap that "restricts" or causes "limitations" and "disadvantages."

Advocates in special education and disability rights understandably object to the term disabled, preferring the term 'child with disabilities' – this is the term I use. More important, all human beings come into this world with a variety of characteristics and qualities.

Having special education needs does not mean that your child needs to be treated as "different" or denied the care and respect that all children deserve. Human beings are complex, and a determination of who is able and "disabled" is an effort in ineffectuality.

Lord Byron, Edward Lear, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, and Truman Capote, Writers: All lived parts of their lives with Epilepsy.

Albert Einstein, Mathematician/Physicist: Had a learning disability and did not speak until age 3. He had a very difficult time doing math in school. It was very hard for him to express himself through writing.

Beethoven, Composer: Was deaf when he composed his 9th symphony.

Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister: Had a learning disability.

Walt Disney, Animator: Had a learning disability.

Thomas Edison, Inventor: Had a learning disability. He couldn't read until he was twelve years old and had a very difficult time writing even when he was older.

It is not a cliché to say that we all have some kind of disability, even as we realize that the difference in degree between one or another disability can be significant and life altering.