When your kids encounter a disabled person

Culture & Society Forum

I thought a thread about what to say to your kids when they see someone who is disabled would be a wonderful topic. Children are naturally curious, and they do ask questions. How do you handle it? My generation, my mom would have hushed me and talked to me at home. How do you handle it with your own kids?

My little girl has to wear an eye patch. Kids are always asking what is wrong with her eye. I just tell them that the patch is making her eye stronger.

When my son saw someone in a wheelchair he asked me quite loudly why she was in one. I said that she must have problems walking, but it was really good that she had that wheelchair to help her get around.

Well my family has a disability so I was used to it from a young age. I knew what disabled meant on a basic level, that it meant someone was sick somewhere and would not get better and that it sometimes made them talk/ walk/ look funny.

But later in life in my teens I was appalled at the amount of little children who would walk past my mum at the shops or in the street and yell at her, calling her "retard" and "spastic" and even pushing her or throwing things at her.

It was disgusting, but I had one girl years later who actually apologised to me for the way she had behaved towards my mum, she had grown up and realised that what she had been calling my mum was hurtfull. I wish she had that value instilled in her at a younger age and it would not have happened in the first place.

I think it is excellent that you are trying to teach your children to respect people with disabilities. I don't think that there is much you can do, except lead by example, and answer your kids questions openly and honestly, which you have obviously done.