How to Talk to Your Children About Disabilities
Earlier this year I filmed an IGTV sharing tips and ideas on how parents can talk to their children about disabilities. Talking to your children about disabilities does not have to be scary or awkward. There are so many little things you can do on a daily basis to educate your children. I have compiled my top five tips to increase your child’s disability awareness to create a more inclusive home and community. To watch the IGTV, click the link above, or keep reading!
1. Talk about Differences – Define what “different” means and break the stigma that “different” is bad, scary or weird. Talk about the differences that exist in your family (hair color, eye color, interests, character traits, personalities) and then talk about the differences that exist in your community (race, religion, abilities, etc.)
2. Use Inclusive Literature – Fill your home with books and movies that portray characters with disabilities. The more you expose your children to disabilities, the more inclusive they will be. By regularly exposing your children to others with disabilities, you are reinforcing that disabilities exist in our world and there is nothing to be scared of! You can find a list of my favorites here and you can purchase my inclusive children’s book, Kindness is Golden, here!
3. Self-Reflect – The example that you set for your children and the way you respond when you interact with someone with disabilities is the best predictor of how your children are going to react. Your actions will show up in their actions, so it is important that you educate yourself. When you see a person with Down syndrome, or you hear the term “developmental disability,” and you aren’t sure what it means, look it up! The more you know, the more you can share with your children.
4. Encourage Questions – Teach your children that it is okay to ask questions! Children don’t ask questions to be malicious or mean, they do it to learn! We live in a world where it’s considered “rude” to ask questions, but the opposite is true. It’s rude to ignore others and by taking the opportunity to ask questions away from our children, we reinforce that differences are scary and bad.
5. Highlight Similarities – Once you have talked about differences, you should talk to your child about similarities. Draw comparisons by finding things that your child has in common with a child with disabilities. Children do not naturally do this on their own, so it is your job, as a parent to guide them. When children see that others are similar to them, it is a lot easier for them to be inclusive.
I hope these tips are helpful to you and I hope this eases the conversation for those of you that have inquired about how to talk to your children about disabilities. If you have any other questions, please leave a comment below and be sure to save these pins so you can reference this later!
