Wise words from Washington Post columnist Marguerite Kelly, responding to a reader who wants to know what to say to her son’s first-grade classmates after one called him “handicapped because he walks crooked.”

Children don’t mean to be cruel when they tell your son he’s handicapped. They simply use this and other unwelcome words because they don’t know what else to say, any more than your son knows how to respond.

… Your son’s classmates will want to know if CP hurts, if it’s contagious, if it could happen to them, even now, and if it makes it harder for him to learn or to think. If they don’t ask these questions, tell them anyway.

… You also should tell the class that words such as handicapped or disability hurt your son’s feelings (and yours) … If you can ignore hurtful comments, however, your son will learn to ignore them, too. Words are only as negative as you allow them to be.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 4:49 am and is filed under News_2_Use, cerebral palsy, parents, personal stories, tips & wisdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post