I collected them from different Websites. They mention some of our prejudices / myths about people with special needs.
I hope these few examples can move us to find out what kind of prejudices we have. By correcting them we can make a friendlier surrounding for the people with different disabilities. It is worthy to think about it.
“Individuals with disabilities are people first, and like all people they want to be accepted and understood. They want other people to know that their disability is not all that they are. It is an inconvenience, but a disability need not be a handicap unless the environment they live in handicaps them with physical or attitudinal barriers.”
“When communicating with a person who experiences a disability speak directly to the individual, not to the interpreter. Treat a person with a disability as a healthy person. Because an individual has a functional limitation does not mean that he/she is not worthy of comunication.
People who are disabled think and feel the same as anyone but, the public seems to think that they should react to situations differently than other people do.”
Myth 1: Wheelchair use is confining; people who use wheelchairs are "wheelchair-bound."
Fact: A wheelchair, like a bicycle or an auto-mobile, is a personal assistive device that enables someone to get around.
Myth 2: People with disabilities are more comfortable with "their own kind."
Fact: In the past, grouping people with disabilities in separate schools and institutions reinforced this misconception. Today, many people with disabilities take advantage of new opportunities to join mainstream society.
Myth 3: Mentally retarded children are incapable of learning anything and so everything has to be done for them.
Fact: These children are capable of learning, although how much they learn and at what speed they learn may vary. The harder we work with them, the more they will learn and more independent they can become. There is no better solution to their development than working hard with them.
Myth 4: Children/people with disabilities can't learn.
Fact: When children with disabilities (even those with severe disabilities) receive appropriate instruction, they grow academically. As we learn more about how to best teach students with disabilities, their achievement and successes increase, as evidenced by the increasing number of students with special needs graduating from high school and going on to pursue post-secondary education
Myth 5: Your child needs a type of program or placement that isn't offered by your school district, so he or she will have to take what's available instead.
Fact: Your child has the legal right to a program that is suited to his or her individual needs, and in which he or she can make meaningful educational progress. If the district doesn't have such a program, it must take steps to make one available - even if that involves special arrangements or expense.
Myth 6: Your child has a severe disability, so he or she must be placed in a special "centre" for children with disabilities, or in a private school.
Fact: Your child must be educated with non-disabled children to the maximum extent appropriate to the child's needs. This means that, if your child could receive the services on his or her IEP in a regular school, the program must be offered there. Moreover, if your child could be educated with non-disabled children in a regular classroom for all or part of the school day, the district must so specify on the IEP and insure that such "main streaming" occurs. Only if your child's IEP cannot be carried out appropriately in a regular school should a special school be considered. And only if the child's needs cannot be met in a district or IU program can the district offer a placement in a private school.
(Brochure Developmentally Disabled Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, P.L. 101-496, and the P&A for Mentally Ill Individuals Act, Prepared by: Education Law Centre)
Myth 8: People with disabilities need sympathy
Fact: People with disabilities do not need sympathy or pity. They also don't need to be told that they are brave or courageous for living with a disability. Some young people with disabilities are brave, some are not, just like everyone else. People with disabilities do not need to be treated as children, they need opportunities to maximise their independence.
Fact: People with epilepsy are not "epileptics."
The word "epileptic" should not be used to descrbe someone who has epilepsy, as it defines a person by one trait or problem. A label is powerful and can create a limiting and negative stereotype. It is better to refer to someone as "a person with epilepsy" or to a group of people as "people with epilepsy."
Goethe:
Treat a man as he is, he will remain so. Treat a man the way he can be and ought to be, and he will become as he can be and should be."
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