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Gill, It was good to hear someone talking from personal experience. By "hidden disabilities" I'm guessing you mean things like ADD and Asperger's syndrome. I find it interesting that you have chosen to continue to "hide" the name of the disability from the members of this list, and wonder what it says about the list. I have a daughter with Asperger's syndrome, and I'd be willing to bet a a few quid that that is also your child's disability. But whether or not it is: YOu wrote: > (Perhaps hidden disabilities are an issue on there own). Perhaps "hidden disabilities" are "new disabilities" or extensions of what disability used to mean, that in some ways make the established disability players feel uncomfortable, because they destabilise hard fought over boundaries, relationships, meanings of words. For people with these new disabilities, neither the words "disability" nor "label" mean what they used to mean. One of the hardest things for me when I was struggling for understanding for my daughter and myself as her parent, was that the discourses on "labelling" were constantly misinterpreting what I wanted to do. So not only did I have to struggle against practical problems, but against well-meaning people who wanted to lecture me on the dangers of labelling, in ways that I found simplistic and patronising. When you label something, you solve one set of problems, and create a whole lot of new ones. That's the nature of language formation isn't it? Why should anyone expect it to be any different? The idea that "labelling" must be either all good, or all bad, is absurd. Once you have a label then you have a struggle over who defines it and how. Which makes life interesting, gives you something to do... Judy Singer > > > I am very interested in the issue of 'labelling', and was interested (and > in agreement with) John's comments re negotiating labels on a daily basis > depending on who 'they' encounter. > > I find that I negotiate my own feelings re labelling on a regular basis. In > my heart I (think) I believe that labels create prejudice, and that they > should be reserved for jam jars. However, I don't think that our culture > or society allows me to hold true to that belief for the following reasons: > > When I realised that my own son had 'hidden disabilities' for want of a > better term, I was extremely keen to be given a diagnosis/label. (Are they > the same thing?) > This enabled me to read and research what have amounted to very complex and > subtle difficulties in life and learning. In being 'well read' on his > particular 'diagnosis' (which is poorly understood) I felt more able to > offer him appropriate support at home, and more capable of fairing well in > the battle-field of education. In deed I have made a career of being a > 'pro-active Mum'. > > Now that I know the nature and actual and potential consequences of his > particular difference, the label has retreated into the background, but it > enables me to offer my son an honest reason why he finds things more > difficult that his peers . This really seems to calm his frustration. > > I speak to many children and adults with the same 'diagnosis' and they are > ALL pleased to have a hook on which to hang their difficulties. Indeed > many of those who were diagnosed in adulthood have been almost liberated. > Liberated from a history of assumed stupidity, laziness or disruption. > They have found great relief in the label, and some have become very > pro-active in their claim to equality. > > However, having acquired the educational resources for my son to meet his > needs (via his label) I am truly concerned that his educational provision > is moulded around his label rather than his unknown potential. > 'He'll never be a high flyer' is not an unfamiliar turn of phrase to be > directed at me. Said about a child of almost 8, at the very beginning of > his school career. Frightening. > > It is a difficult, and I know contentious subject, but I would be very > interested to hear what other list members think. My own thoughts and ideas > changed dramatically of course, when I became involved on a subjective > level. > > (Perhaps hidden disabilities are an issue on there own). > > Regards. > Gill. > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%