Read on Twitter
yesterday I overheard a little kid asking their mum why I was using a wheelchair, and the mum simply replied “well maybe his legs need a bit of extra help. you can ask him if he’s happy to tell you more.” no shaming the kid for asking, no treating disability as a hush hush topic
when parents are embarrassed by their kids asking questions about disability and try to get them to be quiet asap, it teaches them disability is something they shouldn’t talk about, it makes it seem bigger and scarier and uncomfortable
it’s remarkably simple really, there’s no need to treat disability like a big taboo, especially to kids. it’s much more uncomfortable to hear a parent scrambling to get their kid to be quiet about my disability than to answer their questions questions, they’re just curious
the more you tiptoe around disability and seem uncomfortable about it when taking to your kids, the more they will internalise that and learn to feel uncomfortable about disability too, perpetuating the alienation of disabled people
but if you give a simple, relaxed answer & give them the space to ask questions, disability is just another new thing they’re learning about, like many other things they learn every day. then maybe their relaxed attitude about disability will be passed onto their friends, & so on
as the adult in this kind of scenario, you have so much power to shape the way the child views disability, and that can set a precedent for how they’ll see disability for the rest of their life. so hearing a simple, relaxed response like this really made my day
(I condensed her explanation somewhat for the purposes of the tweet, so I think it’s worth noting that she also gave examples from the kids life to relate it to “like granny’s pancreas needs help & I need to take insulin” which I think was also simple and helpful!)
(also should note the kid was maybe 2? and obviously what is an appropriate response changes a lot with age. the older a kid is the more I’d rather the parent does the explaining/showing them other info than suggesting they ask me as this is more doable for older kids)
well thank u for reading and sharing this so much. it’s my birthday next week so if u fancy supporting a disabled trans guy who can’t work due to illness I’m just gonna leave my paypal here in case anyone has any cash to spare & feels like making my day http://paypal.me/hiellis
