Reflection

When you were in school did you have a label or group title? Was that title hurtful or did you like when people called you it? I know at my high school we had the jocks, aggies, nerds, and many more group titles or labels for the members of the people in those groups. Now those labels that I mentioned are not the type of labels that are hurtful it’s the ones like retarded, stupid, or the descriptors of disabilities. We as humans label things in our lives every single day without knowing it. If you were to take a look at my college planner, you would see labels everywhere. However, when a label gets turned into an insult meant to isolated someone from a group or impede on a person’s education this is when our natural instant has gone too far.

According to (Suzie Dalien, 2014) disability labeling is derived from the use of avoidable labels towards children or adults with a special need. “Disability labels identify formal definitions that are used to determine eligibility and are a necessary part of the special education process, at least with regard to how it is conducted in the United States” according to (Angela Oswalt, pp. 1, paragraph 1). Again, as human beings we label everything in our life 24/7 and our younger generation learns how to label people, objects, situations and etc. by watching us the adults. So, I fill it is our responsibility as professionals and adults to show respect towards all children and never single one particular child out by applying a disability label outside of a professional scenario. From my personal experience, I know that disability labels can hurt a child’s self-worth and make them feel that they are not as good as another student. I went to high school a very funny, caring and loving boy that had down syndrome. All this boy wanted was to be like and hang out with the “cool” kids however, they were too cool for him because they didn’t want to be seen or know for hangout out with the down syndrome boy. Labeling children in front of other children harms the child’s self-image and they will always think they are not good enough. Majority of special education children grow up with a label and then feel that they can never escape that label.

According to (Suzie Dalien, 2014), there are some benefits to labeling in the special education classroom however, these benefits barely make a puddle in the middle of all the damage they do. Some of these benefits include that it is important for everyone to be aware of the extra assistance that may be needed, labels can also help students self-identify among each other, and common labels may allow students to feel alike and comfortable with each other. When you walk into a school and see or hear a child throwing a horrendous temper tantrum or see a child hitting and kicking what is the first thing that pops into your mind? I assume all of us probably think to ourselves hmm that child must be in the behavioral/emotional special education class. Without labels we as professional would have to list out every symptom, observation, and sign that we have seen in a child just to be able to talk to another professional about the child. (Angela Oswalt) mentioned that having these labels allows the children to create a group identity opposed to just a single person trying to fight a larger battle. I feel that her statement brings a lot of insight to this topic because, we all know that as a person living with a disability very few will actually advocate for themselves. So, these labels can give them a way to form a group and possibly make a greater impact.

I feel that labels in the special education classroom have a valuable purpose and should be used for professional reasons but no reason besides that. My reasoning for only using labels in the professional context is due to children pick up on everything adults say or do so if an adult is using labels to describe special education children in front of other children then these children think it’s okay for them to use those terms.

References

1. Dalien, Suzie, M. (2014, October 7). Labeling in Special Education. Retrieved from Special Education Resource.com: Labeling in Special Education. (2014, Octhttps://specialedresource.com/resource-center/labeling-in-special-education
2. Oswalt, Angela, M. (n.d.). Criticisms of Disability Labeling. Retrieved from Mental help.net: https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/criticisms-of-disability-labeling/