• Remember that every child is a blessing.
• Be careful with your langage. The words, signs and signals you use communicate your values - for good or bad. Make your communication build the child/ren's self esteem.
• Evaluate the images all children are exposed to. Do they show disabled children and adults in socially valuable roles?
• Address ableism wherever it appears. Model pro-active responses to prejudice if you wish to teach disabled children the value of positive action.
• Be especially vigilant in identifying and challenging instances of simultaneous oppression.
• Support disabled children in befriending other disabled children. Disabled peers can share strategies for addressing the challenges of disability.
• Help disabled children identify positive disabled and non-disabled adult role models.
• Support disabled children in befriending non-disabled children. Those relationships will help the child develop the skills necessary to influence the broader social world.
• Identify and affirm the value of difference.
• Expose yourself to the possibility that one day your physical, sensory of psychological reality may be very different from that which you now experience.
• Ask disabled children and adults how best to be their ally.
• Read books written by disabled people, explore art created by disabled people, support cultural and sporting events frequented by disabled people. Share these experiences with the disabled child/ren in your life.
• Be equally open to discussing fears, hopes, anxieties, expectations and dreams. Remember that the past is gone, the present is constantly evolving and the future is full of possibilities.
• If you're working outside the home then review your organisation's commitment to the fullest inclusion of disabled employees and customers.
• Assess the play materials disabled children have access to. Do they reflect their present lives? Do they support the construction of positive stories about the future? Do they enable equitable play?
• Encourage every child to be the best they can be whilst allowing each child to discover and make peace with their individual limitations.
• Acknowledge that the experience of disability brings opportunities for the development of wisdom ... for both those experiencing impairment and for those around them.

About the Author:

Elizabeth Gallagher is a Human Development Facilitator, Hypnotherapist and Coach. To find out how she can help you optimise your personal and professional growth, visit www.wisecaterpillar.com.

Wise Caterpillar Wisdom

from "What it's Like to be Me" (edited by Helen Exley)

"I wish people would give us the opportunity to reach our potential."

Wong Chi Hang

"...the most important advantage of losing one's sight - you learn that people's appearances don't matter, and that it's far more important what they are as a person"

Anne Carter

"If I was in charge of the world I would like to see more ramps - not steps everywhere."

Mark Fitzgerald

"But what is normality? Is there anyone in the vast world who can honestly say they are perfect?..."

Velma Sylvan

"Wearing a hearing aid playing at football does not bother you. When it rains it stops water getting in your ear."

Stuart Laing

"All I want is fair treatment and to have the same things as you."

Eleanor Hasko