Disability-Competent Assistance Essay

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How to Provide Disability-Competent Assistance When you work with families that include a member with I/DD, we recommend you follow disability-competent practices. Recognize and avoid stereotypes Stereotypes about groups can influence our attitudes and behaviors and cause us to make assumptions around what support people may want or need. This may lead to negative interactions (“Communication in the Real World”). To support families and improve life outcomes for people with I/DD and their families, it is critical to recognize assumptions and biases and avoid feeding into stereotypes about people with I/DD. Stereotypes and Facts about People with Disabilities Stereotype Reality People with disabilities always need help. Like all of us, people with disabilities …show more content…

The purpose of this language is to reinforce the fact that a person is a person foremost and the disability that he or she experiences comes afterwards (The Arc, “People First Language”). On the next page, we provide examples of person-first language. However, some people with disabilities prefer to use identity-based language to refer to themselves (e.g., autistic, blind, or deaf). They may choose to use this language because they believe that the disability is a part of who they are, because they are proud to be who they are, and/or because they want to take ownership of how they refer to themselves (Ladau). When working with people with disabilities and their families, a good practice is to begin by using person-first language. As you talk with the person and the family, listen to how they refer to the person with a disability, and mirror (with one notable exception) the terms that the person uses to describe their disability or health condition or other’s disability or health

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