From a favorite blog, Mark Nearty's "Love, Belief and Balls":
For a long time now I’ve struggled with the idea that autism is a disability. Instead of a nice neat “disability” label that firmly establishes the power dynamic, I’ve started to see Steven’s autism just as a difference. Different framing. Different relatedness. Different communication. Different priorities. Different frequency. Different connectedness to the world around him. It’s easier for us to categorise this as a disability because to think any other way forces us to challenge our notions of reality. We may have to reconsider our ideas about how we frame, how we relate, on what frequency we operate.
Not "disability" but "difference".
Makes you think.
Not "special educational needs" but "difference"?
What if "special educational needs" has no more reality than Mark sees "autism" as a disability? ("a nice neat label that firmly establishes the power dynamic")
What then of the nearly 1 in 4 boys who is now said to have a special educational need? Just boys, perhaps? Just "different" maybe? (So if 1 in 4 are "different", then what about the other 3 - Not "different"?)
Think of the disarray!