By Nancy Doyle — 2021
Let’s move beyond superpowers but not forget to keep promoting our strengths.
Read on www.forbes.com
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We’ve been taught to refer to people with disabilities using person-first language, but that might be doing more harm than good.
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According to the research of Stanford's Dr. Carol Dweck, both positive and negative labels, whether "gifted" or "seriously learning disabled," encourage a "fixed mindset," or the belief that nothing children do or think will change their intelligence.
An entire family can benefit from adopting a growth mindset, and it can help everyone shift their thinking about the challenges one of them faces every day.
The ongoing dialogue I have with my own perspective and emotions is the biggest job I’ve ever undertaken. Exploring this internal give-and-take forces me to grow in surprising ways.
The story of disability inclusion is incomplete. It is now time for C-level executives and management to take more of an active role and cultivate a new narrative to both augment and redefine disability in the larger context of business strategy.
Consider this – for children with ADHD, anxiety, learning differences, autism spectrum diagnoses, and other behavioral disorders, already innate negative thinking patterns have been reinforced by years and years of negative messages.
Often, disabled people have their disability treated, but they don’t have their emotional or spiritual needs addressed.
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Depression and suicidal ideation are more likely among people with disabilities due to factors like abuse, isolation, and stressors related to poverty, among others.
Adults with disabilities report experiencing frequent mental distress almost 5 times as often as adults without disabilities.
Ableism centers around the notion that people with disabilities are imperfect and need fixing.