TRUE OR FALSE???

1. All kids with disabilities need to be in special schools.

FALSE: Just like you, children with disabilities need to be in the best learning environment possible. It is possible for all children with disabilities to be integrated into a regular school setting.

2. Kids who can’t talk are mentally retarded.

FALSE: Speech impairment often is caused by damage to the vocal chords, stroke, deafness, or cerebral palsy—causes that do not necessarily affect intellectual functioning.

3. People with disabilities like being with other people with disabilities better than with people without disabilities.

FALSE: Most people with disabilities prefer being with both people with disabilities and people without disabilities. The greatest need is to be accepted as a person like everyone else. Sometimes it is easier being with people who understand your particular disability.

4. Disabilities are a disease. They are contagious.

FALSE: Some disabilities can be caused by disease. Others are the result of an accident, genetic factors, prenatal damage or a number of unknown causes.

5. People who are blind have better hearing than most people.

FALSE: When a person is deprived of one sense, he/she learns to compensate by relying on other senses for perception. Blind people do not have a better hearing mechanism, but have developed better or more sensitive hearing skills.

6. People who have mental retardation can learn to do many things.

TRUE: Because a person has mental retardation does not mean that he/she can’t learn. It does mean that often he/she cannot learn as quickly and often needs special help to learn new things.

7. People with disabilities don’t want people to feel sorry for them but want to be treated like everyone else.

TRUE: People with disabilities do want to be treated like everyone else. Pity does not help people feel good about themselves. Most people with disabilities want other people to learn to accept their disability as they have and then to help them get on with living life to the fullest.

8. It is not polite to ask people about their disabilities. They would rather not talk about the subject.

FALSE: Most people with disabilities would rather explain their handicapping condition and help people understand it rather that have people stay at a distance because they don’t understand. There are polite ways of asking a person about his/her disability.