We have to teach our kids that disabilities are not a bad thing.

We talk about different people having different abilities. We ask the child if they would like someone pointing at them and whispering at them. Then our children realize that staring and pointing can hurt feelings, also.

I was so pleased to see this topic discussed here. I have 4 children with disabilities to include ADD to Autism. One day I was at the doctors office and a grandmother was explaining to a child why another child does what he does. I commended her because I believe if more parents do this it will help to at least lessen bullying some.

Thank you for the article , my seven year old son is living with autism and it's quite difficult for him to make friends bc children thinks he acts weird.

Thank you for having this article , I have a seven year old boy living with autism.

I think this is great. If we educate our children, we educate the future. I want to help my son be the type of person I wish I was.

So glad that we are talking about this subject.

My 6 year old was born with TEF (tracheal esophageal fistula). Although she looks "normal", she has medical issues (and four surgical scars on her torso). I sent her to a therapuetic preschool (Wyoming Valley Children's Association, Forty Fort, PA) because of these issues. Some of the children there had physical disabilities, some were on the autism spectrum, etc. My daughter understood that everyone there was "born different", just like her. I told her that her differences were on the inside, but the other kids differences were on the outside. She served as a peer model to the children that required more help. I think that experience was invaluable to her. She is quick to help anyone who seems hurt or vulnerable.

My four year old daughter was born with syndactyly of the left hand, in other words, the fingers were joined together on her left hand at birth (kind of like a mitten of skin over the bones). I've helped her explain it to many kids in their terms and now she just goes about things like it's normal. She calls it her "born hand". I agree that most rude comments or people stem from them being uneducated about things. Most of the time her hand goes unnoticed because she uses it so well now after surgery, but I've made sure to explain to HER that other people have other issues that are different.

This is a great article. I shared it with my son's school (The Center for Blind and Visually Impaired Children) during our parent meeting, and everyone enjoyed hearing another mother's perspective that was so similar to our own.

Such a beautiful photo of two people I love so much!

It only takes a little time to educate children about disabilities. My son is autistic and if parents would only talk to their children about others and their differences I wouldn't have to explain to much to my own child about others lack of knowledge. If that sounds mean it's not intended to. My son gets his feelings hurt and doesn't quite understand why people are so rude to him. Honestly these people just don't know all about autism and that's why we have to advocate and educate.

Another wonderful article, thank you! My children have had the benefit of getting to know many children with disabilities of all sorts. They have learned a lot from them and are very blessed by knowing them. It is great to remind us as parents that we do need to prepare the children to be sensitive to not only the disabled child, but their parents. Showing kindness and love as we would with anyone, disabled or not.

Thank you for this article! I've worked with differently-abled kids in the past and have gotten stares; now I know how to approach the ones in mainstream classrooms and bring the 'elephant in the room' down to their level and make it easier and more manageable for them to grasp and how even though another child may look differently, they really are the same inside!