People with Special Needs
Dr. Taha Farie Ghalib
There are human subjects and matters in our lives and around us that it is important to realize and understand their meanings, and among those topics is the category of “people with special needs”, or what some call “people with disabilities”. However, many interested and researchers in this aspect went on to prefer the concept of "people with special needs" over it, because of taste and politeness required in dealing with the people in this segment, which has specific characteristics among other segments of societies due to their physical or mental health conditions, which may limit its members dealings in real life naturally.
The United Nations has defined this important segment within society as people who suffer a permanent state of physical or mental illness in dealing with various obstacles, barriers and environments, which may prevent them from actively participating in society in a way that puts them on an equal footing with others. Whereas, the World Health Organization stated on its website that disability is an umbrella concept that includes under its umbrella various physical ailments or imbalances that limit active participation.
In order to clarify the concept and methods of people with special needs, it is necessary to refer to a number of strategies used to deal with people with special needs, represented in controlling feelings while dealing with people with special needs, hiding feelings of pity on them, or expressing fear of them, while understanding the condition of the person with disability as a coexist with his condition. Therefore, it is not advisable to notify him of his inability, or his need for assistance all the time, in addition to avoiding curiosity and asking about the reason for his disability, and it is preferable that the dialogue with people with special needs be full of positivity, and spreading hope to him, all with the commitment of wisdom and patience in dealing with them.
What must be understood by everyone is that disability among people of this segment in society does not mean in all cases their lack of intelligence or their full ability at work and innovation, on the contrary, many of them may have creative qualities and other qualitative practical aspects that they may distinguish from other natural peers.
In addition, many people are aware of the challenges that affect their lives and the lives of their families that people with special needs suffer. As this group needs special treatment to take care of them and take care of their affairs, which may cause them to face many obstacles to integrate with the environment around them. These challenges take many forms, the most important of which are behavioral challenges: which are a group of factors affecting people with special needs, which result in a set of behaviors that are unusual or abnormal from them because of their suffering from impaired general cognitive functions. Behavioral challenges create many obstacles for them, that prevent them from integrating with reality in a correct way, and among the challenges facing this category are challenges in the field of mental health: which is a measure of the health status of the mind of people with special needs, and they range from Simple and difficult cases. Mental health is usually associated with developing a disorder called syndromes, which are special cases that the child are born with and most of them continue for life, and may be eliminated by providing specific drug and rehabilitative treatments. Among the most important of these syndromes that occur are: Down syndrome, depression anxiety, and others syndromes.
Among these challenges also come challenges in the field of education, which are considered one of the most difficult types of challenges facing people with special needs. Because of the lack of sufficient experience about appropriate ways to deal with them since childhood, this results in the continuation of the special situation with them, and may lead to its development due to dealing with the child as a problem that must be avoided instead of dealing with him and trying to search for sound solutions to him.
In sum, the group of people with special needs is an integral part of other segments of society. It should not be viewed negatively or as a derogation, or as a dependency on the rest of society, but rather as a societal segment with special exceptional circumstances capable of rehabilitation and integration in the circles of society, and even production in reality of the lived life, if the required attention is given to them, given positive support from the community in which they live and the concerned authorities concerned with its care.
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