You may have seen on this website and in my other content that I like to refer to myself as an accessible educator or a teacher of specialized services rather than a special education teacher (read more about my story here). A few years ago, I made the switch to calling myself a teacher of specialized services at work, and that decision was based on a few reasons. You might also be wondering how to move away from using the word “special” in your job title, or maybe this is a new concept for you. If so, you’ll want to read on to learn about the reasons why I made this switch as an accessible education teacher and how you can, too.
Before I get into that, if you haven’t watched it already, I highly recommend you watch this video from Coor Down that was released on World Down Syndrome Day in 2017 called Not Special Needs. It was produced by self-advocates to explain why the term “special needs” can be more harmful than helpful, and I think it helps frame this conversation well.
What’s Wrong With “Special Needs”?
Special needs is a term that has been historically used in the United States to describe disabled children and adults who have cognitive and physical disabilities. The term special needs began to be used as a countereaction to professionals in the medical and education fields using the “R word” to describe people with cognitive impairments. The problem? It’s been widely used as a pejorative term. Be honest- when you hear something is meant for “special” kids, your assumption might be that this is something meant for children with a lot of challenges or that it’s less desirable than the “normal” version. This is counter to the actual dictionary definition of special: “distinguished by some unusual quality, held in particular esteem, readily distinguished from others of the same category, being other than the usual, dedicated for a particular purpose” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2026). What was meant to be a less medical or degrading way to describe children and adults with disabilities has been co-opted to mean “less than.” Here are three things to consider about the word special:
- The term “special” as it relates to disabilities is that it isn’t appropriately descriptive. Different supports and services get lumped under the term “special” without distinction. Take for example “special bus.” When you read that, do you automatically picture a smaller version of a traditional school bus with more seat belts, a monitor, and maybe a wheelchair lift? The term “special” here is meant to describe a bus meant for children with disabilities to get to school, but that doesn’t really tell us anything about the bus. A more accurate description of this kind of bus would be a wheelchair bus, monitored bus or an accessible bus. That tells us that the bus is meant to support children who need it, not describe the kind of kids who use the bus.
- Another issue with the term “special” is that it lumps people with disabilities together without consideration for their individual needs. Let’s go back to the bus example. Think about how stigmatizing riding a “special bus” could be for a child who doesn’t have a cognitive disability but needs to use this bus because they have a physical disability. Other students and teachers might assume this child has cognitive impairments because they ride the “special bus” and it may impact how they interact with that child, how they set expectations for that child, and how they are able to make friends. Some children who need supports like seatbelts or monitors might have cognitive impairments, but some kids with cognitive impairments might not need this. When all children with disabilities are lumped together under this umbrella term, we have a harder time identifying what their needs actually are and how we can best support them.
- Identifying needs as special implies you need to have specialized skills to accommodate them. When I tell someone what I do for a living, I frequently hear, “it takes a special person to do what you do!” This is often the response because they assume you have superhuman patience or you need to go to school to know how to work with kids with disabilities. The reality is, every person should be capable of showing patience, empathy, and kindness, no matter what their physical or intellectual limitations are. My degree isn’t in patience- it’s in theories and practices of teaching kids who learn differently. Think of how using the term special needs can imply that your students are exceptionally difficult or complex, and what kind of barriers that can create for them at school and in the community.
Special Education Isn’t Going Away
The problem is, even if you subscribe to the idea that the term “special needs” or “special education” isn’t the most inclusive term to foster inclusion and belonging, the federal mandates that fund public education and many of the programs that exist in society for people with disabilities use this terminology. For example, I am a teacher in a public school. On legal paperwork like IEPs, I can’t call myself anything other than a special education teacher. Part of the funding for my district comes from programs through the federal government that provide funding for special education, but they must be administered by special education teachers who are certified in special education. Until reforms are made on a nationwide level, accessible education will not replace special education anytime soon.
What Label Should I Use Instead?
It’s really hard professionally to untangle yourself from this kind of terminology, but in our everyday interactions with people, the way that we refer to ourselves, and the way we talk about our role, we can still advocate for more inclusive language to describe the work that we actually do. We don’t do anything special as special education teachers. We make school accessible. That’s why I, and many other professionals in the same role, have moved away from the term “special education teacher” and instead call ourselves accessible education teachers, teachers of accessibility, or teachers of specialized services. Do you see how that is more descriptive and accurate than “special needs teacher?”
Here are some simple ways you can make the move to be an accessible education teacher:
- Change your email signature. Mine says “K-4 Teacher of Specialized Services.” Mrs. D’s Corner has a great list of ideas for other titles you could use
- Talk to your department head about changing the name of the office to Office of Specialized Services or another more inclusive and accurate name
- Try to be aware of not saying “special needs” when talking about your students. If you slip, it’s a great opportunity to correct yourself outloud and state your intention to use more accurate language
- It may be necessary to call yourself a special education teacher on official documents, but try if you can to use “accessible education teacher” or another label in daily conversations, emails, memos, etc.
If this is something new to you, I highly recommend that you seek out self-advocates who have been advocating for us to move away from this language- send me an email and I’d be happy to point you towards some accounts I know and trust!