Special Needs Quotes

“You can't be sad when Daisy is around, she won't let you.”
― Maryam Faresh, Daisy

“And when I bake for someone, I give them a little part of myself. It's like giving someone a part of my hear every time."
I look up thoughtfully and shrug.
"I don't know if I like the idea of people buying pieces of me. They are mine to give away when I feel like it. And that makes them special.”
― Belle Aurora, Friend-Zoned

“The word 'special', as it is applied to disability, too often means 'a bit shit'.”
― Stella Young

“Dancing. I couldn't understand the fascination my brother had for it, but I could respect what it meant to him. How could one imagine and wonder about something so simple? An action most take for granted, yet to those with limited abilities, it's as special as floating on a cloud and snatching the nearest star from the sky to stuff in your pocket so you might wish upon it whenever you choose.”
― Veronica Randolph Batterson, Billy's First Dance

“Similar reasoning has promoted educational policies which seek to create more equal outcomes for "special education" students with mental, physical, or psychological handicaps—again with little or no regard for the financial costs of this to the taxpayers or the educational costs to other children in whose classrooms they are to be "mainstreamed," often with little regard to the disruptive effects of their special needs. These financial costs can be several times what it costs to educate the average student, while the educational results for a severely retarded student may be imperceptible. The educational cost can also include a substantial part of a teacher's time being devoted to one or a few students, to the neglect of the majority.”
― Thomas Sowell, The Quest for Cosmic Justice

“If we can't start by seeing an autistic child as inherently capable, interesting, and valuable, no amount of education or therapy we layer on top is going to matter.”
― Ellen Notbohm, Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew

“All along I have the answer, it's written in my face, this is neither bad luck nor curse, but a show of God's grace. I may sometimes know why, I may sometimes feel doubt, but I'm not here to fit in, I was born to stand out.”
― Darius Andaya, I Too Can Be Special!

“My ears work. My brain understands. Can't you see I am a REAL PERSON?”
― Carol Cujec, Real

“dont eat carrots on the street”
― Mr. Water-Bottle

“No one has ever seen the wind. We've only experienced the effects and the results of the wind. And none of us have ever seen God. Just like the movement of a pinwheel makes us sure that the wind exists, we have ways to be sure that God exists.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“No matter who you are or how you’re born, your arrival deserves to be celebrated.”
― Ashley Asti, Up: A Love Letter to the Down Syndrome Community

“I think one of the things I’ve learned as a writer...is that speech is a form of power in this world. As a writer, being able to articulate what other people may be feeling but perhaps struggle to put into words themselves, it is valued. But I also believe we—all of us—communicate in silence, in energy, in a love that extends from our hearts. And, to me, this is another form of inner power.”
― Ashley Asti, Up: A Love Letter to the Down Syndrome Community

“When I would later ask her, What makes someone beautiful?, she would tell me: 'I think it’s what’s inside someone. I think it’s kindness in someone’s heart that makes them beautiful.' And she would add, 'And it’s how they treat others.' Compassion is beauty, too.”
― Ashley Asti, Up: A Love Letter to the Down Syndrome Community

“I definitely think mothers of children with disabilities have to have extraordinary courage every day...Because we all know our children have value and worth and potential, but the everyday world sometimes doesn’t.'
—Linda Strobel in Up: A Love Letter to the Down Syndrome Community”
― Ashley Asti, Up: A Love Letter to the Down Syndrome Community

“People with Down syndrome can do anything—really, really, really anything!”
― Brittany Schiavone

“The most important outcome of education is that students have a good quality of life and are productive members of society. Employment is the critical component for a successful quality of life for people with disabilities. Good jobs and/or careers that offer meaningful work, good pay and benefits, and social inclusion provide the key for successful outcomes. Page 3.”
― Keith Storey, Case Studies in Transition and Employment for Students and Adults with Disabilities

“Keep in mind that it is not the responsibility of a church leader to make all the people happy all the time. It is their responsibility to set everyone up for success: the individual with special needs, their peers, and the leaders serving them all.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“In my view, the ultimate goal for a special needs ministry is to being families into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. And in order for that to happen, a church has to be prepared to successfully accommodate the child with special needs during regular church programming.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“Different people do different things. And no one-way of plugging in or serving in the church is more beneficial or valuable than the other. The same thing is true for our students with special needs. And it's our church's responsibility, in partnership with parents, to clear the path so that God can pursue our teens through the abilities and passions He's already given them. - Katie Garvert”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“The big-picture goal of a church's special needs ministry is to facilitate a sense of belonging inside the bigger body of Christ. Our best indicator of success is when we see a student with special needs feeling accepted, comfortable and open to the church's influence in their life. - Katie Garvert”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“It is not a bad thing, this grief. It is a motivator for connecting with other mothers and families, a guide for compassion and understanding; it carries me across thresholds to a newer appreciation for the little joys in life. At times, it brings me to my knees--not in defeat, but in the cleansing tears and soul stricken prayers of a woman who is stronger than she ever has been.”
― Anne Fricke, There Is Joy To Be Found Here; a writing journal for parents of children with special needs

“When children are brought into the world with an extra chromosome—with Down syndrome, that is—the first words parents often hear are, 'I’m sorry,' as if Down syndrome itself is something to be down about. It’s not. I want to say, 'Congratulations.' I want to say, 'What a beautiful gift you’ve brought into the world, one more being here for a reason, here with purpose.' I want to say, 'Oh, mama,' or 'Oh, dad—this new little being is going to lift you up.”
― Ashley Asti, Up: A Love Letter to the Down Syndrome Community

“I think that’s a special thing...that your daughters will get to grow up and see a woman and a mom who’s making lots of time and space for them, but who’s also making time and space for herself. That changes everything.”
― Ashley Asti, Up: A Love Letter to the Down Syndrome Community

“She represents a step toward creating a world where you can have Down syndrome and still dream big. Where you can have Down syndrome and still be seen as beautiful and worthy.”
― Ashley Asti, Up: A Love Letter to the Down Syndrome Community

“To be a narrator is not to steal the show. That is the role I am playing with the Otherness Podcast. I am narrating with a focus on curating and sharing an array of autism stories and experiences. I am not trying to find a cure for autism.”
― Todd Peter Levine

“Hope is your middle name”
― Claire Audibert, The Letter E

“I don’t want to spend too much time thinking about “Why me?” because then my daughter becomes a source of misery. And that sucks. I don’t want it to be ingrained in her subconscious that she’s a burden. She’s not a burden, she’s gorgeous.”
― Holly Karten

“FOR US, EACH WORD IS A GIFT.”
― Carol Cujec, Real

“Actually, the more I think about it, the more I figure that a lot of the cons of autism are not really caused by autism, but by how other people react to it.”
― Libby Scott, Can You See Me?

“Special needs create special desires.”
― Anthony T. Hincks