How to Talk to Kids about Disabilities w/ Amanda Owen

Mama Knows

Cloud10

Parenting, Kids & Family

5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2024

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The conversation explores the importance of talking to kids about disabilities and how to approach the topic. Amanda Owen, who has a brother with a rare chromosomal disability, shares her personal experience and passion for advocating for individuals with disabilities. They discuss the need to normalize disabilities early on, finding common ground with individuals with disabilities, and the importance of open and honest conversations. They also touch on the generational shift in attitudes towards disabilities and the impact of societal norms on children's perceptions. In this conversation, Amanda Owen discusses how to address children's curiosities and teach empathy and inclusivity towards individuals with disabilities. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing similarities and finding common interests, as well as using moments of curiosity as teaching opportunities. Amanda also suggests using the phrase 'excuse us while we're learning' to address inappropriate comments and engage in a respectful conversation. She encourages parents to have scripted conversations with their children about differences and to model empathy and inclusivity in their own behavior. Amanda also shares her books, 'Owen the Wonder' series, which teach children about disabilities and promote understanding and acceptance. Chapters 00:00: Introduction and Personal Experience 02:50: Normalization and Early Conversations 07:46: Finding Common Ground 13:00: Open and Honest Conversations 17:55: Challenging Societal Norms 22:21: Recognizing Similarities and Finding Common Interests 27:17: Modeling Behavior and Having Scripted Conversations 31:45: Promoting Understanding and Acceptance Through Books About Amanda Amanda Owen is a children’s book author, speaker, podcaster, nonprofit founder/director and lifelong advocate for those with disabilities. Her big brother, Nick, was the 11th person in the world diagnosed with his rare chromosomal disability, which meant Amanda grew up as an advocate. She became a special education teacher to help students like her brother, but desired to offer her students and their families more. Taking a leap of faith, Amanda left the classroom 11 years ago to launch Puzzle Pieces, a Kentucky-based nonprofit that serves individuals with disabilities, offering them targeted autism services, residential living, vocational training, supported employment, behavior services and more. Amanda’s work has become a state and national model for disability services, allowing her to speak all over the country on advocacy, provider services and her perspective as a sibling. She inspires everyone she meets to dream big, work hard, own their mistakes and learn from them, be themselves, and most of all -- laugh! Amanda loves to connect! Find her at: Website: piecesofme.org Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pieces-of-me/id1547078857 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piecesofmebyamanda Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piecesofmebyamanda/ Episode Sponsors: Invest in your whole family’s health with Seed. Go to Seed.com/MAMAKNOWS and use code 25MAMAKNOWS to get 25% off your first month of DS-01® Daily Synbiotic or PDS-08® Pediatric Daily Synbiotic. Never skip therapy day, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/MAMAKNOWS today to get 10% off your first month. Disney Jr.’s Ariel is an animated musical series for preschoolers inspired by the beloved story of “The Little Mermaid.” It follows 8-year-old mermaid princess Ariel as she and her friends embark on fun-filled, action-packed underwater adventures throughout their Caribbean-inspired fairytale kingdom of Atlantica and beyond. The series features fan-favorite characters, including King Triton, Ursula, Sebastian, and Flounder, as well as exciting new additions like Ariel’s two best friends, mer-children Lucia and Fernie, and lots of other adorable sea creatures. The series debuts Thursday, June 27 on Disney Jr. and next day, Friday, June 28 on Disney+. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Have you ever been out and about with your child and they point out and about with your child and they point out somebody with a disability like blatantly loudly embarrassingly to you and
0:16.6	you're like what do I do I mean I think we like to think that we can compose ourselves in those moments, but what are the right
0:24.8	things to do? What are the right things to say? How do we handle situations like that?
0:28.6	And make sure everyone feels respected and educated, whether the disability is physical or invisible.
0:38.5	This episode today is all about talking to our kids about people with disabilities. I'm so excited for this one. Let's dive in.
0:51.6	This one time I was at Chick-Falais with my I think he was like five at the time maybe four and a half and there was a woman sitting across from us who was missing a foot or a leg or something.
1:05.0	And this was the first time I had come across having to explain to my child
1:11.6	what a disability is or somebody that's different than us and why.
1:15.7	So my son says, mom, that lady doesn't have a foot.
1:21.2	And she heard him. I was like, oh, what do I do?
1:25.0	It's like, I don't know what to do.
1:27.0	But I was like, some people are different than us
1:32.0	and have different bodies and you know like I don't I pulled
1:35.8	something out of my ass the lady was so nice she was like yeah I don't have a
1:40.7	foot isn't that cool I and then she was like well why don't you have a foot?
1:46.1	And she told him she's like I got in an accident and she I use crutches now to get her so she was amazing.
1:54.8	She was very receptive and amazing, but disabilities come in all different shapes,
1:59.8	sizes, forms, types.
2:02.3	So I'm excited to talk to you today, Amanda, about talking to kids
2:06.5	about disabilities, but first of all, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you're
2:12.3	passionate about this topic and what your personal experience is with
2:16.5	disabilities. Absolutely and thank you so much for having this conversation. I
	...

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