A young woman with Down syndrome in a classroom, smiling and clapping, surrounded by other students. Text overlay: "Teaching Students About Their Disabilities.

How to Teach Students About Their Disabilities

How can we help our students understand their own disabilities? How do we support them in talking about their challenges comfortably and advocating for themselves? These are big questions, but they’re important ones!

When students understand their own disabilities, they are more aware of their strengths and challenges. They can feel more confident and empowered.

As their Special Education teacher, you can guide this discussion! With the right approach, you can teach your students about their disabilities and help them better understand themselves.

Read on to discover the concepts your students need to learn and how you can teach them!

 

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Important Topics to Cover

When teaching your students about their disabilities, it helps to focus on key topics that will give them a better understanding of themselves. Focus on what can help your students recognize their strengths, embrace their differences, and empower themselves.


What Is Disability

Start with a simple and clear definition of disabilities, like: “Disability is a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities.”

When you teach this term, focus on how the word “disability” is neutral, not negative. 

Emphasize that having a disability doesn’t mean something is wrong—it just means there are differences in how people’s brains and bodies work, and a disability causes certain tasks to be harder to accomplish (without appropriate accommodations).

Different Types of Disabilities

Part of understanding disabilities is learning that it comes in many forms, including physical disabilities and developmental disabilities.

Physical Disabilities affect a person’s body or movement. Some examples of physical disabilities are:

  • Tourette syndrome
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Dwarfism
  • Epilepsy
  • Etc.

Developmental Disabilities affect a person’s body, learning, language, or behavior. These include:

  • Intellectual disability
  • Autism
  • Down syndrome
  • ADHD
  • Learning disabilities
  • Etc.

Mental Health Conditions, which is a one way disabilities may be classified, include:

  • Bipolar disorder
  • Schizophrenia
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Eating disorders
  • Etc.

Learning about these different disability types can help your students understand that they are not alone. 

You can also highlight both visible and invisible disabilities, so students know that not all disabilities are immediately noticeable.

 

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Strengths & Challenges are Normal

Help your students see that having a different brain or body comes with both strengths and challenges. Everyone has things they’re great at and areas where they may struggle—this is completely normal!

As teachers, you can easily identify your student’s strengths and challenges through observation, interaction, and assessment. However, this step is about giving your students ownership of their learning. Provide activities that will let them recognize their strengths and challenges on their own, like a “strengths & challenges” chart, or an “about me” presentation.

When disabled students recognize their strengths, they can build confidence and see what makes them unique. When they understand their challenges, they can learn how to work through them and ask for support when needed.

They’ll better understand how they learn and function, and instead of focusing only on what’s hard, they can recognize the things they do well.

 

Colorful silhouettes of people with different brain illustrations representing diverse thinking styles. Text: "We all have our own Strengths & Challenges."

Accommodations

Teach your students about accommodations that can help them do tasks more easily. For example, a person who can’t see well can use glasses, and that person wearing glasses isn’t usually considered disabled (unless they are legally blind). This is a good example to use to teach that sometimes, something is no longer disabling if we have the right accommodations.

Have your students explore tools and strategies that can help them do a task they struggle with, like extended test time, fidget tools, visual schedules, or speech-to-text software.

Also, remind them that accommodations aren’t special treatments, but rather ways to help everyone function in a way that’s best for them.

Self-Advocacy

Self-advocacy is knowing your needs, strengths, and rights—and speaking up for them.

When students with disabilities are younger, their parents and teachers often make decisions for them. But as they grow up, especially in high school, they need to start taking responsibility for themselves.

Developing self-advocacy skills will help your students become more independent and prepared for adult life. It will also help challenge stereotypes and misunderstandings about their disabilities.

That’s why it’s important that you also teach self-advocacy to your students. Students need to know that there are always people who can help them—they just need to ask.

As students learn more about their disabilities, they become more aware of their struggles and the kind of support they need. But knowing isn’t enough; they also have to learn how to speak up for themselves so they can ask for help when they need it.

 

Support Systems

Speaking of people who are ready to help, remind your students that they have a network of support to help them when they’re having trouble.

This includes their family, friends, teachers, or anyone else. They can also find helpful support in their community, government, or places that help people with disabilities.

From these support systems, they can get:

  • Tools and accommodations
  • Support in school
  • Services from the government
  • Financial support

Teach your students how to build a strong support system and lean on it when needed.

 

Tips for Teaching Students About Their Disabilities

A teacher assisting three students in a classroom, engaging in an activity together.

#1: Start early

Many students notice their differences at a very young age, they just don’t know how to explain them.

If they have been taught about disabilities early, they can normalize their differences and grow up feeling confident in who they are. Think about it this way: if children learn that everyone’s brain works a little differently—just like how everyone’s body looks different—they won’t feel like something’s wrong with them.

This can lead to less “masking” or hiding of their true selves, and even reduce anxiety or low self-esteem.

#2: Make the Topic Understandable

When talking to your students about their disabilities, keep it simple! Use language that matches their age and understanding.

A great way to start is by talking about neurodiversity, which means that all brains work differently, and those differences are not a negative thing.

To cater to everyone’s different learning styles, use various teaching methods and practice differentiation in your classroom

For example, you can use animated videos explaining disabilities, share books or real-life stories about disabled people, and do different activities.

#3: Take a Positive, Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach

Always talk about disabilities in a way that’s positive and neurodiversity-affirming. This means using the right terms or phrases and avoiding words that make disabilities sound like a problem or something to fix. Instead, focus on strengths and differences.

For example, key terms like neurodiversity, neurodivergent, and disability, are better than disorder and condition.

The more we talk openly about disabilities, the less shame there is. Every student deserves to feel safe, accepted, and proud of who they are!

Teaching your students about their disabilities is one of the best ways to empower them. When they understand their unique brains and bodies, they can advocate for themselves, embrace their strengths, and feel confident in who they are.

If you need resources to teach about disabilities, check out this disability awareness lesson and activities set! It includes a printable set and a no-prep, editable Google slides lesson so you can easily teach your students with disabilities all about having a disability. This set can be used with students with any disability!


Need something more specific? Here are more disability awareness resources for you:

By teaching your students using a neurodiversity-affirming approach, you’re helping them see that disability is just one part of their identity—and that it’s something to be proud of.