More Than A Diagnosis: Why Labels Don’t Define People With Special Needs

In today’s society, everything that revolves around us is built on and reliant on labels. Whether it be the type of food we eat, the clothes we wear, or the music we listen to (genres), labels help our world categorize and better systemize the vast range of items that humans use today. We’ve been trained to sort things into neat classifications in order to help make life easier.

But for some reason, we’ve decided to apply the same concept with people. Many people label others through a singular lens based on characteristics, behaviors, and in our case - conditions. When meeting someone new, our minds often categorize them with labels such as “shy”, “weird”, “outgoing”. And in the case with individuals with special needs, the labeling becomes more automatic and even more damaging. By viewing these individuals through their diagnosis first - “autistic”, “stupid”, “disabled” - we simplify and mute the uniqueness and complexity of the individual into a singular assumption.  Furthermore, we silence their story, turning their full and rich lives into a easy to understand and one-dimensional perspective, essentially dehumanizing and disregarding the fact that EVERY individual has an important story to share with the world.

More than that, labels lowers and changes the expectations that society places on these individuals and the communities they belong to. Labels create limitations instead of possibilities, especially for the special needs community. Rather than recognizing an individuals special characteristics, talents, and abilities, these individuals are seen through the lens of their diagnosis, and are seen as incapable of change and success. Rather than being seen as a community of unique leaders, learners, artists, talents, and even innovators, they are seen as problems to solve and burdens to manage, creating a glass ceiling that prevents the special needs community from thriving. Additionally, when individuals with special needs become seen as challenges and people incapable of success and agency, they are turned into objects of pity and charity rather than people with real stories and lives. Organizations aim to only do things FOR them rather WITH them, and this dynamic infantilizes and tokenizes the special needs community, reducing them into one-dimensional burdens and challenges. This reinforces unfair power imbalances and makes inclusion for the special needs community based on pity, not respect.

Here at Candles for William, we’ve seen and understood the implications of this mindset. William, the younger brother of cofounder Winston Ra, is a real world example that a single one-dimensional word can never capture the identity of a person. He’s more than a diagnosis or an obstacle with limitations, but rather a complex and unique individual with preferences, characteristics, abilities, and agency. And that core belief — that every individual with special needs is first and foremost a person before a condition — is why Candles for William was founded. Our organization started because we wanted to fix that disconnect, the gap between what an individual is and how society often views that individual. More than just surface-level awareness, our business hopes to help our audience understand that every individual regardless of condition is a unique and valued identity that should be seen that way.

Each candle that we hand pour is more than just wax and fragrance, its a symbol of respect towards the special needs community. Inspired by the people we aim to support and the values we try our best to stand for, each candle reflects the uniqueness and complexity of every individual with special needs. Buying a candle is more than just supporting a small business, it helps fuel a movement in our community that aims to value people by more than a singular label. With every wick that is lit, we hope to spark conversations,, change perspectives, and catalyze a change within our community that accepts and views people by their full identities. Thank you for being a part of our journey!