as in disabled
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Recent Examples of special-needs
Like her previous work, the book is less about perfection than possibility — highlighting the impact of rescue and the importance of giving special-needs pets a chance at a loving home.
—
Usa Today, USA Today, 13 May 2026
Alejandro was non-verbal and had attended Greater Heights Academy, a West Kendall school for special-needs children.
—Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 12 May 2026
From there, families often consider tools like a special-needs trust.
—Bruce Helmer, Twin Cities, 25 Apr. 2026
While the district’s overall student enrollment has declined dramatically in recent years, the special-needs population has actually increased, advocates noted.
—Scott Travis, Sun Sentinel, 21 Apr. 2026
For some seven years, MindShiftED has focused on supporting some of the city’s poorest families, parents of special-needs students and those who speak only Spanish.
—Noah Alcala Bach, San Antonio Express-News, 22 Mar. 2026
The event is a fundraiser organized by the Active 4 All Evergreen Foundation to support programs run by the Evergreen Park and Recreation District, including the INSPIRE special-needs program, which helps keep kids with challenges active.
—Cbscolorado.com Staff, CBS News, 2 Mar. 2026
Early literacy and special-needs inclusion, including opt-in tools that support deaf children and parental involvement, are areas where ideology gives way to child development science .
—Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Feb. 2026
Alzir, who is part of a special tutoring program at Andrew that works with special-needs kids, counts communication as his calling card.
—Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune, 5 Feb. 2026
Usa Today, USA Today, 13 May 2026
Alejandro was non-verbal and had attended Greater Heights Academy, a West Kendall school for special-needs children.
—Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 12 May 2026
From there, families often consider tools like a special-needs trust.
—Bruce Helmer, Twin Cities, 25 Apr. 2026
While the district’s overall student enrollment has declined dramatically in recent years, the special-needs population has actually increased, advocates noted.
—Scott Travis, Sun Sentinel, 21 Apr. 2026
For some seven years, MindShiftED has focused on supporting some of the city’s poorest families, parents of special-needs students and those who speak only Spanish.
—Noah Alcala Bach, San Antonio Express-News, 22 Mar. 2026
The event is a fundraiser organized by the Active 4 All Evergreen Foundation to support programs run by the Evergreen Park and Recreation District, including the INSPIRE special-needs program, which helps keep kids with challenges active.
—Cbscolorado.com Staff, CBS News, 2 Mar. 2026
Early literacy and special-needs inclusion, including opt-in tools that support deaf children and parental involvement, are areas where ideology gives way to child development science .
—Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Feb. 2026
Alzir, who is part of a special tutoring program at Andrew that works with special-needs kids, counts communication as his calling card.
—Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune, 5 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for special-needs
Adjective
-
Both are now used by millions of people who don’t identify as disabled.—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
20 May 2026
-
The dog’s owner, Tom, described himself as a 65-year-old disabled veteran.—
Harriet Ramos,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
20 May 2026
Adjective
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In this new show, unlikely friends Marsha and Wendy wrestle with the mysteries of the teenage heart (and dragons), while jumping between alchemy class, dodgeball and theater club in a melodrama about the unusual humans and mutants that attend an ailing public boarding school.—
Kevin Giraud,
Variety,
11 May 2026
-
Karelina had traveled to Russia to visit her elderly grandparents, while Kurmasheva returned to support her ailing mother.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
10 May 2026
Adjective
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And the Lebanese government has a history of being in-- incapacitated or unable.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
10 May 2026
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Hospital representatives said the petitions were intended to protect incapacitated patients who are too disabled to make their own decisions and who have no family or friends willing or able to take charge.—
Christy Gutowski,
Chicago Tribune,
3 May 2026
Adjective
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Still, coaches worked to make the best of unfit practice locations and engage unsettled kids.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
13 May 2026
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All this while the federal government’s main tool for regulating medical software, the Food and Drug Administration’s device-approval process, is structurally unfit for regulating autonomous clinical AI.—
Alon Bergman,
STAT,
11 May 2026
Adjective
-
Aariana Rose Philip is an Antiguan American model and musician who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy.—
Aariana Rose Philip,
Vogue,
4 May 2026
-
The man who died was a quadriplegic, unable to escape on his own.—
Shelley Bortz,
CBS News,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
To kill bacteria, use hot water for washing diapers and bed linens if someone is unwell.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
15 May 2026
-
Others become seriously unwell.—
Matt Slater,
New York Times,
9 May 2026
Adjective
-
Amezcua recalled meeting a paraplegic woman with significant health issues who declined hospital care because, in her experience, she was treated briefly and then discharged back to the street.—
Mona Darwish,
Oc Register,
22 Apr. 2026
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Johnny Joestar, a paraplegic former jockey who’s already wealthy, joins not for the money, but to pursue Gyro, a strange man with two strange spinning electric balls that seemingly can give him the ability to walk again.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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That night, both the President and his wife periodically fled upstairs to check on their most beloved son, the eleven-year-old Willie, sick with a fever that would kill him two weeks later.—
Thomas Mallon,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
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What this narrative neglects are all the ways treatment might cause terrible side effects, or the long period one spends being sick, and how one’s identity may have changed in the interim.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Special-needs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/special-needs. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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