A blogger who identifies herself as “Profgrrrl” (Playing School, Irreverently), posted about her negative reaction to seeing a flyer advertising disabilities services on the campus where she teaches. She describes the flyer as saying “‘Failing your classes?’ It goes on to suggest that if you are failing then you may have a learning disability.” After affirming her acceptance of the concept of Learning Disabilities, Profgrrrl, decries mistaken implications of the flyer.
She hits a couple of good points. Here’s one:
My take on people who are failing is that some may well have disabilities, but others are lazy, disenfranchised, unmotivated. I’ve experienced students (back when I taught undergrads most of the time; my grad students tend to not do this) who perform poorly on an assessment and then try to tell you they have a disability and need more time. BUT they don’t have a documented disability. I want to be sympathetic, but I’m only required to accommodate those with letters from the Office of Disabilities. How can I, someone without expertise in this area, based on a post-assignment conversation with a student who isn’t happy with his grade make a valid judgment about whether or not this student needs accommodations? If the student knows he has a disability, why isn’t there documentation?
It’s nice to see someone else discriminating between can’ts and won’ts, but that’s not the best of it. I’m glad that there are others in academic circles who, even if they are not in my field of study, chafe at the diluting—shoot, the cheapening—of the concept of Learning Disabilities.
Link to Profgrrrl’s post.
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