LD Blog

Some individuals with Learning Disabilities explain to me that they sometimes feel isolated and and alone. Although this is probably true for most people, regardless of whether one has LD, people also tell me that learning about others who have “made it” despite their Learning Disabilities helps to mitigate these feelings.

That’s the good side of talking about high-achieving individuals with Learning Disabilities. The bad side is that the press, in my opinion, shines the light on too few individuals and selects almost exclusively those who are celebrated because of extraordinary achievement (e.g., Charles Schwab or Greg Louganis), mistakenly sending the message that everyone can be a celebrity. Worse: Only those who accomplish great things are to be admired.

A realistic accounting would show that there are many more individiuals with Learning Disablities who have managed to achieve well, if not at the level required for celebrity. It is these folks whom we should be celebrating. They have accomplished lots, even if their lives are quiet and essentially normal. There are some personal stories of this sort in a section of Richard Wanderman’s site, LD Resources.