“You read slow!”
“They just aren’t trying hard enough.”
“I guess you just need to study more.”
“Well if you would read more you would be able to read faster.”
“You seriously don’t know how to spell that word?”
“No don’t let them read it will take forever.”
“Maybe you should be put into a special education class.”
These are just some of the comments students with learning disabilities hear. They are harsh, incredibly offensive, and tremendously insensitive. Living with a learning disability doesn’t mean you can’t be successful in a regular class, it doesn’t say that you can’t form intelligent thoughts, and it definitely does not mean that you should be talking to like your five!
I am proud to say that I live my life with Dyslexia and Auditory Processing Disorder. This means that while I struggle to read, I still can. At one point in my life I was told “she isn’t trying hard enough” and “she just needs to study harder”. I went through a multitude of tests to find out that this was not my fault! But I am one of few that got the help that I needed I was tutored for 2 years learning how to sound out words, learning how to follow along in a reading because prior to this I would be lost.
I struggle to spell, read, and listen in crowds, does this mean that I should be in a special education class?
People think of someone with a learning disability and they never picture a person like me. The question I often get is, “You're dyslexic? But you’re in regular classes.” Yes, yes I am. I may struggle with my disability but I won’t let it overcome me.
Living with learning disabilities in school doesn’t mean you can’t comprehend things, it just means we work 10 times as hard as everyone else. We get frustrated at times, knowing that the person next to us didn’t even open the textbook to study for the test that they got a 100 on, meanwhile we study for a week straight to get our 80. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t because we aren’t smart, we just can’t learn like that, tests aren’t our thing. For starters, to be on a time crunch is not fair, we can help that we read slower than everyone else. Second, while everyone else can understand the question immediately we could read it four times and need the teacher to read it to us, or say it a different way. Again, not because we aren’t smart, we can answer the question no problem once we actually understand what it wants from us, our brain just doesn’t want to understand It. Third, sometimes we don’t even go to the teacher because we feel like we would be judged by our peers for not understanding.
“You’re just using it as an excuse.” I have been told this on multiple occasions. But we aren’t if I could read faster I would so that I could enjoy reading and read more often. Or if I could focus only on what a person was saying instead of hearing the background noise I would. But I can’t. To hear this from a person who should really be setting an example for you and encouraging you like a coach, or teacher hurts. Not only should they be the one to stand up for people like this but they also shouldn’t disrespect anyone or tear anyone down.
It is things like these that cause people to loose faith in themselves making it hard to persevere through the struggles. So I ask you to stand with us, support us, don’t be skeptical of us. Ask us questions about our disability if you don’t understand, or look it up, but don’t make assumptions. Because you know what happens when you assume!
