Edited by Katherine Tee, Sunday, 3 Oct 2010, 23:19
The Davis Dyslexia Association labels it's homepage "Dyslexia - The Gift"
Why is dyslexia a gift?
Dyslexic people are visual, multi-dimensional thinkers. We are intuitive and highly creative, and excel at hands-on learning. Because we think in pictures, it is sometimes hard for us to understand letters, numbers, symbols, and written words.
Davis lists some very good definitions of dyslexia in his library- and an excellent flowchart about what dyslexia is.
His only reference to dyslexia as a disability implies the student is disabled only by his own 'compulsive solutions':
"The disability aspect of a learning disability is composed of the compulsive solutions the individual acquires. These compulsive solutions are what disable the learning process."
My personal thoughts:
Experience 1: I know several students who were diagnosed with dyslexia. After diagnosis, they then received special education. They were no longer perceived as 'stupid' by their peers, but as 'disabled'; which is way cooler to kids! Furthermore, with special educational plans, they progressed more smoothly on a more practical path. This to me implies they were unable to cope with mainstream education, and therefore disabled by the system. So we're back to the definition of disability....
Experience 2: A teaching colleague had a teaching assistant with dyslexia. The teacher was becoming distressed because the TA was mispelling the students name on books, displays etc, and therefore unable to assist with this time consumeing job. I suggested the teacher printed lists of the students names in a large font, so the TA could cut and stick them. The strategy worked, and the TA was then able to do this aspect of her job. She had been enabled by the introduction of an appropriate strategy.
Can disability be 'cured'? Or can it at least be managed? And if it is managed to the point that it no longer disables a student, is it still a disability? Because it seems to me that if strategies can be employed to overcome the problems, then it is not a 'medical' disability, but a 'social' disability!
Dyslexia
The Davis Dyslexia Association labels it's homepage "Dyslexia - The Gift"
Why is dyslexia a gift?
Dyslexic people are visual, multi-dimensional thinkers. We are intuitive and highly creative, and excel at hands-on learning. Because we think in pictures, it is sometimes hard for us to understand letters, numbers, symbols, and written words.
http://www.dyslexia.com/ (acc13sep10)
Davis lists some very good definitions of dyslexia in his library- and an excellent flowchart about what dyslexia is.
His only reference to dyslexia as a disability implies the student is disabled only by his own 'compulsive solutions':
"The disability aspect of a learning disability is composed of the compulsive solutions the individual acquires. These compulsive solutions are what disable the learning process."