Reply to Atlantic accommodation abuse article

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Atlantic accommodation abuse article"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This issue has been addressed as nauseum.  Maybe not with respect to this particular editorial, but it has been greatly discussed. For those of us with kids with learning disabilities, it can be a very frustrating topic because learning disabilities are something you can’t see so people assume that you’re gaming the system when you’re not.[/quote]

This is a lot like the service animal issue.
some people really need them but about 90% of the people claiming they need them do not actually need them.
This ruins it for everyone and now nobody really believes that anything other than a seeing eye dog is a service animal.

So when your 4.0 student with a 1400 on their SAT needs another hour on their SAT because they have some disability, it draws a lot of side-eye

Nobody gives a crap about a 3.0 student with a 950 SAT that needs more time because they can't sit still for 3 straight hours and needs an hour break in the middle of the exam.[/quote]
My kid has a 4.0 and a 1500 on the SAT *because* they get the accommodations they need. The last time DC took a standardized test without accommodations was 7th grade, preparing for the SSAT, to prove a point. Got the 16th percentile on the reading/writing section and could only get through about 1/3 of the questions. Got 96th percentile with the accommodations (extra time and a reader, human at the time because it was paper testing, screen reader now).

DC is 2e — gifted and severely dyslexic, diagnosed at age 6. DC is not stupid. It’s an access issue, like a ramp for wheelchair users. Make the text *accessible* to DC’s brain, which literally processes language differently, and their *skill* is excellent. [/quote]

OK, but how do you make performing surgery "accessible," or flying a plane, or the many other careers that require not just skill but speed and efficiency?[/quote]
Of course not. People love to make this stupid argument. There are plenty of jobs that work with neurodivergent brains. No one — colleges or employers — is required to implement accommodations that make a situation unsafe. REASONABLE accommodations. A person with a paralyzed arm who can’t lift 50 pounds unaided cannot work in a warehouse that requires that physical task. A person who needs extra time to read is not going to become a paralegal with backbreaking loads of fine print to read. If my kid can’t do whatever is needed to be a surgeon within the requirements of the operating room, they can’t be a surgeon. That’s fine. [/quote]

But no one will know your kid can’t do it until they actually hire him, because his test scores indicate no issues. Duh.[/quote]
I promise you American Airlines doesn’t give a shit about your SAT score. That’s not how you become a pilot. Or a surgeon. Or even a lawyer. [/quote]

What would prevent them from becoming a lawyer?[/quote]
Law school.

My kid gets extra time on tests, but that isn’t going to help manage the volume of work required to successfully complete law school (or medical school, or whatever else). They aren’t going to be able to do it. And if a student with learning differences *can* get through law school (keep in mind no one gets extra time for assignments), then they can probably manage being a lawyer, too. [/quote]

Most law schools have a single test at the end of the semester and that test determines your grade.  Getting extra time on that test would be extremely useful.[/quote]

+1 Also when I was in law school, people with accommodations were assigned note takers for class and would receive them weekly. And the really helpful thing was that their notes would come with an outline. Creating outlines for studying was one of the central ways we prepared for exams, and having someone hand you a ready made outline that had already picked out all the major concepts and organized them for you was a huge time saver. And then, yes, you'd get either time and a half or double time for exams. Some exams were extremely time pressured, so the extra time would mean the difference between fully completing answers or not. Huge advantage, especially if someone's disability was a trumped up ADHD diagnosis they bought of a doctor who was a family friend.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics