Reply to Wall Street Journal on rampant growth in percentage of college students with “disabilities”

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]People with disabilities aren't inherently inferior to you.  Using a computer instead of a pencil to type an essay isn't cheating any more than using a ramp instead of the stairs is cheating. [b] Having simply average working memory isn't going to make a surgeon botch a surgery. [/b] Using a calculator isn't going to doom an engineer into a life of professional ineptitude.  Having dyslexia doesn't mean that a writer won't become a best seller or a financier won't succeed so wildly that he becomes a household name.  Having ADHD and dropping out of college doesn't mean a person won't create a start up and become filthy rich.  And a single test that arbitrarily penalizes anyone with atypical strengths and weaknesses in no way justifies withholding future opportunities from that individual.
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Visual working memory is important to performing surgery. It's been studied in simulators.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00464-007-9287-8

It's dangerous to make claims consistent with what you want to believe that are not consistent with the pushback of reality.[/

"Low" working memory in most cases is relative to the person's strengths.  I think it's a fairly safe assumption that someone who succeeds in the medical field has a high overall intelligence.  Two standard deviations between working memory and their strengths would still put working memory at average if not high average.  Your study shows that someone like this may not be as skilled in certain types of surgery as peers with superior or gifted range working memory.  It does not show that they would botch surgery.  Botched surgeries have much more to do with poor team dynamic and communication.
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I’m the PP who has the kid at TJ and think they do a great job on giving *reasonable* accommodations. My kids has more than 2 SDs between PS and GAI IQ. He gets 1.5 time for major tests. But his reading/writing are not a problem, so he only uses it in math and physics. TJ will accommodate this, but he must still complete the core curriculum— every extra class TJ requires, research lab, every project, every homework assignment, and  he is graded by the exact same standards as all the other kids. The extra time in math enables him to demonstrate his actual level of mastery. But make no mistake   TJ designs math tests where they expect kids to not be able to solve 15-20% of the problems.  If everyone was given unlimited time, there would still be only a few As.

If a kid can perform at the same level as other surgical residents using only accommodations that would have no adverse impact on a patients (including not making surgical errors or not staying under anasthesia longer) and which don’t disrupt the hospital environment, they should be able to become surgeons. Otherwise, they should wash out.  But let’s get real. Kids with the brainpower to become surgeons with accommodations are smart enough to choose a different, also highly prestgious profession, that draws on their strengths and allows them to succeed because of who they are, not despite it.   Are you really saying their are hundreds of ADHD kids lining up to become bad surgeons. The ADHD kids I know are choosing field where they need minimal or no accommodations.

And who knows. Maybe my kid is a better hire because of the determination and work ethic it takes to succeed at someplace like TJ with 2e. Not to perform surgery, I’ll grant you.  But show me a 2e kid succeeding at TJ, and I will show you a kid who will always give 110% and never give up.  Those are important attributes too.

The ADA, which is what governs in the real world, requires that a disabled employee perform core job functions with accommodation that do not provide an unreasonable burden to the employer.  So if the surgeon can perform surgery up to the standard of care without disruptive or  very expensive accommodations, the ADA covers them.  And kinda like TJ. You must succeed in the core curriculum and they will not permit accommodations that take away from other kids ability to learn.

And stop and consider, just for a minute, that school should be about everyone learning up to their potential. Not about competing or “winning”. In a perfect school environment, the one we should strive for, all kids succeed, and all kids “win”.

Because this is about high school and college  kids. My kid understands and can apply advanced calculus in out of the box situations.  That is a core requirement at TJ.  If he was not capable of understanding and applying calculus, then he would be asked to leave— disability or not.  And American needs more citizens with a highly advanced understanding of math. If it takes him an extra 20 minutes to demonstrate that understanding because of a documented learning disability, who is being harmed? Who loses, because my kid succeeds?  TJ does not even grade on a strict curve. It’s not like there can only be 7 As in the class. Everyone else’s grades stay the same.  Especially since his eventual career will almost certainly not emphasize the speed of

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