Reply to Did your kid write about/refer to their disability/SN in their college essay?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My husband was born with a really challenging physical disability. Since he’s had it since birth it’s just part of him and he definitely doesn’t think of himself as being disabled but by any definition he is. His life story is pretty impressive but he downplays it as I’m sure many others with disabilities do. I remember my husband once telling me that he just plays the hand he was dealt.[/quote]

That's the thing here. Both my kids have disabilities that could be essay topics. Kid #1 didn't even think to write about them, I bet Kid #2 (whose disabilities are more significant) won't either. I think this is because this life is just their normal, this is how they grew up. They have had to work a LOT harder than other kids, but they don't go around thinking about their challenges or what they have overcome. They have just accepted it. This makes them really grounded and awesome people, but it doesn't make for a good essay.

Everyone is welcome to write about whatever is meaningful to them, but it strikes me as somewhat ironic that some of those who have overcome the most won't write about this stuff.[/quote]

I’m the PP who previously worked in college admissions. Kids write college essays about the things going on in their lives. Writing about their experience as a disabled person doesn’t mean they haven’t “overcome” their disability. It doesn’t mean that they’re unreasonably or unnecessarily harping on something hard in their life. It doesn’t mean they’re whining about the lot they’ve been handed.

An individual’s experience navigating the world as a disabled person absolutely can make a great college essay. Not only can it let the admissions officer learn about them as an individual, how they choose to write about their disability can transmit a lot about who they are as a person and how they will show up on campus. It can demonstrate grit, determination, and strength in character that puts them heads and shoulders above peers who haven’t yet experienced how difficult life can be. It can be a far more compelling essay than the experience of the rich kid who has been so cloistered their entire lives that going on vacation to someplace like Costa Rica makes them realize that poverty, even relatively speaking, exists, and because of this newfound knowledge of poverty, they now take an annual trip to Costa Rica to volunteer at an orphanage there. (I am not exaggerating when I say this was a common college essay topic I saw at my top-25 SLAC.)

Your kids aren’t demonstrating some sort of profound relationship with their disability because they chose to write about something else going on in their lives.

From my perspective, very few topics are off limit, but some topics are higher risk because they absolutely have to be done well to be successful. You have to be a strong writer, have a good narrative arc, have a clear piece of information about you that you’re trying to share with with the admissions committee and you have to make that point very clearly, even if you’re not making the point explicitly. You have to use examples that demonstrate the point you’re tying to make because it’s not enough to just say the point and have the reader believe it. But if well executed, the riskier topic is often the better way to go. Low risk topics are risky in a different way. They’re usually bland and leave you indistinguishable from the next applicant. So maybe your kids have missed/will miss a great opportunity by not writing about their disability in their essays…[/quote]

I think the issue here is that the definition of what a “disabled person” is has become extremely attenuated; and there’s also a sense that the label is used to expect accommodations for academic performance. An essay on your cerebral palsy or T1 diabetes? Maybe. An essay on your ADHD and your need for double time on tests? Hard to imagine how that’s not going to result in a giant eye-roll.

Colleges want to know kids can manage academically and socially. Writing an essay about your academic and social challenges seems like a very poor strategic choice. [/quote]

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