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]I am an actuary. I would not be happy if the actuarial exams gave extra time to those who gamed the system. Why? Some exam are graded on a curve. I didn’t realize some of the accomodations included calculators. That is really unfair to those without extended time - a calculator with extended time means one would have lessor chance of making silly calculation mistakes. [/quote]

Well, the precise argument people seem to be making is that their disability causes them to make "silly calculation mistakes," and therefore they should not be held accountable for them the same way other people are.  [/quote]

Do you think there's no gatekeeping in the fields of study that would deter students with particular disabilities from pursuing them? Take the example someone upthread talked about, how they wouldn't want a surgeon who needs double time in order to complete a surgery. Do you all really think someone is going to make it through med school if they have a disability which significantly affects a critical part of their work? How many blind surgeons do you know?

It is unlikely that someone with a disability that means they consistently make silly calculation mistakes would go into a field that required many basic calculations with no error checking. That person might go into a field that required them, if they had tools that could support it. My dyslexic child is probably not going to be a copy editor. But why should he be prevented from attending college because his dyslexia, without accommodations, means he couldn't appropriately demonstrate his knowledge on standardized tests?[/quote]

There is much less gatekeeping in our litigious society. Blind medical students do exist. All medical students have to practice on real people, and so someone has to be the one that has his invasive procedure done by the blind medical student who needs practice.

MADISON, Wis. — The young medical student was nervous as he slid the soft, thin tube down into the patient’s windpipe. It was a delicate maneuver — and he knew he had to get it right.
Tim Cordes leaned over the patient as his professor and a team of others closely monitored his every step. Carefully, he positioned the tube, waiting for the special signal that oxygen was flowing.
The anesthesia machine was set to emit musical tones to confirm the tube was in the trachea and carbon dioxide was present. Soon, Cordes heard the sounds. He double-checked with a stethoscope. All was OK. He had completed the intubation.
Several times over two weeks, Cordes performed this difficult task at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. His professor, Dr. George Arndt, marveled at his student’s skills.
“He was 100 percent,” the doctor says. “He did it better than the people who could see.”
Tim Cordes is blind.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7318398/ns/health-health_care/t/blind-medical-student-earns-md/#.Ww1vfhRllhA

[/quote]

Ummm ... I think I'd want informed consent that my intubation was being performed by a blind med student! [/quote]

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