I have never liked the term “learning disability,” preferring instead to use the term “learning difference.” Is this just more PC-speak? It seems to me that the identification of somebody as “learning disabled” is rather arbitrary. We don’t refer to people as “athletically disabled” or “musically disabled,” and send them to remedial classes. A literate culture cares a lot about verbal and mathematical skills, but in other realities, these talents might not count for much. Should we ever be so stupid as to bomb ourselves, my guess is that the Hell’s Angel is more likely to survive the new world order than the accountant.
We know that many serious conditions have compensatory aspects that keep them in the population, such as the protection from malaria that is the flip side of sickle cell anemia, or the creativity that seems to correlate with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Obviously, not all conditions have such benefits, but it is interesting to consider the ones that do.
Having spent a lot of time with my two favorite people with dyslexia, Mr. F and Karen, I was always dazzled by what they did well. Yes, writing was a struggle, especially for Karen, whose love of public relations plopped her in some exceedingly challenging reporting classes in the journalism departments of her universities. No spell check on lab work? Catastrophe! But these struggles were always offset by some amazing creativity. Karen just had her first-year research project accepted for presentation at the prestigious International Public Relations Research Conference…do I sound like a proud Mom or what?
Julie Logan, of the Cass Business School in London, just reported a previously unknown advantage for people with dyslexia. More than a third of entrepreneurs (35% to be exact) have dyslexia! Compare this to the generally accepted estimate that about 10% of the population has dyslexia.
What is there about the dyslexic brain that might make the entrepreneur role attractive? Logan argues that during childhood, people with dyslexia must learn to compensate, and one of those huge compensations is delegating work to trusted people. CEOs delegate a lot of the paperwork to subordinates, and use their oral communication skills to motivate.
Among the noted entrepreneurs with dyslexia are Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways, Charles Schwab of brokerage fame, John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, and Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko’s. Orfalea, who named Kinko’s after his own curly hair (see below!)….wrote an autobiography called Copy This! about his adventures as a ‘hyperactive dyslexic who turned a bright idea into one of America’s best companies.” This is must-reading for young people who have been discouraged about their own “learning differences.”
This is not to say that having dyslexia is all fun and games. I wonder how many talented youth get sliced and diced by today’s very one-size-fits-all, unforgiving public school system before they have a chance to show their true potential. Don’t get Karen started on the validity of the SAT and GRE for students with dyslexia. Hopefully, Logan’s work will remind us all that just because somebody is a round peg in a school that only offers square holes, it doesn’t mean they can’t excel.
1 Comment
Liz Ditz · December 26, 2007 at 8:05 pm
As the parent of a child with dyslexia, I strongly prefer the term “learning disability”. To me, “difference” is a weasel-word.
Not all parents of kids with LDs agree with me, but having shepherded my child through k-12, and now college–the way her brain works is not a “difference”, it is a disability. Even though my daughter is well-remediated, deficits remain. She has a pretty good handle on the deficits, and is able to explain them to the naive (such as some of her teachers and now, professors).
One important issue: “differences” do not require accommodations to level the playing field; disabilities do.
Of course, having a disability does not disbar a person from the necessity of hard work, or the possibility of achievement.
Turning to the actual point of your post, I want to say I also have strong reservations about Logan’s survey. The actual paper is not yet available. Judging by her conversation on NPR’s Morning edition today, her understanding of dyslexia is limited, at best. Dyslexia isn’t “seeing things backwards”, as Logan agreed to this morning.
(Link to NPR’s Morning Edition for 12/26/07 = http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17611066)
Inskeep: Let’s explain what dyslexia is. The simplest explanation is, I suppose, that you “see things backwards”?
Logan: Well, when you are young, it can be, you struggle to read, you see things backwards, you may have problems with numbers. As you get older, its much more about having disorganization, still maybe mixing times and dates up, and sequencing numbers badly.
To me, Logan is mixing up apples, oranges, and bananas. Some people with dyslexia also have lousy sequencing skills, some have outstanding organizational skills. Some can visualize well, some can’t.
A bigger story that is sadly under-reported is the number of persons in American prisons who have un-diagnosed and un-remediated learning disabilities.
Now that is a good story.
Comments are closed.