Award-winning, student-run, weekly campus newspaper of the University of Illinois, Springfield

The Observer

Award-winning, student-run, weekly campus newspaper of the University of Illinois, Springfield

The Observer

Award-winning, student-run, weekly campus newspaper of the University of Illinois, Springfield

The Observer

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Ableism in Education Systems

An empty classroom | Photo Credit: Ivan Aleksic/Unsplash.com
An empty classroom | Photo Credit: Ivan Aleksic/Unsplash.com

A common issue that seems to come up in the United States is ableism, and whether in the workplace or public schools, it has had an astounding impact on the structure of social norms today. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Ableism is “discrimination or prejudice against individuals with disabilities.” This can take multiple forms, such as a lack of wheelchair-accessible entrances and exits or a lack of subtitles in many movie theater showings. Some of these occurrences are done with malicious intent. Yet, very often, the lack of sufficient accommodations happens when there is a lack of consideration for the experiences of those with disabilities.

To understand this better, it is important to get a better sense of what a learning disability is. While learning disabilities are not expressly defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act, the definition can be found in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA offered the definition of a “specific learning disability”:

“A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do mathematical calculations.”

An unfortunate reality for many people is that they may be on the cusp of struggling with a disability but not quite qualify for the criteria of any particular disability. What happens to people who struggle with certain aspects of any learning disability without quite being able to be diagnosed with any? Unfortunately, they often wind up left behind in the eyes of the American education system.

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Despite constant efforts, there is an ongoing issue with how our system treats disabled students. When it comes to teachers and professors, one common issue is that they aren’t paid enough, and unfortunately, this can tend to show in the way they handle the needs of their students. While some are able to come up with ways to accommodate students in their classrooms, others will create course expectations that regularly create disadvantages for a portion of their students.

Commonly, some rules and expectations actively exclude students who may have difficulty in certain areas. For example, a rule that notes will not be shared with the students, with an expectation that they will have to take the notes themselves without “slacking off.” This can be detrimental to those who experience learning disabilities such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, who may not be able to keep up with the class pacing enough to have effective notes at the end of the class. Things like speaking fast without taking moments of pause for students to keep pace, making lecture recordings without subtitles, and more have a lasting impact on students. Even worse, some teachers will get frustrated with their students rather than make efforts to make accommodations. Angry that a student needs the most recent slide of notes and can’t keep up, angry that they are being asked to speak slowly or to provide notes. This can ultimately impact the direction of students’ education, leading to students expecting very little from their own educational experiences or themselves.

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