Written by Paige Cox, General Member
Learning Disabilities: when a person hears this, the first thing that comes to mind is an inability to do something. There are so many misconceptions surrounding individuals with learning disabilities. When I started to read about Learning Disabilities and their misconceptions, I thought that they didn’t surprise me. As someone who has grown up with learning Disabilities, I have heard them about myself many times.
What are some of the most common learning disabilities? These categories may exist, but truly, there is no one-size-fits-all-all, which is vital for individuals to keep in mind.
Learning disabilities range in severity and may interfere with the acquisition and use of one or more of the following:
oral language (e.g. listening, speaking, understanding);
reading (e.g. decoding, phonetic knowledge, word recognition, comprehension);
written language (e.g. spelling and written expression); and
mathematics (e.g. computation, problem-solving).
With these learning disabilities, these are just terms that exist. I feel that you can be severe in one and maybe not so much in another. This is important because no two individuals with learning difficulties would be the same.
I struggle in three of the four topics that are covered in this definition of a learning disability, and I have been in a scenario quite often where individuals do not know I struggle with these things until I try to write a sentence quickly and make multiple spelling mistakes or take 20 minutes to figure out a simple math question. I have lived my life dealing with some of the misconceptions around learning disabilities, so when I was writing this article, it was vital for me to give my perspective as well.
What are some of these misconceptions that are around when you talk about learning disabilities?
Learning Disabilities are purely a lack of motivation.
Learning disabilities are not just a lack of motivation. I feel that what I read in the article " Misconceptions of Learning Disabilities." I love what they say concerning this topic. "(Cooper-Click, 2024). Their brains are just wired differently." I think, as someone who lives with a learning disability, this took a long time for me to understand. I always felt that I could not learn and would never figure out how to do something. At 27, it may take a little bit to get there, but I always get the answer.
Learning Disabilities mean you are not as bright as everyone else.
I feel like throughout my life, this was also true for my self-perception of my disability. It took a long time for me to realize that just because I had this diagnosis didn’t mean that I wasn’t like everyone else. The previously quoted article said that "Albert Einstein may have suffered from dyscalculia or dysgraphia that made him see numbers differently"(Cooper-Click, 2024).
Learning Disabilities affect a student's academic life.
This interested me because I have always noticed that it affected me in other aspects. However, the article says that "Many people with LD struggle with social skills. Many have struggles reading body language and don’t know how to react to certain situations. Others find it hard to follow a conversation."(Cooper-Click, 2024) When I continued to read into this, it did not surprise me. I feel that I have struggled throughout my life interacting with other individuals.
Now that we have looked at some of the common misconceptions about Learning Disabilities, who are some individuals who have learning disabilities?
Entertainers:
• Whoopi Goldberg
• Justin Timberlake
• Jay Leno
• John Lennon
• Ty Pennington
Artists and Musicians:
• Pablo Picasso
• Mozart
Scientists:
• Albert Einstein
• Thomas Edison
• Alexander Graham Bell
Athletes:
• Michael Phelps
Looking at all of these individuals who live with learning disabilities it is so important to look at all of these individuals. There are so many amazing things, and the fact that they have a learning disability is just a tiny piece, and this is the most important thing to remember.
To learn more about learning disabilities, please check out the following resources!
Cooper-Click, S. (2024). Misconceptions About Learning Disabilities. Brush and Palette. https://lbhsnews.com/6635/health/misconceptions-about-learning-disabilities/
Famous People and Celebrities with Learning Disabilities and Dyslexia—LDRFA. (2017, May 31). https://www.ldrfa.org/famous-people-with-learning-disabilities-dyslexia/