there are many dyslexics who are who have been labelled lazy and stupid; instead their disability should have been recognised and they should've been helped to overcome it.I remember being severely reprimanded by my mother for not being able to distinguish between b and d, not being able to process mirror image concepts, getting stumped by trivial math-related topics that everybody got easily.That was way back in the late 80s when there was not much information about learning disabilities. Even then, despite my poor marks in maths and my struggles with the multiplication tables [which I have still to win] the one good thing I had going was that my Mother was convinced that I was not lacking in intelligence [many claim she's very wrong, and she is getting convinced by those people now] and that there must be some other explanation for the problems. Mine is a family of Bankers and Mathematicians, they thought I was adopted. As far as they could figure, a child good at languages and communication who simply can't do math didnt seem to match the gene-pool she was alleged to have sprung from.
In India we define intelligence purely by the number-skills that children exhibit. A student not good at maths is a poor student.Now I see there are so many groups devoted to learning disabilities, especially dyslexia, so there is hope for another dyslexia little girl to not be branded 'lazy' or 'not trying hard enough'. Maybe she'll attend training to help her build her confidence with numbers.
There is the other end of the spectrum, the children who are multi-talented, very high IQ but completely lack social interaction skills, communication and expression- the Autistic. That is another disability taken very lightly here, attributed to everything from the 'normal family trait for late speech' to the hyper-activity of the child being taken as a good sign [something so sexist like 'Boys will be faster and more mischevious']. It might be wishful thinking on the part of the family to completely ignore dire warning signs like the avoidance of eye-contact with people and repetitive play activites as mere a 'phase'. These gifted and slightly cursed children have a nightmare time in 'special' schools [where they are mostly treated like they are retards] and in 'mainstream' schools where they lag in 'achieving' the class average[ and are deemed a 'troublesome' or 'poor' student]. Therapy in India for a recognised autistic child is expensive as well as fruitless. There is just no scientifically organised method to cope with this Disability here, simply because there is not much research and development being done here. The matriarchs and patriarchs still wax how 'its common for a couple of children in a generation to be late at picking speech and are generally shy with people' and that they 'never made such a fuss of that before'. Those people need to be put in a time machine that goes only one way and sent back to the dark ages. Today is a frenzied, friendless, competitive race and no one will accomodate those who are not up to speed.My dyslexia is not an excuse for me to avoid the numbers which are a lifeline for any manager. I will overcome it.Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Auguste Rodin, George Patton, and Woodrow Wilson were apparently dyslexic. I have good company.
Awareness, is the only responsibility expected from the rest. be aware that there are those who are not as well equipped as the others to learn and interact. Thank God if he has spared you of the pain of being disabled.
Rain
