Distinguishing difference

Reading through my tutors-in-training blogs this week, I notice that the overwhelming response to Julie Neff's article on clients with learning disabilities is: "We shouldn't be labeling people as disabled; we should be looking for ways these clients are (a) extraordinary or (b) not so different from our other clients."

I understand this impulse. Honestly, I even share it. Learning disabilities come with such a stigma in our society. I remember the Special Ed room at my junior high: It was in the same hallway as the cafeteria, which always reeked of grease and garbage, and as we all filed down to lunch every day, we would see the LD kids in there behind a big red door with a small square window, eating their brown bag lunches at long wooden tables. They weren't even allowed to eat with the rest of us. I remember the jokes the boys in my grade would make: "Oh, look, it's the retard room!"

Reading my tutors' blogs, I get the sense that what we want to do is protect our clients from this stigma. Being dyslexic certainly does not make a person stupid, but it DOES make that client different from the student who simply doesn't like to read. More importantly, dyslexia requires a different approach from the tutor: We need to understand what strategies could help a dyslexic student manage the reading and writing process more effectively and efficiently, because when working one-on-one with students, understanding their learning styles - including their learning disabilities - is crucial.

In other words, recognizing the disability allows us to tailor education to that student's particular needs. Now, again, tutors should be doing that with all clients; the individualized instruction is what makes a writing center so valuable, at least in part. But working with a client with a learning disability requires different strategies than working with a client who is not learning disabled. The difference doesn't imply deficiency; the difference is, simply, difference.

I believe tutors need to know more about learning disabilities and how to work effectively with clients who have a wide array of learning disabilities. I would like to see this be one "tier" of the training for the writing center at our university. I want us, as Neff says, to approach every client with respect and sensitivity. That doesn't mean denying that learning disabilities exist. It doesn't mean valorizing a client with a learning disability to the point that we say, "Oh, they don't need special help - look at how extraordinary this person is, to have been able to overcome so much!" Yes, being in college with a learning disability is a challenge, and we should praise our clients for their hard work and perseverance. But our job doesn't stop there. The fact of the client's hard work doesn't mean she or he won't need a different kind of help than our other clients.

The best way to advocate for fair, equitable treatment of clients with learning disabilities isn't too pretend that the disability doesn't exist or that it doesn't affect the way they learn. The best way to help them is, simply, to help them.