Learning Challenge

"The pain of a learning disorder resides not in the strain one feels in trying to function but in the disconnections one can suffer, a disconnection from language and from thought, from expression and creativity, from books and from words, as well as from people and from feelings."
~ Edward M. Hallowell, and John J. Ratey, "Driven to Distraction", Simon & Schuster, New York, p. 159.

One of the most overlooked and misunderstood differences we encounter with other people is in the mind.

My father grew up in an era when you could get every question on a test correct, but still end up with negative marks due to spelling mistakes.  Since then education has come a long way in trying to accommodate different learning abilities.  I know a number of people who must deal with severe development challenges, who now hold jobs and are proud of their contribution to society.  They have wide circles of friends and colleagues who value them.  In our near history, people facing these levels of challenges would not have been educated but locked away in asylums.

However, challenges do not end with education.  One friend explained to me how her learning disability affects every aspect of her life, not just the ones schools test and accommodate for.  How she perceives time, how she reads her environment, how she discerns which information is important when scanning a Wikipedia article, how she understands her social relationships and prioritizes her friendships, even how she perceives the meaning of life and her place in it, are all influenced by the unique wiring of her brain.  Plus she must accept the lonely reality that most people cannot see the world as she perceives it. 

Someone else shared with me how she was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome as an adult.  Up until that point, everyone assumed that she was just a mean and cold-hearted person.  And she believed them.  Neither she nor any body else realized she was incapable of reading and interpreting facial expressions or social cues.  Only after her diagnosis were people compassionate with her.

And this is what I find particularly sad: a lot of learning and developmental challenges are invisible.  We think, "What's wrong with them?" when they are quietly dealing with all the challenges that come with living in a society that is not organized the way their brain is organized.

My friend Dave Howlett, in his talks, frequently encourages his audience to admit that we don't know why that person cut you off on the highway, or why that old man didn't say thank you when you held the door for him.  That driver could be going into labour and that man could be preoccupied with thoughts of his dying wife.  If you don't know why someone is doing something a certain way, or they have a peculiarity that is getting on your nerves, or they just seem to be from another planet, please remember your compassion.  You may discover a human being who longs for your understanding.

Buffalo State Insane Asylum