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Dyslexia, a Personal and Public Issue

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Published: 26May2010
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When C. Wright Mills defined the sociological imagination as requiring the ability to "think ourselves away from the familiar routines of daily lives to look at them anew," I immediately thought that I should right something that is a practicality in my daily life; something that is affecting me even now. This particular fixation is a learning disability, known under the pretense of Dyslexia. This disability is neither seen, nor heard and is often over looked by nearly the entire percentage of the population. According to the national Dyslexia website it is "estimated that only 1/5th of the population knows what [it] is and how [it] actually affects the sufferer." By definition Dyslexia is "any of various reading disorders associated with impairment of the ability to interpret spatial relationships or to integrate auditory and visual information I personally know this first hand." Meaning, the ability to read characters (letters) is inhibited because the characters actually move around the page, for example cat is read tac and dog is read as god. I personally understand the adversity that comes with such a misunderstood disorder.

Before I was even diagnosed with Dyslexia the hardships of living with it began. Not only was I subjected to the harsh verbal abuse of my peers but I was also subjected to the verbal abuse of unfit teachers. It wasn't until the first grade that a teacher, whom remained unbiased to my inability to read or write, recognized the problem and identified the learning disability. However, Irving ISD refused to acknowledge the learning disorder and take proper steps to correct it until I was properly diagnosed by a professional. It took three years on a waiting list with Scottish Wright Children's Hospital of Dallas, Texas to be properly tested. Once the diagnosis was made the school board pressured my parents to put me in Special Education classes, which was eventually changed to Resource Classes. The point being that the School Board did not understand the implications of Dyslexia, and began to treat it like a mental disorder and not a learning disorder.

This being said the "public issue" can be brought to light. In the big picture it can be seen that firstly Dyslexia is not well known even after approximately twenty years of being identified as a learning disorder, secondly there are not many resources to test children for Dyslexia, and thirdly even after proper testing most school boards have such a limited understanding of it that they denounce the sufferer and let them "fall through the cracks" of the educational system. In effect this leads many people, who are otherwise very intelligent, to leave menial lives where the best job they can obtain is a MacDonald's worker and manual laborer.

Throughout history there have been hundreds of famous Dyslexic person's whom, if they existed in today's educational system, would have ceased to be great or famous. For example, the great painter and inventor/scientist Leonardo Da Vinci was a recognized Dyslexic, it is even theorized that he wrote the majority of his papers backwards because it was easier for him to read. The famous creator of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney, was a noted dyslexic, as well as such famous actors/singers as Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Cruise, and Henry Winkler. Even famous historical figures such as George Washington, Winston Churchill, and Thomas Jefferson have been noted Dyslexics. With so many great historical figures, why are the school boards and on that note society, allowing such a drastic lack of educational help to modern day Dyslexic persons? It would seem that this lack of acceptance could cause many potentially ingenious people to become nothing more than "burger flippers" and "diner waitresses."

With this in mind curiosity blooms and provokes a study to prove how many people are actually "falling through the cracks" every year and at what age, if any, are true Dyslexic students being diagnosed. The hypothesis for this study would follow along the lines of this: Because of the lack of recognization from the Texas Board of Education many dyslexic people are falling through the cracks of the educational system. In order to prove this theory a survey research design would be optimal. I propose that to prove the age of diagnoses and the age of academic failure or academic success, it would be best to take a wide range of candidates for the questionnaire.

The first candidates would be at the elementary level. One-hundred fifth grade students would be chosen at random to complete a ten question survey as well as a test for Dyslexic tendencies and diagnoses. The questionnaire would be asking questions pertaining to their grades, what kind of educational experience they are having (regular, modified, advanced curriculum), and if they have been diagnosed with Dyslexia to begin with. The test itself will show the number of undiagnosed students in the one-hundred person survey. Based on the correlation of the answers and the test, the surveyor can determine if the child is: A. being treated academically in accordance with the disorder prior to testing (not supporting the hypothesis) B. undiagnosed before the testing and thus "falling through the cracks" (supporting the hypothesis) or C. has no signs of dyslexic tendencies (neither supporting or not supporting).

The second group of candidates would be at the middle high level. By this level of educational "7 out of 10" people with Dyslexia are properly diagnosed and receiving help for overcoming the disorder. To support this theory the same survey and test will be distributed to one-hundred eighth grade students chosen once again at random. Just as the previous test and survey the second group would determine whether the adolescents are already diagnosed prior to testing, receiving the proper educational care, and what percentage is not dyslexic.

The third group of candidates would be at the "real world" level so to speak. They would not necessarily be high school students but instead would be teenagers ranging from 15-18. This factor would be implemented to prove one more question which is now added to the survey: Did you drop out of high school and if so for what reasons? By adding this factor into the survey it can be determined how many people drop out of high school because of academic failure. By correlating this with the test for Dyslexia, we can see how many people fail at school because they weren't properly diagnosed in time to seek academic help.

Finally, the last group of candidates would be at the college level. This factor will determine how many Dyslexic people who are and are not backed by the lower level educational system make it to college and graduate. Much like the third group the forth groups survey will once again be changed. Firstly the level of college education obtained will be determined: drop out, associate's degree, bachelor's degree, master's degree, or doctorial degree. Also the question of whether the participant has been prior diagnosed or diagnosed during the course of the experiment will lead to a new meaning. By determining the level of education gained by Dyslexic people who have been diagnosed prior to the experiment it can be determined if the support of the school board is actually helping Dyslexic's make it through the "real world" or not.

The results of the survey would thus not only prove the hypothesis, assuming the results correlate accordingly, but also determine if the school board is making a difference at all after diagnoses. Thus determining how many people are actually falling through the cracks in the American educational system because of the learning disorder, Dyslexia.

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