·
There are a lot of factors that can influence a
persons ‘misdiagnoses’ but the two factors that stick out to me are race and
gender. People of color are most likely to be ‘misdiagnosed’ whereas white
students are not. Our race and first language brings conflict to the classes.
Teachers make an assumption that because you are a different color rather than
white you do not know English, which causes misdiagnoses of a LD.
·
Learning Disabilities is a process started by
white teachers could not figure out a different method of teaching students. So
they came up with LD. Targeting people of color more so than white students. In
the classroom normalcy is consider students being white, well behaved, and
able. Normalcy is how teachers see students and when a student does not shoe
these characteristics they begin to make conclusion about the student being
either Emotionally Disturbed, Mentally Retarted or having a Learning
Disability.
·
All three factors would play into diagnosing a
student by their race, gender, and class. Race and gender are a huge part of
this diagnoses because if the student is Hispanic or Black the will make the
assumption the Hispanic student does not know English or the black student is a
criminal and feel threaten by them in the classroom. Class has a huge impact as well because white
middle class student can seek help from other resources rather than being
categorized has having a Learning Disability. Where as the working class will have
to go along with the diagnoes because they do not have an outlet or other
resources.
·
A social construct is a belief or theory someone
comes up with to determine an answer to a cause. Race is a social construct.
For example, we see Asians as smart in math and excel in academics so we make an
assumption that all Asian are smart in math and academics. Social construct and race play together
because when a student is acting up in class and meeting the normalcy of the
classroom. Teachers begin to think the student is either slow and has a
learning disability.
·
Language is a huge barrier for determining a
Learning Disability. The student’s first language reflects their understanding of
English. Which can cause confusion between both languages. As for race people of
color are placed in special education because of their background and not portraying
the images teachers want their students to be.
word count 405
Hi Mariela,
ReplyDeleteI like how quite explanatory your blog is. I do agree with what you said "People of color are most likely to be ‘misdiagnosed’ whereas white students are not". There is this assumption sometimes that whites do not have a disability just because that disability is not physical. Good job! :)
-Abi O.