Know Better, Do Better

Humans are famous for the wide range of skills spread across an ever-growing population. Each skill and trait that exists in us exists on a continuum, and where we fall on those scales determines that some parts of life are easier or harder for us compared to others. 

Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

If the hard parts are too hard, this may lead to a significant enough concern that causes formal acknowledgment of a diagnosis. We might name a disorder, or a syndrome if our pattern of hard things matches patterns that show up a lot in our society. (It’s beyond the scope of this essay, but it is worth noting that most of the labels we come up with address patterns of hard things and not patterns of easy things).

It is important to note that the same skill set in a person may have a different pattern of hard things depending on what the society they live in may demand of that individual. Individuals with difficulty matching squiggly lines with auditory sounds are unfortunate to live in a society that places great demand on deciphering these codes in order to read and learn. Their pattern stands out because reading is such an important part of our world.

In the past, the same individuals would have had no way of knowing that these areas had developed differently in them than in others because the world they lived in would not have highlighted it so much. Their strengths in other areas may have shone so bright in meeting the trials of the time that it wouldn’t have mattered.

But alas, in the present day, they have the misfortune of being in the wrong place and wrong time regarding this specific skill set. For people with learning disabilities, we need to help them understand that the part of them that makes reading hard only matters because we are in a society that requires so much reading.  In other times, that same biology and development would not have had the same impact on life because life asked for different things from us.

Not too long ago we lived in a society that also demanded a lot of reading. But that society thought that if you couldn't read then you were broken and lacked the value to give a life worth living.

Luckily though we live in a life where reading demands are high, but we also have better understanding. So we can help. We can intervene. We can help everyone understand what is going on better.

We know better so we must do better.