Boston U student with a learning disability explains that accommodations are not "special treatment"

From The Daily Free Press, the independent student newspaper at Boston University:

School of Management sophomore Kara Fleishaker spends “four or five hours” laboring over what her peers read in one hour.

Fleishaker, who said she also studies twice as long as her classmates, said these are just some of the challenges she faces with dyslexia, a learning disorder that causes difficulties with written language.

However, she said the most frustrating challenge for her is the general perception of students with learning disabilities.

“People need to realize that one, we’re not dumb, and two, that students with learning disabilities don’t get special treatment,” Fleishaker, who was diagnosed in the 8th grade, said.

Through the Boston University Office of Disability Services, Fleishaker has access to special allowances to accommodate for her handicap. Although some students with learning disabilities have access to special accommodations at BU, they are held to the same standards as the general application pool when they apply for admission, ODS Director Lorraine Wolf said.

“Once they’ve been accepted, they are regular BU students,” Wolf said. “If they need some special accommodations in classrooms, they work with us.”

ODS typically assists 500 to 600 learning disabled students per semester. ODS works with not only undergraduates but with BU Academy students, graduate students, law students, medical students and even distance learning students, Wolf said.

Special accommodations given to students with learning disabilities are tailored to fit each individual student’s needs. Some of these accommodations include extended time on exams, granting the students computers for their exams or using digital audio books in class, Wolf said.

But other than these certain accommodations, BU professors are instructed not to give these students special advantages over their classmates.

“They are regular BU students, and they should be held to the same standards as everybody else,” Wolf said.

Students who wish to receive special accommodations at BU due to a learning disability go through ODS, and present proof of their condition. ODS then notifies the student’s professors.

“I had to go for an educational evaluation,” Fleishaker said. “They put you through various standardized tests modified by state. It took me 12 hours to get all the psychological evaluations done.”

College of Arts and Sciences freshman Brittany Guiterrez said she understands the special accommodations dyslexic students need.

“My friend had dyslexia, so he had trouble in class reading,” she said. “When he was younger, he didn’t like reading out loud. He would stumble on words sometimes, and would make prolonged pauses sometimes.”

However, College of Communication sophomore Eric Wight said he thinks too many students are over-diagnosed with learning disabilities such as Attention Deficit Disorder.

“So many people are BS-ing ADD that you’re giving so many people extra time on exams when they don’t need it,” Wight said.

For Fleishaker, it has been a long struggle to become the student she is today, even with special accommodations in the classroom.

“It’s very easy for another student to look at me and say ‘it’s not fair,” she said. “If it was up to me, I’d rather not have a learning disability and not have those extra 20 minutes.”