Ignorance is Not Bliss…
- jejns58
- Nov 13, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 15, 2022
One of the more shocking things that have come to light during the long battle to where we are now is the ignorance and lack of knowledge about dyslexia by some teachers and the administration of Victoria's former school board.
The first meeting with the school was when Victoria had just started high school after her math teacher sent us an email stating he had serious concerns about Victoria's ability to complete grade 9 Math at the Academic level. They based their opinion on 1 informal quiz on basic skills, written on loose-leaf paper. In my reply, I provided him with some information and a link to a website explaining dyscalculia. During the meeting, the LST said “oh, you know kids like that” while she tilted her head to one side. It seemed an odd comment and gesture, but I did not think much of it at the time.
It didn’t take long though, for my husband and I to realize that the teachers seemed to have lower academic achievement expectations for Victoria than we did.
During the first parent-teacher meeting night, a teacher said to me about Victoria’s grade, “she got a 70, isn’t that great!”. I replied that it wasn’t great and questioned what Victoria might be struggling with.
This attitude continued throughout her grade 9 year, but we did not think there was a serious problem.
Toward the end of Grade 9, they suggested that Victoria switches to the Applied Math course from the Academic Math course because it would be “easier for her.”
During the summer between grades 9 and 10, a couple of board administration members suggested that Victoria switches to a different high school so that she could take a Guided Learning Strategies course that had been canceled at her current high school. In this email, it was also suggested that Victoria could take more Arts centered courses (rather than academic subject courses) because "We know Victoria excels in the Arts". These schools have a semestered system for the school year. This would mean taking 4 courses during one half of the year and different courses for the second half of the year. They suggested this would be easier for Victoria than taking 8 ½ courses through the entire school year.
We explained why we felt their suggestions were not in Victoria’s bests interests, and she stayed at the same school for Grade 10.
During the first 4 months of grade 10, we were negotiating a settlement for the HRTO complaint we filed in July 2015. We settled this in early December and expected the school to implement Victoria’s IEP as written.
In January 2016, Victoria and I met with one of her teachers to find out how she was doing in the class and see if there were any concerns or things that needed to be done to help her. During this meeting, her teachers asked me a question that still shocks and angers me. He asked, “if my husband was able to get a job?” When I replied, “pardon?’, he said, “is your husband employable with his disability?” My husband is dyslexic, and this must have come up in discussions with someone at the board or school that knew about Bob’s dyslexia. I was stunned and initially did not know how to reply to this ignorant and uninformed question. We have never hidden that he or Victoria has dyslexia, as it is nothing to be hidden or ashamed of. This is the first time that anyone has asked such a question, and the fact that a teacher with many years of experience would ask this question still makes me angry.
When I was back home, I sent him an email with information on dyslexia, links to organizations with further information on dyslexia, well-known and successful people with dyslexia, and information on Bob’s position with his then employer, patents on inventions Bob was a part of and one of his sole inventions, and information on Bob’s brother’s position in the nuclear power industry in Ontario. Dyslexia often runs in families, which is important information for schools to be aware of when identifying and diagnosing learning disabilities in students.
It was after this that we realized why her teachers seemed to have such low expectations for Victoria. They were equating Victoria’s learning disabilities with intellectual disabilities. People with dyslexia and learning disabilities have average to above-average intelligence.
I found disturbing information on the school board’s website in the Special Education section. Between at least October 2013 and May 2018, in the list of programs available, Learning Disabilities and Intellectual Disabilities were grouped together. When you clicked on the link, it would bring you to a page of supports available for students with both exceptionalities. The supports were for both learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities. The criteria to be diagnosed for the two exceptionalities are different, as are the supports needed and expectations for academic achievement. Yet, it seemed that this school board did not understand the differences.
When we lived in the US from 2005-2011, I found that many people we encountered misunderstood dyslexia as an intellectual disability. I found a 2010 study by The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation* that revealed a shocking amount of ignorance by the general public in the US but also among educators. While I was aware of this when we moved back to Canada, I didn’t think of it as an issue to worry about.
When going back over the meetings with school and board staff, Victoria’s teachers, and learning support teachers, I realized that a great deal of the struggles we had with trying to get an IEP that would enable Victoria to achieve her potential was that the people who should have been best informed in how to make this happen, were dangerously ignorant of dyslexia and learning disabilities. They did not expect Victoria to be able to achieve high enough grades to be accepted to a university as Victoria had planned to do. If her father were unemployable because he is dyslexic, Victoria would be unemployable for the same reason. The universities Victoria applied to would not accept Applied-level math courses for admission. If she had taken applied-level high school courses, this would have significantly reduced her post-secondary education options. The IEP did not need to provide the accommodations or remediations she needed to be successful in Academic Math courses because she would not be going into post-secondary education anyway. How could you if you had dyslexia?
While Victoria’s story has a successful outcome, how many students with either exceptionality in her former school board or other school boards across Ontario and Canada are being provided with flawed programming and support under this uninformed, harmful opinion? How many students have had their options and opportunities limited for their future educational and career goals, life experiences, and dreams?
The first two paragraphs of The Ontario Education Act state: “A strong public education system is the foundation of a prosperous, caring and civil society,” and “The purpose of education is to provide students with the opportunity to realize their potential and develop into highly skilled, knowledgeable, caring citizens who contribute to their society.”
“The most violent element in society is ignorance.”
Emma Goldman
Check out the links below.
The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation
*Measuring Progress in Public & Parental Understanding of Learning Disabilities – GfK Prepared for Tremaine Foundation 2010
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