learning disabilities and life stories
Feb. 21st, 2005 02:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blackheiseiFor my intro to Special Ed course, I need to read 5 essays from the book Learning disablities and Life Stories. This book is a compelation of essays written by people who suffer from various types of LD. one story in particular had a strong impact on me, mainly because it was as if I were reading about a reflection of myself.
In the essay "Bad" Gretchen O'Connor tells of how she grew up with ADHD. I have never been diagnosed with it myself, and if I were, I know I would only be a borderline case. the remarkable thing was the way her early school experiances mirrored mine. She would forget things, procrastinate, and daydream. This caused her to fail in her classes, even though there was nothing wrong with her mental capasity. I cannot tell you how sick I grew of hearing a teacher tell me "Jenny, you are a smart girl! why can you never apply yourself?"
Her feelings of guilt at her faliures spawned the birth of a never ending cycle of lies and forgery, as she tried to hide her teacher's notes and grades from her mother. This is where my tale, and Gretchen's truly split. Gretchen lied out of fear of her mother's wrath. I lied out of a terror of being a disappointment for my mother. I love my mother, and have always been afraid that she would not be proud of the person I become.
while we both became wonderful listeners, intent on helping others, I discovered devoted friends that listened to me as much as I listen to them. Were it not for my mother's enduring pacience with me, and the constent encouragement from my friends, maybe I too would have sunk into drugs and depression, as Gretchen did in her high school years.
I know that my life actually holds very little in compairison to Gretchen O'connor, but I am thankful that the influances of those around me have protected such emotional darkness from ever taking hold. To look at what I might have been, I find a renewed thankfulness for those that have always been there for me. I am a better person because of you.
thank you
In the essay "Bad" Gretchen O'Connor tells of how she grew up with ADHD. I have never been diagnosed with it myself, and if I were, I know I would only be a borderline case. the remarkable thing was the way her early school experiances mirrored mine. She would forget things, procrastinate, and daydream. This caused her to fail in her classes, even though there was nothing wrong with her mental capasity. I cannot tell you how sick I grew of hearing a teacher tell me "Jenny, you are a smart girl! why can you never apply yourself?"
Her feelings of guilt at her faliures spawned the birth of a never ending cycle of lies and forgery, as she tried to hide her teacher's notes and grades from her mother. This is where my tale, and Gretchen's truly split. Gretchen lied out of fear of her mother's wrath. I lied out of a terror of being a disappointment for my mother. I love my mother, and have always been afraid that she would not be proud of the person I become.
while we both became wonderful listeners, intent on helping others, I discovered devoted friends that listened to me as much as I listen to them. Were it not for my mother's enduring pacience with me, and the constent encouragement from my friends, maybe I too would have sunk into drugs and depression, as Gretchen did in her high school years.
I know that my life actually holds very little in compairison to Gretchen O'connor, but I am thankful that the influances of those around me have protected such emotional darkness from ever taking hold. To look at what I might have been, I find a renewed thankfulness for those that have always been there for me. I am a better person because of you.
thank you
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Date: 2005-02-22 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-22 03:47 am (UTC)Blah, I'm being all introspective again.