Dyslexia 'is just a middle-class way to hide stupidity'

Why do we give extra help to dyslexics but not dunces? surely we should take away extra help from all parties otherwise it gives employers the wrong idea. They go to hire someone with nice grades then they find out that they are dyslexic and worst than the other candidates with the same grades.

Did you not read the article which was based around Einstein's biographer as opposed to hear say? The guy aced school and could talk in full sentences from the age of 2-3. I have appalling handwriting, so what?

There were black people in europe by then, there had even been a Roman emperor of African ancestry.

No. Stupid people have a less-intelligent mind, and aren't capable of doing, or as well as others, some things in their mind, such as solving complex problems. Would you say that Thomas Edison was an idiot or dyslexic? Tell me, which is more likely?

But it is. In SOME cases. Which is what people are saying.

Why do we give extra help to dyslexics but not dunces? surely we should take away extra help from all parties otherwise it gives employers the wrong idea. They go to hire someone with nice grades then they find out that they are dyslexic and worst than the other candidates with the same grades.

He was what is known as a 'late-bloomer'

He dropped out of school due to a hearing problem.

Perhaps, (although I'm not sure that being top of his class, "again" at the age of six, teaching himself calculus by the age of eleven and speaking in full sentences at the age of three maximum, constitutes being a late bloomer) but I really don't see what blooming late has to do with dyslexia.

We do... Many schools do also help those who are stupid, or at least not as able/intelligent as other students...

'Title from article'

"Dyslexia is a social fig leaf used by middle-class parents who fear their children will be labelled as low achievers, a professor has claimed.
Julian Elliott, a leading educational psychologist at Durham University, says he has found no evidence to identify dyslexia as a medical condition after more than 30 years of research.
"There is a huge stigma attached to low intelligence," he said.
"After years of working with parents, I have seen how they don't want their child to be considered lazy, thick or stupid.
"If they get called this medically diagnosed term, dyslexic, then it is a signal to all that it's not to do with intelligence."
He added: "There are all sorts of reasons why people don't read well but we can't determine why that is. Dyslexia, as a term, is becoming meaningless."
One in ten people in the UK - including 375,000 schoolchildren - has been diagnosed with dyslexia.
The condition is said to impair short-term memory and the ability to read, write, spell and do maths.
Supporters of the condition argue that dyslexics are intelligent people who have difficulties processing information and need extra help and time than others who are poor readers.
But Professor Elliott has claimed that the symptoms of dyslexia - such as clumsiness and letter reversal - are similar to those seen in those who simply cannot read.
He argues that the condition should be rediagnosed as a reading difficulty.
His comments provoked fury among dyslexia campaigners.
John Rack, head of research and development at the charity Dyslexia Action, denied that the disability was a middle-class phenomenon.
He told The Times: "There is ample evidence that dyslexia exists across the spectrum and the argument that there is no consistent means of identifying it is one cited by people who don't know enough about the subject."
However, other experts have suggested that parents are putting their children forward for reading ability assessments to "get them off the hook".
Dr Michael Rice, a dyslexia and literacy expert at Cambridge University, said: "There is a sense of justification when children are diagnosed.
"It gets them off the hook of great embarrassment and personal inadequacy."
According to Professor Elliott, dyslexic university students are gaining an unfair advantage by getting extra time for their studies and many are getting diagnosed simply to get up to £10,000 worth of equipment including laptops and extra books.
University lecturers have complained about students "milking the system" by pretending they have the condition.
One lecturer who teaches in the South-East said:
"On one degree course I teach, about one quarter of the students get help with their coursework and other assistance because they have this label. You become quite cynical."
The number of students who receive disability allowances at university has risen to a record 35,500 at a cost of £78.4million a year."


What do you guys think? My girlfriend, for example, says that she is Dyslexic and that this is a load of nonsense.


Discuss

Well none of them should get help education is about seeing how well you perform alone.

I must admit I was cynical of my housemate in first year who could spell and read really good as far as I was concerned, yet he called himself "dyslexic" and got a free mac book from our uni and extra time in exams!

But the fact remains he was showing all of the symptoms of Dyslexia, and also he had the typical 'late-bloomer' life that so many Dyslexics have. You may not agree that he was dyslexic, but at least you can agree that it's a real condition, and people who are dyslexic aren't necessarily stupid... Many great minds were dyslexic (http://dyslexia.learninginfo.org/famous-people.htm).