Extra-time, reader, scribe etc. - Is it fair?

Yes, Obviously it is jealousy you extra time to do the bloody exams, of course I am going to be jealous. You have completely disproved your point by saying that you think it's jealousy as if it was so bad having the disability you have why would anyone be jealous!

I have recently noticed there is a huge number of people in my school, whom have the ability to sit their exam in a completely different hall and gain extra time, scribes and readers. Also some people are able to do their exam on the computer instead! Should all exams not be done in the same conditions to make it a 'fair test?'
Also surely with some exams ie. English language - testing your READING SKILLS should mean you should not be able to have a reader!
A friend of mine made a comment saying 'surely if you need a scribe (not having recently damaged your arm) or reader in an English exam then you have already failed' - I partially agree. What are your comments?

To be fair, if it is an English exam and you cannot spell then you should really be at a disadvantage!

You're jealous because you're ignorant. If you actually were given the choice of suffering a life-long mental illness or learning disorder and having extra exam time, or not having the illness, I think we know what you'd choose.

Don't blame your own ****ty exam performance on other people.

Not really. Spelling is a small part of English exams. There are brilliant dyslexic people who would otherwise be at a disadvantage getting employment if there were judged on a symptom of their disorder.

I'm dyslexic and dyspraxic, I got 25% extra time plus 15mins to read the paper (no writing during that time) and was given the option to use a computer but never did. For essays I got a proof reader. For exams I got a note on my paper saying I can't loose marks for spelling or grammar. The educational psychologist also suggested if I get a lower than predicted mark I should be given a verbal test but my uni never approved it. If I didn't get these things I'm entirely sure I wouldn't have gotten a degree.

It has nothing to do with intelligence and it's not about ability either. It's about the way they access ability not being appropriate for the way my brain works. Exams and essays about demonstrating your knowledge/understanding. They way they are done and how they are marked might not be perfect but they are designed to give people an effective way of doing that demonstration. For people with certain disabilities it's just not at all an effective way for them to demonstrate knowledge/understanding so adjustments are made. The adjustments aren't perfect either but they make it more reasonable.

Different people experience disabilities differently, but for me it's thing like:
My thoughts are non-linear, you can get away with that more when speaking but when writing a factual essay not so much. It's like a film where the timeline jumps about, that's how the structure of essays come to me and it makes total sense to me. But I need to put it into regular time line so that takes me more time than someone who doesn't.

I can't process written letters into the meaning it conveys as quickly or accurately as a non-dyslexic person. Misreading one word in a question could totally change your understanding of it and result in answering wrongly. For most people that'd be a silly mistake but for me it's pretty much expected to happen regularly. So if I have 15mins to read the questions and nothing else to focus on, no option to be tempted to just get on with it, then I can read them several times to ensure I know what each word is.

When I read my own writing back I don't see the mistakes. Part of my adaptation to be able to read at the expected level well is my brain fills in blanks of what should be there by guessing to make it make sense when what the immediate processing of the text doesn't make sense. It's not something I'm aware of doing, it just happens, it's a subconscious part of how I read. But then when In read my own work it's like my brain has auto-corrected so I'm practically unable to see the mistakes in my spelling and grammar. It's not even that I don't know what is right or wrong, I do, but even that took me longer to learn than most because of the not seeing . So if a proof reader reads my essay then they can see these things and tell me what's wrong with it.

I can't see how there's anything unfair about me having those.

I also don't think you should go around saying certain people don't deserve the adjustment because you don't know what's going on in their head. I wasn't diagnosed until I got to uni, I got good grades in everything up until Higher English which is when my disadvantages weren't just over came by being intelligent enough to do the work anyway. But those grades weren't the best grades I could have got or the grades I really deserved no matter how good they were. It's not about people being able to do well, it's about giving people a fair opportunity to achieve their potential. Yet if I were diagnosed early then it would have been easy for people to see me as getting unfair advantage because I never came across as obviously someone with learning disabilities- all of my teachers never referred me for assessment.

The people who decide who gets what adjustments know what they are doing- assuming no school/exam board is daft enough to let someone unqualified decide- and disabilities aren't essay to fake because they are more complex than some list of indicators. Sure human error happens in everything but just because you don't see why it's justified doesn't mean it isn't.

So surely everyone should just get spell check then, I don't have dyslexia but I still make mistakes and I will get marked down for this, If everyone had spell check it would be a level playing field!

If you make a mistake it's because you haven't learned to spell. People with dyslexia will inevitably make spelling mistakes because they can't learn to spell. It's about assessing people on their ability to learn rather than what they know.

If you make a mistake it's because you haven't learned to spell. People with dyslexia will inevitably make spelling mistakes because they can't learn to spell. It's about assessing people on their ability to learn rather than what they know.

Well you too are talking a load of balls.
I have anxiety,insomnia and depression, however I never even thought to mention this to anyone to receive some kind of additional support from it when in reality no one is going to want a loony on the job or someone who can't handle lots of people, and feels insecure. Most employers look for confident passionate friendly people am I right? So any disorder is exactly what it is, a disorder, and in terms of work, disorder is shunned upon, even though it is "discrimination and wrong" telling them you're sad, or anxious won't get you anywhere and it happens.
I applied for extra time and got rejected, like I said I have all these "disadvantages" (I have an inflamed bladder, anaemia and I collapse and faint and awful lot and have missed months of school.) however I don't see it quite like a disadvantage when I don't get extra support yet still get A*s so they don't hinder my results it just improves my tolerance, as I don't sit like a baby expecting everyone to spoon feed me all my life.
I'm pretty sure if I tell people I get no support for my issues and still succeed, in my eyes it shows that I'm more hardworking and independent than someone who does? So technically I'm at an advantage as I have achieved without all this support.
That's how I feel.

When you have all these problems....does it not annoying you when people who are clearly fine get extra time?

I think extra time and laptops are necessary for some people to achieve but the way the time seems to be given out is terrible!

My cousin is colour blind and he doesnt get any extra time. He really struggled in a geography exam (I think it was a geography exam anyway!) which required him to look at something to do with colours. He is too modest tk admit his colour blindness to anyone but in that exam he really could have done with the extra time. In other exams, he was fine. On the other hand, there are people who get extra time who really don't need it. A girl I know who is a lot smarter than me who got all As and A*s in her mocks with no extra time at that point, even admitted she didn't need some of the time, especially in maths and so on. I'm good at writing quickly so I don't have any problem with not using a laptop but in maths, I could really do with extra time, but I know I don't deserve it. So why should people who don't deserve it either and are perfectly capable to do the exam with everyone else get more time than me and other candidates such as my cousin who is intelligent but struggles with small things like colour blindness?

I think having a reader and a scribe is perfectly fair for people who need them. I know in my school who those people are and you can clearly tell the ones who don't need the extra time (boast about it to everyone else, etc) and the ones that do (slightly embarrassed that they need the extra time and can't do the exam with everyone else)

Not really. Spelling is a small part of English exams. There are brilliant dyslexic people who would otherwise be at a disadvantage getting employment if there were judged on a symptom of their disorder.

If you make a mistake it's because you haven't learned to spell. People with dyslexia will inevitably make spelling mistakes because they can't learn to spell. It's about assessing people on their ability to learn rather than what they know.

Well you too are talking a load of balls.
I have anxiety,insomnia and depression, however I never even thought to mention this to anyone to receive some kind of additional support from it when in reality no one is going to want a loony on the job or someone who can't handle lots of people, and feels insecure. Most employers look for confident passionate friendly people am I right? So any disorder is exactly what it is, a disorder, and in terms of work, disorder is shunned upon, even though it is "discrimination and wrong" telling them you're sad, or anxious won't get you anywhere and it happens.
I applied for extra time and got rejected, like I said I have all these "disadvantages" (I have an inflamed bladder, anaemia and I collapse and faint and awful lot and have missed months of school.) however I don't see it quite like a disadvantage when I don't get extra support yet still get A*s so they don't hinder my results it just improves my tolerance, as I don't sit like a baby expecting everyone to spoon feed me all my life.
I'm pretty sure if I tell people I get no support for my issues and still succeed, in my eyes it shows that I'm more hardworking and independent than someone who does? So technically I'm at an advantage as I have achieved without all this support.
That's how I feel.