The Audacious Aspie Goes off The Rails (Sorta)
Hello, and welcome back to the Audacious Aspie. Now this post, and the ones after words, will be a little different. Namely, we are going to go off the autistic trail a bit and jump into other areas this time, like learning disabilities or A.D.H.D. (I know that my blog is called the Audacious Aspie but shhhhhh). Also they will be shorter than the originals (why were they so long? I blame years spent learning to write 5-6 page assignments for a while, it has now been ingrained in me. I blame secondary education). But don't worry, they will be more than 140 characters long.
I am becoming the people I once looked down upon, the ones who I believed shortened their content for the audiences increasingly short attention span. I am sorry, lord Twitter, for ever doubting you.
To the topic at hand: Learning disabilities. What are they? According to the ldac (Learning Disabilities Association of Canada) whose symbol resembles three people dancing around an issue or a sci-fi aiming reticle, is a “specific neurological disorders” (paragraph 1), that affects our brains “to store, process, retrieve or communicate information” (paragraph 1). And it is both invisible and, like autism, life long.
And, the site notes correctly, that it is possible to be both LD and other things, like autistic. Plus it can run in the family in that big, embarrassing race of family genes that, while it looks like you won first place so far, a cursory look towards your parents will leave you questioning the results of said race. Bonus points to the site for noting that LD is not mental retardation, a behavioral disorder, laziness nor deafness and blindness (the last two being physical disabilities and something that directly affects the brain, it is curious why anyone assumed the two were the same.) nor is it a result of economic disadvantages, environmental factors or cultural differences” (paragraph 1).
Those last three do exist though, and it has a catchy name: stigma. LD can affect not only memory, but also learning and functioning aspects as will, some of which we will cover in this post: Dyslexia is the first one in the listed in a graph done by the idac. Some of you may know what it is, but if you don't, it hinders the person’s ability to read, write or spell. Dyscalculia, while sounding like something you get after Dracula bites you, actually hinders the person’s math skills, i.e “computation, remembering math facts concepts of time, money” (paragraph 2) and more. There is even dysgraphia, which a person's handwriting, spelling, etc.
I will go over some of the other LDs in the next post, part 2 of this one. How parts will there be? We’ll find out together. Shocking isn’t it, how short this one is? Normally I ramble on for paragraphs on end. I’m finally throwing off the yoke of secondary learning! And I will continue to do so in the next post of the Audacious Aspie!
What a trail we shall blaze! Lets just hope it’s not like the Walking Dead and a zombie or group of rogue survivors pops out to try and kill us. We’re in an RV, right?
Sources used:
http://ldac-acta.ca/learn-more/ld-basics/what-you-should-know-about-lds