Disability or Difference?

It’s early morning, and the house is quiet. I’m sitting at the small kitchen table, looking out over the beautiful yard of the house we are renting. The bright sun is vividly detailing the lawn, trees, and garden. In the distance I can see a glimpse of the Olympic mountains. This view, paired with my favorite coffee and some good background music, is the space where I most enjoy writing.

There is an unanswered question on my computer screen that I plan to tackle: Is Dyscalculia a learning disability or a learning difference?

In the early days, I considered my daughter’s Dyscalculia to be only a negative condition, a liability, even something defective about her. The words, “learning disability” seemed to fit the situation because of the negative impact on her schooling and life.

However, as I have studied more and spent time being curious, I no longer feel this way. Instead I now see her Dyscalculia as a unique way she operates in the world. She has her own methods for creatively categorizing and measuring that is different than 95% of the population, but not necessarily wrong or defective. It does mean I often have to stretch my mind to consider new possibilities.

Even though I now see Dyscalculia as more of a difference, I continue to use the word “learning disability” to describe Dyscalculia. In our culture, so much is shaped by a particular understanding of numbers. For my daughter, who struggles with using and applying numbers in this way, her way of being IS a disability. She is at an extreme disadvantage in the world as it is. She will have greater difficulty than most people with being on time to work, figuring out cooking measurements, tracking her finances, and understanding a calendar. The term learning “disability” fits the situation because our world is not currently set up for this difference.

Practically speaking, there is another advantage to using the term “Learning Disability” because it can provide the person with the tools that they need to be on a more level playing field in educational settings. There is an interesting article by the Learning Disabilities Association of New York which suggests that using the term disabilities instead of differences enables students to receive the support they need in schools, under the laws that protect them. With this term, there is legal protection and some provision so that these people are hopefully less shut out from opportunities. (Sadly, the practical application of these protections and provisions is currently quite broken, but those thoughts are for another time).

In these ways Dyscalculia is both a learning disability and a difference. Given how the world operates, those with Dyscalculia are at a severe disadvantage, or put another way, they have a disability. Maybe someday our world will become more aware and affirming of how each person learns and operates differently, and Dyscalculia will no longer be a learning disability. Perhaps then, those with Dyscalculia will be more free to share all the wonderful gifts they have because of their unique and different perspective.

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