College admission scandal’s overt ableism
Like many people, I read the breaking college admission scandal with interest.
I wasn’t too surprised that wealthy people used their money to get ahead. Is classism really a surprise at this point to anyone?
What did surprise me was that Singer’s company falsely claimed that many students had learning disabilities to get special accommodations such as extended time and individualized settings.
I’m not usually one to point out ableism, mostly because a lot of people are just plain ignorant of how their actions and attitudes are ableist. However, it is disgusting that anyone would falsely claim a learning disability as a non disabled person.
My daughter has invisible learning disabilities and these accommodations are in place to help level the playing field. They are NOT in place to give perfectly non-disabled people a step up. If I hadn’t read it for myself I’m not sure I would believe it. Who is that low? Would these same people feign paralyzation and ride around in a wheelchair too to get some advantage? Do they have no shame? My daughter works about 1000x harder than the average student just to be able to learn and she achieves small successes only due to these accommodations. To know a student who has no learning disabilities faked one makes me sick. It makes me more angry than had I known they just cheated. It’s more disgusting than pretending you were an athlete that you really weren’t (which many did as well).
The Reason?
This is the most blatant form of ableist behavior and shows the overt disrespect and obvious discrimination against those who struggle with actual learning disabilities.
Individuals who already put in extraordinary more effort and time just to be on the same playing field as non-disabled peers.
If anything though, it strengthens my resolve to keep fighting for disability rights not only for my daughter but for all those with invisible disabilities. It strengthens my resolve to keep spreading awareness. To keep advocating. To keep raising my voice for those who can’t because their voices matter too