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Add this to the list of things that don't exist
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Oct. 21st, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
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Criminal Justice majors who aren't corrupt, power-abusing, death-bringers!
http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/175832.html?thread=10696920#t10696920
Dear ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif) sadisticferret,
The field of Criminal Justice is also glad you didn't enter it. You don't have what it takes and those who want to make a difference don't have the fucking patience to deal with your ignorance.
ETA: Oh my Lord-
http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/175832.html?thread=10703576#t10703576
IT BURNS! IT BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURNS!!!!!
Current Mood:  Catty Current Music: "Ghosthunters" on TV |
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How did I know
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Oct. 6th, 2009 @ 10:04 pm
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that this post about Ireland would devolve into SOMEONE being ignorant?
http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1222654.html?thread=204749310#t204749310
Yes, because how DARE the Irish people expect you to know how to use their language in their country??? I can understand getting frustrated with trying to understand people (it got a little difficult at times when I was there last year) but I never took it out on the people- I was a stranger to their country. This was THEIR home and I chose to come there. I sat and listened to them and by the end of my stay I could generally figure out what was going on and if I was confused I would just ask politely for the person to repeat themselves. Everyone I met there were very kind and more than happy to slow down so I could understand what they were saying when accents got thick.
And how DARE the Irish people name their children in ways that honor their culture and past? It's not like other cultures don't do this. Nope!
Sweet Jeebus... I don't care if I got unfunny in that post. The pretension oozing from those comments just enraged me. I'm not Irish- I'm Irish-American- so I'm not sure if I have any right to feel a little offended but I do.
EDIT: http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1222654.html?thread=204749054#t204749054
I... I don't even know. What a prejudiced little twat waffle.
Current Mood:  *Snarl* Current Music: "Ghost Lab" on TV |
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My thoughts on children with disabilities
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Jun. 12th, 2009 @ 09:45 pm
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This is a very personal subject for me. I am a student with a learning disability. I have been diagnosed by pediatrician, two psychologists, a psychiatrist, and a pediatric neurologist with ADD without hyperactivity (now known as ADHD Predominately Inattentive). ADHD is REAL. If it's the real thing you DON'T grow out of it. You learn how to accommodate. I test normal on standardized tests with regard to reading, writing, math, science, etc. but I do have ADHD. I have learned to accommodate. I did not self-identify until I reached law school and it was STRONGLY recommended by a professor that I go for more testing to see if I would benefit from accommodations on exams.
Unlike this poor child-
http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/122191.html
I was blessed with good teachers who encouraged me to always strive for the best. Heck, it was my second grade teacher who first picked up on the fact that I might have a learning disability. She knew I was smart and could do the work but I seemed to get more wound-up or upset by little things than any of the other students.
I think she had some background working with learning disabilities and brought the concern to my parents who, bless them, took me to be tested by pediatrician, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and a pediatric neurologist (Mom is an RN who didn't want to put an eight-year-old on drugs unless it was, without question, absolutely necessary and Dad kept on thinking I was just making it all up- I was just a lazy kid and there was no other reason for it except that I was lazy). All of them came back with the same diagnosis- ADD without hyperactivity (now known as ADHD Predominately Inattentive). It turns out that my father and at least one of my cousins on his side of the family have been also diagnosed with ADHD Predominately Inattentive (yes, that was a bit of sweet justice there).
Even though I did not have the hyperactivity commonly associated with ADD at that time (and still associated with it) I can remember being told by my psychologist not to mention to my teachers that I had ADD. He was against ever telling the school about it until it became obvious from my tests that I would benefit from a twice a day dose of medication in addition to counseling for behavior modification. That second dose had to be taken at school and under the law the school had to keep the meds in the main office and I had to go to the office to pick up my meds once a day.
I can still remember the shock of every teacher that I mentioned to that I had ADD. They never would have known if I hadn't told them in passing. I never was accommodated in elementary school or secondary school or university. I still graduated in the top ten percent of my class in high school and repeatedly made Dean's List in undergrad as well as law school now.
And I accomplished all that when most school officials would have labeled me as a problem child and not up to the challenge of normal school classes. I only got that chance by not self-identifying and that's sad because depending on the disability students can accomplish A LOT if given the chance.
I was lucky. Most aren't so lucky. I still have to work ten times as hard as my classmates because my memory is crap. And even though I work hard and I've never had accommodations before law school I have been put down by people who think ADHD is something you grow out of or isn't really a disability.
I still catch shit from students who think I'm getting some kind of advantage over them because I get an extra hour of time on exams. They don't get that the extra time just puts me on an even playing field with them. I'm not getting anything extra. If they think it's so great to have a disability and get extra time then they can have my ADHD and I'll take their normally functioning brain.
I'd love to be 'normal' but I'm not and it's something I deal with. And the reality is that I can do pretty much anything a normal student can- I just have to do it a little differently because my brain processes information differently.
A lot of teachers are over-worked and under-paid so having to take that extra effort to help a child with a disability find a way to learn that works for them is not something they want to do. It's easier to define a child by a disability instead of letting the child's accomplishments speak for themselves. To this day I am thankful for my second grade teacher, Mrs. Stein, who took the time to notice a problem and do something about it other than shuffle me off to separate classes.
Unfortunately, I was afraid of telling any teacher from the outset that I was ADHD. I knew that look of someone who thought that my disability meant I would fly off the handle at any moment all too well so I preferred not to have my teachers looking at me like that. It wasn't until after I had established myself as an excellent student that I might mention I had a disability. They never ceased to be shocked by that revelation (which is kind of sad in and of itself).
The general reaction I've been met with-
"A student with a disability can function normally in a normal or even advanced placement class without any extra help??? SUCH A THING EXISTS???"
I'm not angry at that reaction, though. There is a lot of misinformation out there and a lot of people who claim to be ADHD but are actually just fuckwits so it's hard for someone who doesn't have ADHD to understand, at times, that students like me exist.
In closing, when you think about disabilities don't think about someone being damaged or abnormal. Chances are you know someone with a disability and don't even know it because they don't 'act' like they have a disability. Just because someone doesn't appear disabled doesn't mean they aren't- often they have to work many times harder than you to do the same task but they know that and they have learned how to work with their disability- to compensate for their differences.
AND DON'T EVER FUCKING TELL ME ADHD ISN'T REAL. It is real and I live with it everyday and I will live with it everyday for the rest of my life. You can't 'cure' ADHD. BUT- you can learn how to manage it and live a great life. I don't see it as a disability because I get to view the world in a way different from most- it makes life more interesting. xD
Current Mood:  Dramatic Current Music: "In The Shadows" by The Rasmus |
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