Ignorance: The 14th Disability Classification

There are 13 disability classifications that are recognized under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act):

1. Autism (AUT)

2. Deafness (Deaf)

3. Developmental Delay (DD)

4. Emotional/Behavioral Disability (EBD or ED)

5. Hearing Impairment (HI)

6. Intellectual Disability (ID)

7. Multiple Disabilities (MD)

8. Orthopedic Impairment (OI)

9. Other Health Impairment (OHI)

10. Specific Learning Disability (SLD)

11. Speech and/or Language Impairment (SLI)

12. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

13. Visual Impairment, including Blindness (VI, Blind)

There are many serious debates about other disability classifications, and if there should be more than 13. For example, Specific Learning Disability is an extraordinarily broad category. The definition of SLD is as follows:

…means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; of mental retardation; of emotional disturbance; or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

http://nichcy.org/disability/categories#ld

So, in short, if a student is not fulfilling their expected potential in a given area, or several, they are considered to have a learning disability. This includes discalcula, the numerical form of dyslexia. This includes a dyslexia. This includes a student who cannot decode unfamiliar words due to a breakdown in their ability to separate phonemes. This includes a student who cannot comprehend text by only reading it. This includes a student who can articulate their thoughts beautifully when speaking but is completely unable to connect their sentences when writing. This includes just about anything.

It would make my job a lot easier to create sub-categories for SLD, as well as for OI, TBI, SLI, and EBD, but you can't win them all.

On a less serious note, I've been considering what the most common disability at my school is amongst the general population to determine what 14th disability classification could explain the underachieving status of our student population. Some teachers think social-awkwardness should be the 14th. While there is a good argument for that as a disability, I feel that when the awkwardness is severe enough, it tends to be related to Autism in the form of Aspergers. So I decided that couldn't be it.

Another teacher thought being a product of poor parenting could be the 14th. Kids who were raised by totally nutter parents have turned into nuts themselves. They can be wild and crazy, irritable, irrational, and are often not meeting their potential and actively preventing others from meeting their's. However, this was not consistent enough across children raised by crazy parents, as there were several students who's parent(s) I met and the adult was bonkers but the kid was average/normal/similar to the general population of my school. Therefore, I decided this wasn't consistent enough for us to determine it a disability.

I started thinking about some of our brightest kids and questioned what separated them from your "average" or even "above average" teenager. That's when it hit me. Yes, they weren't meeting their full potential, but not in the way as described by SLD. They just didn't know what they were supposed to. General ignorance. They don't know basic protocol in both social and academic situations as they haven't been formally taught it or it hasn't been continually reinforced. Let's take a look at some examples of the 14th disability classification: Ignorance.

Exhibit A: Our students were on a field trip with some teachers two years ago. They were driving on North Capitol St. when a student asked Mr. B, "What's that building up there?" The student then pointed to the United States Capitol. This student lives about 2 miles away from this global icon of the United States. This is a very bright student who does well in his classes. Why is he performing below the majority of his same-age peers in wealthier districts? Many reasons. But I blame the 14th disability, Ignorance.

Exhibit B: A teacher was in his class, greeting students as they walked in. One student walked into the room with a band-aid on his forehead. Concerned, Mr. P asked the student what happened, to which the student replied, "Mr. P, I got a headache, so I put it on to make me feel better." When Mr. P tried to explain that a band-aid won't help his head and to try some Tylenol, the student got very irritated and yelled, "Mr. P, don't you know anything?? I've done this before to make me feel better so leave me alone!!!" Why does this student seem to think that a band-aid is the answer for a headache? Ignorance Disability. He know's that band-aids make things better, so why not headaches? Lacking some crucial knowledge there, pal. 

Exhibit C: My kids don't usually bring up my race unless it is paired with a completely ignorant, stereotyping, borderline racist comment. They aren't aware that what they're saying is offensive, and I always immediately say "ignorant" when they say these comments. Sometimes they'll stop and figure out why it was a completely ignorant statement, but occasionally they aren't able to figure out why it was an ignorant comment. This ranges from, "When they started fighting, you acted like such a white girl... 'Boys, please stop. This isn't worth fighting over.' Only white people say that..." to "You were just like a white person, I popped out and you scream 'Oh my Jesus!'. Who does that? Only white people...." to "White people can do that... they can run through the arctic and not feel nothin'! It's because they're skin is white, just like snow." After this last comment was made, I asked them what made them think their white skin had anything to do with withstanding colder temperatures. They explained that you never see a black person just going for a jog, especially when it's cold outside. Therefore, it must be because of the white pigment in a persons skin that enables them to withstand cold temperatures. Hmm... interesting theory, but I have a feeling that this is just another case of Ignorance Disability. They have only seen white people run in the cold, therefore it must have something to do with their skin, not their lack of exposure to runners in their community.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think my students are stupid. Some of my brightest kids said these things. They have an incredible ability to learn new information quickly, and they have decent critical thinking skills. The primary issue is their lack of knowledge, or exposure to different experiences. Without knowing important common knowledge, they end up performing far below other students who are their same-age counterparts in more knowledgable areas. 

There are many factors that contribute to this ignorance. It's not always by choice, which is what I thought ignorance was. Whenever I called someone ignorant while growing up, I said it to a person who I felt should have known better, and thus was choosing to lack specific knowledge and sound stupid, or unaware. For example, I chose to be ignorant to politics in the Middle-East while I was growing up because I felt it was irrelevant (not true) and overwhelming (true). When people spoke about the subject, I explained that I hadn't read up on it and was rather ignorant to the topic. I never thought that ignorance could be forced upon someone if you just deprive them the opportunity to attain the information. This is probably because I never thought you could deprive someone of information in the United States - this isn't China or the Congo. I was ignorant.

Instead of blaming the parents, the community, the school system, the student, the teacher, the nation for these children not knowing the necessary knowledge, it's much easier to say Ignorance is their primary disability. The causing factors are numerous, are as the factors that can cause other disabilities. It's much easier to say, "Johnny has an Intellectual Disability" than to say, "Well, Johnny's mom was using addictive drugs while she was pregnant with him so that affected his brain development. His IQ is below 70 and he has adaptive deficits that effect his everyday functioning. He is able to learn how to read up to a 5th grade level, hopefully, and can perform basic math using a calculator. He won't be able to perform higher order thinking tasks that require analysis and synthesis, but this won't prevent him from holding a stable job that will help him contribute to supporting him when he's older." 

There's just something more simple about explaining a complex situation with a disability classification. So therefore, I propose the 14th disability:

Ignorance: a disability caused by a person not receiving necessary information during the developmental and primary educational period that would enable them to participate appropriately in society and up to national norms academically, socially, and behaviorally throughout their life. This disability is treated through intense wraparound educational services, and exposure to various environments, cultures, and academic content. With proper supports, this disability can be overcome and easily hidden from others by the person affected.

I find it my duty, as both a special educator and a civil servant, to eradicate this disability amongst our brightest school children, no matter their circumstance.