Learning disability and no rights.?

Question

I am 47 and in my time I was told I do not have the
same rights as other kids because I had LD.I was told I had no right to an education,I can not be helped and forget college.even My parents told me this.That is why I have worked in a dead end job for 20 years(making good money now).It is too late
for change at my age.Still today I have almost no
self esteem because of all this.
Question-Why did I not have the same rights?

Answer 1

The Equal Educational Opportunity Act (commonly referred to as the "IDEA Act") was passed in 1974. Its intent is to make learning a right for all children regardless of disability. Sadly, even in this day and age some school districts still have great difficulty making this a full reality. And others are notorious for mis-spending funds brought into a school's special-ed financial matrix.

Answer 2

You did and do have the same rights, but just
like my son you probably were in the wrong place at the
wrong time. The help was out there for the few, who had
parents that pushed for it. Or if you got lucky and got a
good school system the first time around. My son did
not and he suffers from the same low self esteem you do
You know what though your vocabulary sounds pretty
great, from the looks of your question, So I say go for
it. Try going to College. It's never too late!! If you go to one
of the Tech Colleges I know they have special tutors and help for those who need it. I am 42 years old and just started
college three years ago. I knew a girl in one of my classes
who had dyslexia and she got the special help she
needed while taking Law enforcement. So don't give up
Try hard and if that doesn't work Try harder. And please let
me know how you do it, perhaps this will encourage my son to try just as hard. It really saddens me to hear another person going through the same BULL **** as my son has
He is now 22 years of age and I fear he will never live a normal life or even leave the house. He stays home all the time except to go to a cousins house that he was raised with
My youngest three children are currently in a Private Christian
School with teachers who Love their jobs and want to see them go as far as they can go in life. So see thigs are starting to change. The system when we were growing up
was very flawed, but some times the help was there if you looked hard enough, you couldn't because you were a child, now you can give it a shot and try and prove the teachers wrong, or sit back and let them win.
PS Try reading a book called Chiken Soup for the Soul.

GOD BLESS YOU !!!!! YOU are not alone

Answer 3

It has taken a lot of years to find out the reasons behind why a student could not learn in a regular classroom setting. It has been a collective effort from legistaltors, school districts and parents. Do you think you can forgive and forget what happened 20 years ago. Your writing is beautiful and clear, you don't seem uneducated. For your own sanity let me tell you there are many successful happy people in this world who didn't go to college, but took every opporunity that came along. It is never too late to be happy. Happiness is a decision, it's in your hands. There are people without a College degree making more money than people with a PHD. Many will graduate and find it hard to open their own practice, they need to rent a space paying mega bucks to start their own practice. Consider yourself fortunate and lucky, count all your blessings and forget what happened 20 years ago.

Answer 4

Your parents did not know. My foster son has ADHD but I am going to make sure he never feels he's not good enough because it is not fair.

This world is full of people who will look down on you one way or another. My parents got divorced when I was young and as I was growing up, people looked down on my mum and I because we were poor.

I could not go into the good schools or afford to buy the books that other students had but I fought hard for everything and in the end I put myself through a university education.

It's only too late when you are dead. Whether or not your parents are still around, you should not let them ruin your life. The answer is inside of you.

Love yourself for who you are, even if the entire world cannot see any good in you. I am a teacher and if my kids never remember a single thing I teach them, 20 years down the road, I hope they remember I felt they were all precious and special.

Love yourself because if you feel yourself unworthy, you my pass this lack of self-esteem to your children.. They don't have to feel this way. You've still got a long way to go and it could mark the start of a new and better life for you.

Good luck and take care of yourself.

Answer 5

At the time you were in school unfortuantely thats how things were done. Parents werent encouraged to inspire the kids at all. In all reality the fact they didnt try to ship ya off speaks volumes as that was still going on.
Its never too late for change. You have held a job for 20 yrs which is more than many people these days. You could take college courses on evenings or weekends. Check your local community college about how to get in. Be sure to mention how your LD affects your learning so that accomodations can be made for success.
Its time to take your power back from people who have said you had no rights all these years. turn off the tape that says you arnet good enough or te same and play one that is I am successful. You are successful! Good luck.

Answer 6

There have been many social changes in America since your youth. I have a disabled sister who is a bit younger than you, and my parents had to fight to even enroll her in school, since it wasn't until 1974 that students with disabilities had a right to a free appropriate public education.

It's hard for people younger than us to realize that it used to be perfectly legal and acceptable to exclude people based on their race, religion, country of origin, or disability. But it's true. You were a victim of society's ignorance, much the same as African Americans were.

It's hard to let go of resentment over the bad treatment people like you, and like my sister, received in the past. But we can't go back and undo what was done. You need to develop some pride in your accomplishments - despite the fact that the deck was stacked against you, you have succeeded in holding down a job for 20 years and are now making a good income. You should take pride in this, since the educational system clearly didn't help you - you did this for yourself. Real self-esteem comes from within - when you acknowledge to yourself that you worked hard and achieved, even against the odds, and you were successful. Try to move beyond the past and feel positive about what you have been able to achieve.

Answer 7

People's ignorance is the answer. Back then, there were no laws to accodomate people with disabilities in school and very few people understood LD or other disabilities, but with the Education for All Handicapped Children and the American Disabilities Acts, all public schools and Universities are required to help Students with Learning and physical disabilities (I use the services in my school all the time). As for going to college, it's not to late. I take classes alongside people your age and older. I would recommend locating vocational services or your state's Department of Rehabilitation (you can check on the web to see where they are located). They can help you plan your education as well as support you financially while you study. If you live in California I can give you my DR counseler's email address.

Answer 8

You were a victim of ignorance and bigotry in just the same way black children wer.

But it is not to late to do something about it. Not for money--for your own self-esteem. Today, with the ADA your rights as a person and a citizen ARE recognized and protected.

I went o school in mmy 40s--blind. And graduated college with honors; I'm now working on my PhD (I'm now 52). If I can do it, so can you. That may not be the right curse for you--but don't think its too late--it isnt. As long as you allow yourself to believe that "too late" cr~p, you're still a victim. Do whatever it takes to start believing in yourself and get that BS out of your head and put it in the trash where it belongs! :)

Good luck! :)

Answer 9

while you're in the U.S., we've an identical rights to marry and initiate our very own kinfolk as everybody else. remember, the statement of Independence does state "We carry those truths to be self-glaring, that every physique adult adult males are created equivalent, that they are endowed by skill of their author with specific unalienable Rights, that between those are existence, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". BTW, "vital sterilization" replaced into deemed unconstitutional lower back in 1981 whilst the ACLU took a classification action lawsuit against the Communist-Wealth of Virginia and gained. area a million of the 14th substitute of the form does state "All persons born or naturalized in the U. S., and difficulty to the jurisdiction thereof, are electorate of the U. S. and of the State wherein they stay. No State shall make or enforce any regulation which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of electorate of the U. S.; nor shall any State deprive somebody of existence, liberty, or factors, without due technique of regulation; nor deny to somebody interior of its jurisdiction the equivalent protection of the guidelines." in actuality, without due technique the government can now no longer sterilize a individual in step with a disability to any extent further or preclude us from marrying whom ever we adore.

Answer 10

You where miss informed, you did have the same rights as everyone else but was not given the chance by anyone. Please take time to really look at your self as an adult and what you have accomm. It is never to late for you to do what you have always wanted to do in life.Sure I have regrets to because I to had a l.d. but I now own my own bussiness and run it with a child that is blind and has c.p., so I know you can to.