{"id":244,"date":"2014-02-26T08:50:17","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T08:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/?p=244"},"modified":"2014-02-26T08:50:17","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T08:50:17","slug":"im-all-for-diversity-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/about-the-area\/im-all-for-diversity-but\/","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;m all for diversity but&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m a little baffled by the local primary school that has decided to celebrate the &#8220;gift&#8221; of dyslexia. I know it is generally poor form to begin an argument with &#8220;Some of my best friends are&#8230;&#8221; but I actually do have dyslexic friends. I think many of us probably do these days, now that the condition is recognised and there are techniques for dealing with it. I&#8217;ve seen dyslexic people manage to reach all kinds of heights that I will never match. They just have a slight disadvantage they have to overcome to get there. We are living, more than ever, in a literary world where instructions and online communication rely on understanding writing. Struggling to cope with that is just a thing some people need to cope with. I wish them well, I applaud the efforts of those who overcome their problems, but a problem is a problem. Being dyslexic is not some wonderful talent, it&#8217;s not something that is going to improve your lot in life, it&#8217;s something that you need to work around. It is not a gift.<\/p>\n<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.39 -->\n<div class=\"quads-location quads-ad1\" id=\"quads-ad1\" style=\"float:none;margin:5px;\">\n\n <!-- WP QUADS - Quick AdSense Reloaded v.2.0.39 Content AdSense async --> \n\n\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" >\nvar quads_screen_width = document.body.clientWidth;\nif ( quads_screen_width >= 1140 ) {document.write('<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"pub-5465671415307957\" data-ad-slot=\"5861226924\" ><\/ins>');\r\n            (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n            }if ( quads_screen_width >= 1024  && quads_screen_width < 1140 ) {document.write('<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"pub-5465671415307957\" data-ad-slot=\"5861226924\" ><\/ins>');\r\n            (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n            }if ( quads_screen_width >= 768  && quads_screen_width < 1024 ) {document.write('<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"pub-5465671415307957\" data-ad-slot=\"5861226924\" ><\/ins>');\r\n            (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n            }if ( quads_screen_width < 768 ) {document.write('<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"pub-5465671415307957\" data-ad-slot=\"5861226924\" ><\/ins>');\r\n            (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n            }\n<\/script>\n\n <!-- end WP QUADS --> \n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Inclusivity in schools is good. Teaching kids about the problems their peers face is good. Showing them role models who have overcome dyslexia is good. Telling a dyslexic kid that they&#8217;ve got something valuable that not everyone gets &#8211; which is what being gifted means &#8211; is surely detrimental? Why instil an expectation of gratitude for being &#8220;blessed&#8221; with a disability in kids aged ten and under?<\/p>\n<p>This is the article that alerted me to the school&#8217;s programme:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thisislocallondon.co.uk\/news\/11035249.Thamesmead_primary_school_celebrates__gift__of_dyslexia_with_performance_and_poetry\/\">http:\/\/www.thisislocallondon.co.uk\/news\/11035249.Thamesmead_primary_school_celebrates__gift__of_dyslexia_with_performance_and_poetry\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I like that it&#8217;s putting a positive spin on an issue that some of their student are subject to, that they are showing that it doesn&#8217;t need to wreck their lives, that there are different approaches to learning and success. I hate that they appear to be brainwashing children into a belief that a bad thing is in fact good. I hope that the piece has lost something in the translation from interview to article.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m a little baffled by the local primary school that has decided to celebrate the &#8220;gift&#8221; of dyslexia. I know it is generally poor form to begin an argument with &#8220;Some of my best friends are&#8230;&#8221; but I actually do &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/about-the-area\/im-all-for-diversity-but\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,9,16],"tags":[50,77,163,168,211,213,221],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hawkida.net\/thamesmead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}