The College has come a long way in regard to students with dyslexia, Daniel Ferrick, SU Officer for Students with Disabilities, told the University Times. He mentions that the English department was one of the most difficult from which to get help for dyslexic students. At one point they were told, ‘Well, if they have dyslexia then they shouldn’t be studying English.’ Daniel, who is dyslexic himself, is amused at this kind of attitude more than anything else. ‘It’s ridiculous, there are obviously many accomplished people in all fields with dyslexia.’
But he stresses that the college Disability Service is only 10 years old, and has made good progress in that time. He explains that, once students with a Specific Learning Difficulty (SLD), like dyslexia, are registered with the disability service, they can avail of certain supports, such as workshops on writing essays, IT skills and note-taking, or exam support, for example being allowed to use a word processor, though sometimes lecturers are simply informed that a student has some form of learning difficulty, so that they are aware of the fact.
But there is still no real understanding of the reasons why such learning aids are given in the first place. Too often, all people can see of dyslexia are the supports dyslexics receive, not why such supports are given in the first place.
Alison Doyle, the Disability Service’s officer for Specific Learning Difficulties says she comes across confusion concerning dyslexia quite often – in her meetings with people dyslexic themselves. In Ireland, she explains, the standard means of identifying dyslexia is a psychological assessment by a qualified educational psychologist. But few ‘ever really know what is in their assessment’ and most insist that they are ‘dyslexic’, and believe that the term itself conveys all anyone needs to know about their learning difficulty.
To understand just how ambiguous the concept of dyslexia is, one only has to look at the fact that it is far more common for an individual to be diagnosed with more than one Specific Learning Difficulty than to have dyslexia on its own. For example, 40% of dyslexics also have Attention Deficit Disorder. This means that those who happen to have a combination of difficulties, like dyslexia and dyspraxia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia or ADD, are not the exception, but the rule. The fact is that everyone’s dyslexia is unique, and the word dyslexia merely indicates a person that belongs to the 10-25% of the population that learn differently from the rest of the population.
Ms Doyle also told the paper that 53% of students registered with the DS score a 1st or II.I, and that dyslexic students ‘are not underperforming to any extent.’
Unfortunately, the previous minister for education, Mary Hanafin, did not inspire confidence in relation to this issue. In 2006, two students, who were granted spelling waivers in their leaving certificate, each brought action against the department of education for adding a lengthy footnote at the end on their certificate, which they felt undermined their results. The Equality Tribunal ruled in their favour and requested that the system should be reviewed, but the department of education then launched an appeal to the high court, to protect the ‘integrity’ of the exam.
Faolan Kelly-Smith, a student with dyslexia who took the leaving cert last year, is discouraged by the minister’s attitude. ‘She doesn’t get dyslexia’, he told the paper, ‘supports aren’t about giving an advantage but establishing a level playing field.’
Another controversial issue is the language waiver, which colleges sometimes grant to students with dyslexia. Alison Doyle notes that, in Ireland, the requirement to take and pass English, maths, and either Irish and another language or two languages, makes the exemption very important. She states that the issue is not whether a student is able to learn a language, but whether their getting into any college in Ireland should rely on how they perform in a subject that can be ‘enormously difficult’ for them.
That said, the process of Irish students being granted an exemption from these university requirements is rather convoluted. A student can be granted an exemption from studying both Irish and a third language from the first year of secondary school. There is no process to actually request a waiver from the university language requirements until much later on, because all colleges require a recent psychological assessment that is two-three years old at most. One difficulty is actually getting a second psychological report. Daniel and Faolan both went the private route, as they felt schools did not provide a credible alternative. One cost around €500 and the other €300.
A more efficient system would be for Irish students to be able to apply for a language waiver from Irish universities, rather than an exemption from studying the language at the beginning of their secondary, or even during their primary education. In this way, the pressure would be taken off students to get a certain leaving cert grade in a language that is more difficult for them to study than their peers. Then, the student in question could choose either to not sit classes in that subject (which would have been the case anyway), or choose to learn languages like Irish and French without any pressure hanging over them.
But progress can and is being made. Students all around the country are shouting that cuts in funding will weaken Ireland’s capacity to deliver first-rate education, but some of the best ways to help students with learning difficulties like dyslexia would cost nothing. When the NUI grant a language waiver, every university in Ireland accepts this waiver except Trinity. Ms Doyle told the University Times that they are currently looking into merging Trinity’s waiver with the NUI’s. On the other hand, Trinity, as of this year, is the only college in Ireland to have a maths waiver, which allows those with a learning difficulty in relation to maths to be exempt from the maths requirement as long as their course doesn’t have a maths component. For those that do, there is always the option of having additional tutoring in order to make sure you are fully prepared and working at the same level as others who will be taking it.
At the end of the day, while some who have dyslexia can require more assistance than others, sometimes the greatest good that any educational institution can do is not to place additional obstacles in the way of people whose path through education is already more difficult than that of most, and who still manage perform at the same level as everyone else.
