Hi,
Please forgive me for this *stupid* question but I am confused. Is the word “disorder” as used by a tester the same as disability or are they different?
I have a son who has language and reading disabilities but within the test he has a disorder in the area of reading. I believe it is the same and realize that it really doesn’t matter but I just want this confusion clarified. Thanks all!!!
Terry
RE: A question???
It can be a paperwork thing — to qualify for special services, you not only have to have a disorder, but it has to keep you from being able to get an appropriate education from the regular offerings. So schools generally call it a disability and psych testers call it one or the other. However, they are pretty much interchangeable. And it often really is a mystery why some kids get the LD label and others don’t — it’s really not a black & white thing.
Good question. Disorder, disability and difference are used interchangeably by many people. Whether they should be or not is another question.
Not all learning differences need disable us, I suppose, and therein lies the difference between those two. The word disorder also suggest that something is not as it might be but it doesn’t pass the judgement that ‘disability’ does.