JARED EMANUELE O. CARLOS
Lack of Accessibility & Accommodation in Schools for
Students with Disabilities: Adding not Subtracting
It would be a nice thing to hear that the current education system accommodates all
students in a manner that they could say they’ve done their part to inculcate all the
necessary knowledge to their students; but that is not the case. Hidden in the
background of all the news of rising graduates and passing rate of board exams and the
like, there are students unable to or did graduate but did not learn as the
Teachers/Professors intended to, within those students are those with learning
disabilities. The education system lacks accommodation for students with disabilities,
and that doesn’t ensure that the system gives an equal opportunity in learning and
grading students.
As a matter of fact, the current education system is built with the thought of
building competent individuals that are work and job ready; to understand this
statement, knowing the history of education is needed. Throughout the history of
education there are two ways of learning that we could take: “Play and Exploration” and
“Work”. “Play and Exploration”, was used or seen as a way of learning by huntergatherers as they learn by experimenting and exploring. “Work”, on the other hand is
suppressing the willfulness, or tends to focus more on thorough learning and producing
results first before play. The latter of the past two explanations show where the current
education system is structured. As with the growth of the education through the times,
individuals needed to have a structured trajectory or mastery with a certain subject or
work, forcefully then but now less, but still a matter of inculcating a certain train of
thought (Gray, Peter., “A Brief History of Education.” Psychology Today. Sussex
Publishers, LLC, 20 Aug. 2008. Web. 14 Mar. 2020).
Some schools, don’t even accept individuals with disabilities, because some
schools have a certain set of screening (entrance exams, interviews, etc.). A factor to
mind as well, is how students with disabilities will be able to learn in this current
structure if not all will be able to comprehend, or be as swift in learning as individuals
who don’t have difficulties/disabilities. An example of this is a student with dyslexia
(disability that affects reading and language-based processing skills, if he/she is given a
homework to read in advance for; another would be an individual with dyscalculia
(disability to understand numbers and learn math facts) who is quizzed in algebra. Do
not forget the fact that these individuals with learning disabilities are often in the same
class as individuals without disabilities.
With this in our knowledge, we could say that individuals/students with
disabilities are not considered or are ineligible, for a lack of a better word, during the
construction and of the current education system. Though not all individuals with
disabilities are non-functional or unable to level with or better individuals with no
disabilities, because a few of them can; but then again, not all. To combat this lack of
accessibility and accommodation for students with disabilities is to make a system where
they would, and could, operate/partake and work at their pace without slowing down the
whole class’ pace. This would only take a few steps for the current education system to
make, whether it be from elementary to college. The process is this, for example
students with dyspraxia (difficulty in muscle control which could cause speech problems,
and also exists along dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADHD), instead of letting them recite in
front of class they could be told to chose between two answers given in front of class.
Another of part of the process is to expound ways of learning that they may be able to
comprehend, an example is to take the first few weeks to see and gauge how they learn
swiftly and then apply it to the whole class, for those in class who disagree, could be
given a different approach; same lesson, different approach.
The pros of this is that students with disabilities don’t need to have a separate
class and can jive in with students without disabilities; it would also be good for their
psychological health because they are around “normal”, for a lack of a better word,
students. It would take a huge chunk of effort for the teachers/professors to live by this
but a little help of hand to those students with disabilities who are willing to learn
wouldn’t be a bad thing. Plus, this also doesn’t hurt students who actually prefer a
different type of learning than traditional ways; hitting two birds with one stone.
The education system, was made to strengthen/build potential for the future of
the students, but not being able to accommodate to their pace and way of learning may
also ruin the good of education. This would make a more successful system if we could
just all be patient and if the system would make this move, just kindness, patience a
little more grind to ways of teaching; then the education system would be actually,
accommodating their students, whether with/without disabilities.