Posted by Bob on October 8, 1999, at 21:59:19
In reply to Response to Noa's post, posted by Racer on October 8, 1999, at 2:20:22
That was a beautiful post, Noa. Even for one here who has sworn off hope and tried to be rid of it.
> Why are we, the most generous spirited group, the ones to suffer this way? Maybe that's the trade off? Maybe it's our suffering that makes it possible for us to empathize and want to help? Just a thought.
Racer, there's a prominent view from what might best be called cultural psychology about a group of people with brain disorders related, perhaps tightly so, to those of us here -- children with learning disabilities (the high number out there with ADD/ADHD, plus those of us who are just undiagnosed, speaks to this realtionship). The traditional view of LD children is that they fail at schooling, so these children need remediation. This other view says it's the schools who have failed the children, and the ways in which we teach them are what is in need of remediation.
Perhaps the "brain disorders" we have are not dis-orders, but other-orders. "Exceptional" is not a euphemism for "retard"-- its a term that appropriately describes those who are exceptions to the rule.
Lately, I'm finding myself pretty damn proud to be exceptional, if it means being like the rest of the folks on this board.
Bob
(thanks yet again, Dr. Bob =^)
poster:Bob
thread:12554
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991001/msgs/12848.html