Changing Learning Disabled to Learning Difference

Related: Social Issues, Education, More TagsChildren with Learning Disabilities, Fewer Tags

by Quinn Bradlee
Friday, March 19, 2010

I just read the article about Tim Shriver trying to band the R word on the front page of the Style section of the Washington Post. I would love to help him do that in any way I can. As I was reading the piece I came across a story that somebody had actually made an effort to organize a group to march, which I thought was a great idea.
One of my favorite parts of the article is when they were talking about people who have used the R word and then they have to call Tim up and apologize. One of those times was when President Obama was on a late night talk show and was talking about how he might make the Special Olympics in bowling. Tim was at my house that night when the President called and I remember him leaving the dining room; we were right in the middle of dinner.

Tim has inspired me to do the same type of thing he is doing with the R word; since he is already trying to ban the R word I have always wanted to change "learning disabled" to "learning difference." When you use the term learning disabled it really sounds as if the person cannot learn at all, because disabled means that you are unable to do something; whereas learning difference sounds as the person just learns differently. I would like to be the Tim Shriver of people with learning differences.