Episode 131: "Learning Disabilities vs Teaching Disabilities"

What this episode covers

When people don't understand something or are having difficulty learning or grasping a concept, we often jump to the conclusion that they may have a learning disability. But what if that wasn't the case? What if they were fully capable of learning, but not the way we are trying to teach or lead them? What if it's not a learning disability... but a teaching disability? I've told in my adult life that I must have been a good student. That couldn't be further from the truth. I did enough to get by because my only interest was staying eligible to play sports, which was barely enough to graduate. The truth was, I was a terrible student, learning didn't interest me. But now, I love to learn at every opportunity that I can. Because I wasn't a good student in high school, does that mean I had a learning disability? And since I love to learn now, does that mean I outgrew it? Or... Does it mean that the way I was being taught wasn't registering with me personally, and now that I have the opportunity to seek out the ways in which I  learn more efficiently, that I enjoy it more? I don't know... What I do know, is that people learn and want to be lead in different ways. These people can be labeled with "learning disabilities". So next time you are trying to teach or lead someone and they aren't "getting it", it doesn't mean they are dumb or lazy. Maybe it means that you have the inability to reach them, causing a teaching disability.

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