Detour to Education
Educational roadblocks hinder and help learning-disabled students

Story: Amber Hyland
Photos: Elliott Cramer

Once someone says you are special, you are treated as if you are special. Brandon Walker, a senior graphic design major, is what some might call a “special case,” but he wouldn’t want to be treated differently because of it.

Photoillustration by Elliott Cramer {larger}

Walker is the kind of guy who will get you into trouble for coming to class late. When that door opens, he’s the first one to turn around and look, Walker says. He doesn’t do it intentionally; he just has trouble concentrating.

“Oooo, shiny object,” Walker says, darting his head over his shoulder. “It’s something my family members say to me because I am easily distracted.”

He says his family and friends have this light-hearted attitude about his disability, Attention Deficit Disorder. Although more focus has been given to this disability in recent years, Walker says he is a special case because he receives state support for college.

He also says he feels his situation is rare because he took himself off of his medication during college.

“They probably know someone with a disability. We’re all over the place.”

It took a lot of motivation and training, but he taught himself how to concentrate without depending on his medicine, Walker says.

Part of his self-control means being independent from services offered at Student Disability Services.

“I don’t go to SDS to get testing outside of the classroom. It wouldn’t be beneficial to isolate myself from my peers.”

He stresses the importance for people to see students with learning disabilities the same way they would see anyone else.

“If they really think we are different, we are not,” Walker says. “They probably know someone with a disability. We’re all over the place.”

While Walker is open about having his disorder, there are many students with learning disabilities who go unnoticed.

“Unless they say something, no one knows (they have a disability),” Anne Jannarone, Student Disability Services director, says. “It is their responsibility to notify us of their needs.”

Jannarone adds that the transition from high school to college is difficult for these students, and it becomes a place for them to reinvent themselves. Often this means shedding memories from high school that make a student with a learning disability feel different from their peers. Walker remembers in high school when he had to go to the office before lunch to take his medicine.

“I didn't care that people knew about my disability,” Walker says. “I just cared that I had to do something different in my day.”

Jannarone says the biggest service the university provides for students is to build their confidence.

“School usually isn't on the list of things they are good at,” Jannarone says.

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