Slow at reading and writing, Parsons was placed in a remedial class, what he said other kids called the 're-re' room, short for "retard."
Teachers wondered if he had mental problems and sent him to see a child psychologist. Others just assumed he came from a dysfunctional family.
"No one helped me or knew how to help me," Parsons said.
After being held back from the rest of his class twice, Parsons was finally diagnosed with dyslexia his junior year of high school.
But by then Parsons was disenchanted with school, and after graduating high school he decided to enter the work world while many of his friends enrolled at prestigious universities.
"As soon as I was out, I thought 'forget this - it's not for me,'" Parsons said.
For eight years, Parsons worked as a nursing assistant.
But when he applied for a job as a patient's liaison at the same hospital, he was rejected because he did not have a college degree.
Determined to overcome the disability that had scarred his childhood, Parsons enrolled in a community college. Two years later, at age 29, he found himself at the University, pursuing a bachelor's degree in general studies.
"After all those years, I was trying to get over all the stigma of 'you're an idiot,'" Parsons said.
"It was really about getting rid of an imposed idea about my intellectual abilities."
Learning disabilities at the University
About 350 students with learning disabilities are registered with the University's Services for Students with Disabilities Office.
But Stuart Segal, a clinical psychologist at the office, said many University students probably do not register for help from the SSD office because of stigmas that can surround learning disorders.
Still, Segal said awareness of learning disabilities is increasing, and with that, more and more students are taking advantage of the services available to them - as evidenced by how many students are using the SSD office.
In 1993, only 73 LD students were registered with the office, but since then the number has steadily increased.
Most students with learning disabilities are diagnosed during grade school or high school, Segal said.
But a large part of Segal's responsibilities at the SSD office involves screening students who discover they have a learning disorder during college.
"As you go up the educational ladder, a new institution may require skills not required at previous places," Segal said.
Students with learning disabilities are not less intelligent than others, but they have specific academic weaknesses, Segal said.
Academic weakness can include difficulty with reading or writing, an inability to concentrate, a memory problem or a math disability like trouble with operations or keeping columns straight.
Segal estimated that 70 to 80 percent of those with learning disorders are diagnosed with dyslexia.
"Dyslexia is sort of a garbage-can diagnosis for any reading disorder," he said.
Another common learning disability often classified with dyslexia is Attention Deficit Disorder, which impairs an individual's ability to focus on the task at hand.
Between 2 and 20 percent of the general population have some kind of learning disorder.
Estimates of people with learning disorders in the general population vary from .
Finding answers
In high school, Architecture and Urban Planning senior Kartik Desai gained a reputation for being spacey and absentminded.
But Desai demonstrated that he was a good student, earning A's and B's and doing well on standardized tests.
He found ways, he said, to make up for his inability to focus during class.
"One thing that really helped me was just honing my improvisational skills," Desai said.
"Somehow you learn how to knit what you get out of class into something comprehensive."
But five years ago, when he began his first semester at the University, Desai said his improvisational skills just didn't cut it anymore.
Unable to concentrate in lectures and remember what he had read a few minutes earlier, Desai began failing his classes. Eventually, the University placed him on academic probation.
"I couldn't make sense of it," Desai remembered. "I just thought I was dumb."
But Desai's grade point average and self-respect took a U-turn when he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder later that year. It was then that the University made accommodations for his learning disorder.
"Finding out there's a medical reason you're not living up to your potential really boosts your self-worth," Desai said.
Secondary and high school students with learning disorders are covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, originally passed as the Education for All Handicapped Act in 1974, Segal said.
The federal law stipulates that secondary schools and high schools bear all responsibility for determining which of their students have LDs and then providing accommodations for those students.
But the situation is a little different during college, Segal said.
"At college, the responsibility shifts from the institution to the individual," Segal said.
Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act requires any federally funded institution to provide accommodations to students or employees with learning disorders. But they are not required to seek out LD students themselves.
At the University, professors and graduate student instructors are required to make accommodations for students who give them a letter from the SSD office documenting their learning disorder.
Segal said the No. 1 accommodation the University makes for students with learning disorders is extra time to take exams.
"If you have trouble reading or processing information, extra time just gives you the opportunity to show what you know," he said.
Desai said while most of his classmates understand that he needs extra time to complete on exams, some are resentful.
"A lot of students don't like it because they think it's just a crutch," Desai said.
"What they don't understand is that I have never finished an exam at this University in the allotted time."
The University can also make other accommodations, depending on students' individuals needs.
Other LD students opt to bring a laptop computer or a tape-recorder to class to help with note-taking.
Accommodations for exams may mean that professors provide LD students with separate exam rooms to reduce distractions or that they administer oral exams instead of written exams.
Segal said professors do not need to modify the grading policy for LD students.
"The aim is to level the playing field, not give them the upper hand," Segal said.
Segal estimated that 98 percent of the faculty "bend over backwards" to help their LD students.
Communications studies Prof. Kristin Harrison said she generally has one or two LD students in every class she teaches.
She said she is willing to make whatever accommodations are necessary for students, provided they have a letter of documentation from the SSD office.
She said she also includes a statement in her syllabus requesting LD students to notify her at the beginning of the semester about their learning disabilities.
Parsons said he has also received special study carrels at the library as well as extra tutoring time at the English Composition Board.
Even with the accommodations, he said, just dealing with misunderstanding classmates can be difficult.
"Sometimes when we do peer review in class, someone will say to me why don't you just go to ECB?" he said.
"And I think, you don't know how much time I've already spent on this, and that I've already been to the ECB."
Looking into the future
While considering career choices, Desai said he took into account his learning disability.
He switched from pre-med to pre-law before finally transferring out of the College of Literature, Science and Arts and into the School of Architecture and Urban Planning.
"Architecture's more forgiving of learning disability problems," Desai said.
"The bulk of it is creative studio work - solving problems, design, which I like."
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which took effect in 1992, employers of more than 25 workers are obligated to make reasonable accommodations for their employees with disabilities.
"Any career choice should take into account individual interests and skills," said Kerin Borland, senior associate director at the Career Planning and Placement center.
"If you happen to have a disability, you need to think what might I need, what reasonable accommodations might I need to be successful in this role," she said.
Reasonable accommodations could mean granting LD employees longer deadlines or finding different modes of transmitting information, Borland said.
"Any career is a possibility for someone with a learning disorder," she said.
After graduating from the University with a bachelor's degree of general studies, Parson said he plans to pursue graduate studies in library science and education.
"Education is missing a lot of angles," Parson said. "I made it through somehow, but for others that 're-re' room was just the beginning of a downward spiral."
The SSD office is located at G615 Haven Hall. For more information, students can call 763-3000.
04-02-99
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