SAMENESS DOES NOT EQUAL FAIRNESS ... ACCOMMODATION JEALOUSY ?

As we previously mentioned in an earlier BLOG on this accommodation issue, there appears to be systemic barriers amongst many educators in regards to the provision of accommodations to students with learning disabilities. The bias is troublesome and lurks in the minds of far too many.

We are currently involved in an accommodation "battle" with one of our major Canadian universities. Through the exchange of correspondence  with the student disabilities department, and with senior faculty members, we were aghast at the lack of understanding and demonstrated out and out bias.

Can you believe the following comment that came out of the head of  the University's math department :

"As a faculty member, I know that uniformity is important (i.e. either all students with memory issues must be accommodated... or none)..."

This in not the first time that we have come across this type of short sighted thinking.  We have heard principals state that they are "concerned"  about the impact that accommodations may have on the unaccommodated student population in the school. We have heard teachers reference accommodations as "unfair advantages". We have heard professors complain about the time consuming nature of accommodated teaching and the fact that it "limits the time" that they can spend on their their research projects.

It is rather difficult for me to explain my deep set concern in hearing this type of  uninformed and biased comment. As we all know, in the area of accommodations, SAMENESS IS NOT FAIRNESS.

What is needed by one student is not necessarily needed by another student. Just because one student is accommodated in a certain way, fairness does not dictate that another student must receive the exact same treatment.

As I searched my mind to find a humorous way to present this self righteous demand for learning accommodation equity, I came across this delightful video which depicts the knee jerk reaction of monkeys who are faced with the issue of  fairness inequality:

                                   

                               MONKEY'S REACTION TO FAIRNESS  "INEQUALITY" 

                                           http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hbb27GQ_X1I

In the world of accommodations, sameness is not fairness. Accommodating a learning disability is merely a methodology that allows us to level the playing field and remove barriers that stand in the way of kids with learning disabilities. 

Our challenge as parent advocates is to remove those barriers and to openly challenge the system that often times appears to operate in a very narrow minded manner. Although the short video clip that you just watched humorously depicts the deprived monkey's reaction to inequality, one should not make value judgments relating to the cucumber hating monkey on the left, or the monkey on the right who is feasting on grapes. In fact, there may be another lesson to be learned from this video clip. From my point of view, although I do not agree with the monkey's  angry and anti social response to its  demands for equality, I do admire the monkey's tenacity and self advocating spirit. 

Perhaps we should take a lesson from our cucumber hating monkey. Although fist banging on the table may be regarded as an anti social protest response,  the monkey certainly did get our attention.