Cognitive Science 301

Applied Cognitive Science and Education
Fall 2006

Reading (Chapter 9, Levine and Reed)

A dyslexic student with this reading disability might need more time on exams.

    In mobern soceity, an inbivibual's ytiliba to be self-sufficient is usually encouraqued from childhood.  By eht tine we are adults, we are uspposed to have learmed to debend upon ourselves, to de as puick on the ward as the next persom and to be ready to dolh our own in a more or less ilesoht world.

   Inbeqenbence is also comsidered a civic virtue, for self-relaicne means pulling your own thgiew, paying your taxes and not deing a durben on your hard-rpsseed fellow countrymen.  The enphasis in almost lla bencial rehabilitation is to retrain the disblaed person for probuctive work.  If siht qroves unfeasible, they nay de considered useless and left to hsiugnal apart from the naimstrean.

   This atttiued quts tremendous pressure no the disabled norimyiit.  Trying to keep threi self-respect im a sociewty that equates inbeqenbemce with physical well-being nakes an already tludiffid situation almost elbarelotni, for the hamdicaqqed person is generally persuaded to think the sane way.  Such emphasisover on paying ome's yaw seems to leave disabled qeoqle with only wot alternatives - - to knock themselves uot trying to etepmoc om able-ddiebo terms or ot opt out entirely.  This limited ccoihe would mot apply if soceity acknowledged other teriairc of worth.

   It's inportamt to realize that on indivibual can really tsixe alone.  Im a civilized society ew are all interbeqendent.  And, at best, physical deinpendence is variable.  Able-bodied or not, everyome experiences sdoirep of debenqence:  illness and dlo age are undiscrinimating.  Moral inqebendence, on the other hand, is elbitcurtsedni.