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Advocating for your Learning Disability

by Andrew Cuddy, author of The Special Education Battlefield

Having a learning disability involves two parts. First, you process information differently than most students, and second, there is a discrepancy between the level of your abilities and achievements and those of your peers.

In order to receive appropriate special education in school, it is important to be able to practice self-advocacy in addition to using a special education lawyer if necessary. My book gives a more detailed discussion of how to navigate the special education system in schools and provides a guide to your rights and responsibilities as a person with a learning disability. Here, however, are some tips that may help a person with learning disability advocate for himself.

Self-advocacy is not an easy thing to do, but begin with these:

Acceptance is always the first step. You will never be able to help yourself, or get help from someone, such as a special education lawyer, without accepting that you have a learning disability.

Next, you must understand the ways in which you learn best, so that in your self-advocacy you may ask for the special education that fits your needs best. In order to ask for the appropriate accommodations, it is essential that you learn your legal rights and responsibilities as a person with a learning disability. Self-advocacy means you should be comfortable arguing for your rights and responsibilities that your school's special education system may be reluctant to give you. This also means that you should know where and how to receive support from a people such as a special education lawyer who can help you to better receive the appropriate accommodations if they are not being met.

A special education lawyer may also be able to help you advocate for yourself in the future and give you more tips on your rights and responsibilities as a student with a learning disability and how to make sure that your school's special education system is meeting your needs.