In the 1990s, wealthy Manhattanites acquired dyslexia diagnoses for their children to collect disability status school benefits without imparting disability stigma on the child. A bit quaint today, now that being mentally ill is considered virtuous.
Derek Thompson
Derek Thompson8 hours ago
This is a great piece with some mind-boggling statistics. - At Brown and Harvard, more than 20% of undergraduates are registered as disabled - At Amherst: more than 30 percent - At Stanford: nearly 40 percent Soon, many of these schools "may have more students receiving [disability] accommodations than not, a scenario that would have seemed absurd just a decade ago." As students and their parents have recognized the benefits of claiming disability—extended time on tests, housing accommodations, etc—the rates of disability at colleges, and especially at elite colleges, has exploded. America used to stigmatize disability too severely. Now elite institutions reward it too liberally. It simply does not make any sense to have a policy that declares half of the students at Stanford cognitively disabled and in need of accommodations.
That is to say, if you were in certain social groups, this Disability Accomodation Maxxing strategy was already common 30+ years ago. I know several Medical Doctors & Lawyers who benefited from their parents using it. It's reported on now that it's trickled down to the masses.
4.55K