Nah, you're right... I'm sorry Gnome Rage. This isn't really the proper forum to be making a post like that. You're posting to blow off some steam over things that annoyed you today. My post was really uncalled for.
Printable View
REGARDLESS, the teacher announcing that was quite out of line.
Mental handicaps are just as real as physical ones.
I don't let kids use laptops in my Legal Research and Writing class, and I get flak for it all the time. My attitude is somewhere between feeling sympathy for them and thinking that they need to suck it up. Lawyers hand-write stuff all the time, laptops are not commonly used in courtrooms, and laptops are distracting both to me and other students in class. Don't like it? Tough shit. That's a real world lesson for them, and free of additional charge!
That being said, if someone had a legitimate learning disability - and it sounds like that's the case here - I would accommodate them without question. I would TRY to see if there was a way to do it without a laptop, but if that's what was required, I would do it. I am pretty sure that accommodations are mandatory under those circumstances, especially at a state university... but I am not 100% sure. Regardless I do want my students on equal footing with each other.
So? You ever see a college that doesn't serve the needs of a disabled person?
You ever see one that penalizes the rest of the class while a disabled person gets an advantage? EQUAL!