by André Del Valle, Head of School
When we were working on our Strategic Plan for the future of MMFS, one thing that came up time and again was “LD Pride.” We have a fierce commitment to teaching our students that having a learning disability has nothing to do with intelligence, academic ability, or leadership skills; it is a neurological condition that causes difficulties with the way the brain handles information. We teach strategies for untangling and reorganizing information so that students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities can be academically successful, and we teach students to advocate for themselves in and out of school. But I’m not going to lie: I hear from many students that when they are outside of MMFS, they are sometimes looked down upon because they go to a school for kids with learning disabilities.
Here at MMFS, we start from the premise that our students are intelligent, creative, and motivated to learn.
But we also know that their learning disabilities are real. Dyslexia is real. ADHD is real. Executive function challenges are real. We don’t minimize learning disabilities, and we don’t hide them behind euphemisms. We say “learning disabilities” because that’s what they are, and because naming something honestly is part of addressing it honestly.
“But André,” I hear you say, “Why are you bringing this up now?” Well, you know the old line about how a lie can travel around the world before the truth can put its pants on? It’s never been more true than in this age of algorithms and memes. So sometimes our job is more than educating our students. We have to assume some responsibility for educating the world, especially when the message speaks directly to our core mission and identity as a school for students with learning disabilities.
One of my heroes, NBA legend Kobe Bryant, once said, “You just put one foot in front of the other, control what you can control, and then you see what the outcome is.”
We can only control what we say and how we teach our students and our community about people with learning disabilities. Mary McDowell Friends School can point to 40 years of “proof of concept” demonstrating without question that students with learning disabilities succeed in school when they are given the attention and specialized resources they need. We can use our platforms to combat ill-informed and outdated stereotypes about the intelligence and the potential of students with learning disabilities.
Because the misconceptions do more than just hurt the feelings of our students. They hurt the future prospects of people who proudly share the truth of their dyslexia or dyscalculia or ADHD or executive function challenges. And that could rob the world of the contributions of many brilliant thinkers, innovators, artists, and makers who might change the world.
So the next time you hear someone disparage MMFS students because they go to a school labeled “special education” or because they have a learning disability, speak up. Like an athlete drilling skills or a musician practicing scales, students with learning disabilities may have to work hard at overcoming the hurdles of their particular neurological configuration, but that effort allows them to reach the same place academically as their peers without learning disabilities. And may well give them confidence to face other obstacles in life, because they have the skills and experience to break down a challenge.
We are so proud of the MMFS alumni who have gone on to college and post-secondary programs and are having successful careers as physicists, fire fighters, teachers, EMTs, engineers, artists, and social workers, to name just a few. The list of professions and fields is endless and eclectic. I wouldn’t be surprised if an MMFS graduate became president one day. That’s an outcome of LD Pride that I’m looking forward to.
