Learning Disabilities Are Often Misunderstood

About 80 percent of Americans believe the statement “people with learning disabilities are just as smart as you and me” to be generally accurate.

But a majority of the public also link learning disabilities with mental retardation and autism, and more than 50 percent agree that learning disabilities are “often caused by the home environment children are raised in.”

The poll, which suggests that there’s a stigma associated with learning disabilities even as people generally agree disabilities can be overcome with proper instruction, was commissioned by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation of New Haven, Conn., which makes grants to support children with learning disabilities.

“ ‘Mixed bag’ is an accurate way to put this,” said Stewart J. Hudson, the foundation’s president. “I don’t think people have a very clear idea of what dyslexia and other learning disabilities are.”

Read more here: Education Week: Poll: Learning Disabilities Are Often Misunderstood.