I’m a law school graduate and I guess the author doesn’t know that in most law school and medical school classes it is common for one to use a tape recorder to tape the lecture or to have a service or a particular person take notes for students.

So why is it allowed for us, but not for someone with a disability? That sounds like discrimination to me. What an unconvincing point to make in the university’s argument for not allowing this young man accommodations.

I also think the author takes a giant leap from stating that this young man has a helper or teaching assistant to concluding that this means he is “coached” during exams, making it look as though the assistant is supplying him with the answers.

Nobody wants a degree to be “devalued” and I don’t think that by making accommodations so this young man can learn the same information as everyone else does that.

I thought the purpose of a school was to impart knowledge. I don’t care if someone has to have someone take notes or even read the exams to him if he can show he has learned the information given to him to learn.

As long as someone is not giving him the answers, why does it matter how he shows he has grasped the concepts and information he is supposed to be learning?

Finally, the author states that learning disabilities can be accommodated because they don’t necessarily reflect an underlying capacity for mathematical and abstract reasoning, but accommodations should not be made for one with a chromosomal defect.

By using the word “necessarily”, I take it the author concedes that a learning disability may reflect such an underlying capacity. But, “learning disabilities” can have the accommodations while someone with a “chromosomal defect” cannot? And, isn’t it a gross generality to say all with a certain defect all have the same capacity for learning and understanding?

These arguments put forth by the author certainly have a lot of holes and haven’t convinced me.

The question here, is why is auditing not enough? The only answers I can imagine are two:

1. To get a job. (A degree obtained like this would not help….)

2. To meet some society’s vision that you are worth more if you have a degree.

A mother who fights for a degree for reason No. 2 is treading dangerous ground. The saddest statement I ever heard from a young adult with Down syndrome, who is very high functioning, is “I USED to have Down syndrome …” We must teach our children that just as it is great to strive, try, and achieve, you are worth just as much as anyone else, even if you do not X, Y or Z.