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4:02pm June 11, 2014
Anonymous asked: Do you think it is ok for dyslexic people to say they are disabled? Nobody gets murdered for dyslexia.

Okay first off, I’m not the person who decides who gets to be called disabled and who doesn’t.

But second off, yes people with dyslexia are disabled.  That’s why it’s called a learning disability.  And I wasn’t aware that being murdered for being disabled was what qualified a person as being disabled – murder rates vary among different disabilities (I doubt there’s any disability where nobody gets murdered for having it though, including dyslexia) but that doesn’t make people who get murdered more often disabled and people who get murdered less often nondisabled.  

In short, I find this ask confusing.  I mean, dyslexia is practically the only thing that comes to most people’s mind when people say “learning disability” (or “specific learning disability” in some parts of the world), and you think people with dyslexia aren’t disabled?

In general I’m not big on drawing these firm boundary lines in the first place so I don’t even know why I get these questions.  But dyslexia falling under the heading of disability is not even something I’d have to think too hard about, of course dyslexic people are disabled.  Not all disabled people deal with the same kinds of ableism, or to the same degree.  But you’d also be surprised what some people do deal with, especially outside of the kind of community you probably grew up in when it comes to how people with dyslexia are treated.  Because I’m certain that some people are murdered for being dyslexic.