People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

[bmah]

First of all, this topic isn't intended to offend people with mental disabilities. If the topic flirts to that realm, please let us know.


Sometimes I wonder how many people with mental disabilities such as Aspergers, autism, or ADHD are taking full advantage of their conditions by using them as excuses to wean their way out of sticky situations, whether they're right or wrong about it. If someone's brother or sister had autism, how much does he or she actually get away with it? That would depend on the parent's ability to read the fine print. But what about the internet?

The "disability excuse" seems to be really apparent on a number of internet forums or other social networking sites I've visited. I'll acknowledge that there are many mental disabilities that may indeed noticeably affect your ability to think and write/type out your thoughts (and also put thoughts into action). However, there appears to be far many more cases in which a person who claims to have autism or Aspergers probably is making a false diagnosis or has a mild case at best which does not severely affect his or her ability to project thoughtful ideas into text. To these people: stop using excuses and face your issues like anyone else would.

I'll also acknowledge that I do not have any sort of this mental disability, so I have no say in what it's like to actually live in a life of true Aspergers/autism/ADHD/etc. However, I have my suspicions and would like to ask what you think. Are these mental disabilities really hindering their actions? Or are they more often than not lying/making a big deal out of it?

[OneHandNow]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

sorry i have ADHD so every time i found your thread my mind was already set on something else

[cry4eternity]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

I honestly don't know that much about mental disabilities. My old roommate used his dyslexia as an excuse when he failed out, and that enabled him to come back for another semester so he could once again fail.

[customstuff]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

sorry i have ADHD so every time i found your thread my mind was already set on something else

Nice try, but ADHD is Hyperactivity. You're thinking of ADD. (Unless you were so hyper that you got bored of this already and found something different)
My girlfriend actually has ADD but it's really not even noticeable at all and she doesn't use it as an excuse for anything. Quite the opposite actually.

I'm on your side on the topic of very mild things. For example, if it's treated easily with a pill, don't be like "oops, guess I forgot my pill today!"
On the other hand, it's a bit harsh if it's full out autism or another thing that people are born with and can't help whatsoever. You obviously aren't going to give a person with autism a grade 12 math exam and say "Pfft. Not my problem." when they fail...

Basically, I do agree with you, but there are exceptions.

[infinity.]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

A kid at my school has asperger's and got a 34 on his ACT because he got 3 extra hours to take it..

Thing is, he's totally normal and has no traces of any problems. meh.

[welsh_girl]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

Telling people thay have ADHD/ADD etc. I think is thrown around way too easily. A child is slightly hyper and they're slapped with ADHD and given pills.

So, yes, with something like ADHD, I think the person with it will take advantage and so will the parents if said person is under a certain age as an excuse to get away with certain behaviour.

I'm not at all saying this is true for every single person, I think it's few and far between, but does happen.

[Hakulyte]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

Epilepsy caused by lack of sleep is a cool excuse to keep sleeping when you're actually fine.

If people decide to act differently than how it really is in order to get benefit out of the situation. They're the one that lives with those choices..

[OneHandNow]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

A kid at my school has asperger's and got a 34 on his ACT because he got 3 extra hours to take it..

Thing is, he's totally normal and has no traces of any problems. meh.

yeah he definitely has a disease if he gets only a 34 on his ACT with 3 extra hours.

[bmah]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

@customstuff: yeah, there are genuine cases where some people should be fully recognized of their disorders and be given some exceptions.
My main point is that there just -seems- to be many more people who either accidentally or deliberately, but falsely, diagnose themselves with these disorders. It's their favorite escape route to lack the accountability for nearly anything. It also makes it more difficult to actually discern those who are genuinely handicapped in their mental thought processes, and it gives them a bad rap.

[dore]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

I never noticed anything like the ACT example above at my school. There were plenty of people with accommodations on their standardized tests but the people who had longer time/reading aloud/etc. truly needed the help. Though I did know one guy with a jacked up eye who got large print tests so his test books were like twice the size of everyone else's, but that doesn't really count for this discussion

Definitely on the internet, the disability card is much easier to play than the you-were-right-I-was-wrong card. There are no concrete consequences for being an asshole to someone and then blaming it on disease on the internet other than you may not get taken seriously on that particular forum anymore, whereas it's easier to lose friends/respect/etc. IRL if you try to pull the please-like-me-it-wasn't-really-my-fault card. And that's not to say everyone with [insert mental disorder] is faking/taking advantage of that disorder, but I think it is fair to say that many people who are falsely diagnosed or are a borderline case or whatever use that as a crutch. Then again, (anecdotal evidence warning), I do know someone who has some mental issues and is kind of an asshole to everyone, but it's obvious that she doesn't realize it sometimes. She tries to be sarcastic and witty but doesn't realize when other people aren't responding to her "humor", or she doesn't recognize what someone else is doing when (s)he says something sarcastic back to her.

[DragonIIDX]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

I have ADD and the teachers always asked me if I wanted to have extra help, extra time, or have a private room to do tests etc. But I always said no because I wanted to try and do them like everyone else did. They kept trying to talk me into it but, I kept saying no. And I admit I could have done better but I still managed to pass. And I agree about overdiagnosing. They need to save them for people who actually have it.

[who_cares973]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

i know plenty of people with ADHD and OCD that use them as excuses so they wont have to do something they dont want to. its pretty annoying

[LoneW0lf]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

This kid at my school is in a wheelchair(his fault, he electurcuted himself while on a telephone pole) and uses his wheelchair as the biggest excuse for everything. He misses class sometimes, or he is really late and says he had trouble getting there. He talks ****,(he was in class and the teacher ask what slang was, he said "That's what those dumb black people use"), he just does **** like that because he knows no one will hit him.

He's a cool guy and all, but he just takes advantage of his disability.

[OneHandNow]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

^ Now that's just messed up. He deserves to be in that wheelchair. -_-

[Reincarnate]

Re: People using disabilities as pitiful excuses

I know a TON of people from a well-known top private high school (that I will not name) that paid doctors off to get disability notices as a way to get extra time on the SAT/ACT. Many of those kids are now in top schools (well, graduated by now). lol