My friend Varda asked me to write something about siblings for her blog Squashed Bologna. A lot of other people also wrote about siblings, and you can find their posts here. Here’s an edited version of what I wrote Me and my siblings I’m learning disabled. It even says so on my blog, which I […]
World’s dumbest sayings
July 14, 2011 by 2 Comments
1. “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me”. WRONG. Wrong wrong wrong. And hurtful. Names hurt. Names can kill. Telling people they shouldn’t be hurt by names is telling them, once again, that they are weak, bad, stupid, lazy or crazy. Of course names hurt. Instead of this sophomoric […]
Hey LD adults! Are you going back to school?
June 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment
It’s June. School just let out. But it’s not too soon to start thinking about September. Are you going back to school yourself? Congratulations! Start planning! If it’s college or graduate school, you can plan courses; if you know what courses you’re taking, you may be able to get the books. You might be able […]
Gateway to myself: A poem
June 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
This is another poem from my adolescence. I dwelt alone, in misery, A shroud of hate lay over all. Too alone, and far too fearful, To let a friend within my wall. A castle tall and strong I built And locked myself within its walls. With my ego bruised and hurting From a slew too […]
We aren’t acronyms, we’re people
June 7, 2011 by 2 Comments
When you journey around the ballpark of learning disabilities, you run into lots of acronyms. LD, NLD, ASD, PDD, NOS, SPD. At this point, I say WTF? and try to remember something. We aren’t acronyms. We’re people. All those NT (that’s NeuroTypical! The acronym for people who think they don’t need one) people sometimes miss […]
Have you ever?: A poem
June 7, 2011 by 2 Comments
One evening, when I was 14 or so, I climbed out on my windowsill and looked around, 8 floors up, over concrete. I wrote this when I climbed back in. I am feeling much better now. Have you ever? copyright by Peter Flom Have you ever been out on a ledge, looking down? Have you […]
The big switch – school to work for LD people
May 30, 2011 by 3 Comments
In terms of where and with whom you spend most of your waking hours, there are three big switches in most people’s lives: In your first years, you spend time at home, with your parents or caregivers. Then you spend a long time in school, with teachers and classmates. Then you have work, with colleagues […]
Ten things we wish our bosses knew
May 15, 2011 by 4 Comments
Right now, I work for myself. I’m a statistical consultant, and I’m trying to do some things with learning disabilities. But I’ve had bosses, and so have other people with NLD. This is a sort of pastiche.
Being afraid is the appropriate reaction to being disabled, but it shouldn’t be
February 14, 2011 by 3 Comments
I am learning disabled. Hey, it says so right on the title to my blog. All too often, in today’s world, being afraid is the appropriate reaction to being learning disabled. It shouldn’t be. But it is. Why should we not be afraid? The world teaches us, from the start, to be afraid. Afraid of […]
Three aspects of IQ scores
February 8, 2011 by 3 Comments
There is a lot of debate about IQ scores and intelligence and whether the former measures the latter. There’s also a lot of debate about what intelligence is. Of course, if we don’t know what intelligence is, we can’t really tell if IQ scores measure it. But one problem with IQ scores is that they […]
Recent Comments