Life Under Labels
Channel: Jim Machajewski
Date: 2015-05-29

Written, Directed and Produced by: Alyssa Machajewski


(Black screen)
Our minds are incredibly diverse machines.
Capable of processing information at a thousand times per second. 
And even more incredible… between all seven billion of us… no two minds are the same. 
Yet, we are continually surprised when we discover that someone else’s mind functions differently. 

(Black fades. You see me, sitting in a chair, reading.)
As a person living with learning disabilities, this is a fact I, and many others like me, are starkly aware of. 
Look at what I’m doing. I remember my school telling me when I was young that, because of my learning disabilities, it shouldn’t have been possible for me to read. 
If that turned out to be wrong… 
What else are we missing?

(Camera fades back to black)
Machajewski Films is proud to present (Background is black, text is white.)
Life Under Labels

(Camera pans over a table covered in stacks of official looking papers, one of them has “Rehabilitation Act- 1973” written on it. Camera focuses on it)
In 1973 a law was passed to protect people with disabilities from discrimination… 
(Camera continues moving until it focuses on a sheet of paper with the numbers 504 on it)
“504” or “504 Code” refers to a section of this law, designed to give disabled students the opportunity to perform just as well as any other student. 
But what exactly does this mean?
(Clips of people talking about what 504 means)

(Camera fades to a chart on a wall of the many different kinds of disabilities, both learning disabilities and otherwise)
As you can see, schools have their work cut out for them.
To understand the situation surrounding learning disabilities in schools, we have to understand the disabilities themselves.
(Clips of each person talking about what learning disabilities are)

Because of the sheer diversity of learning disabilities, and its close ties to special education, it can be difficult for others to respond properly to people with disabilities, particularly if they have had no exposure whatsoever, either through their own experience or experiences of people they know. 
(start clips of intervie about how they respond to disabilities)

And yet, despite the measures in place to give students under 504 protection and opportunities, many are still not completely aware of what it can do for them or what it means for them. There are 504 students with accommodations who simply refuse to use them out of fear of being alienated by their peers. Or else, students who don’t speak up to remind the teacher that they have an accommodation, and end up not using it simply so they won’t cause a scene or interrupt the class. 

Throughout my education, I’ve had to grapple with both of these situations, and ones far worse. In what can probably be described as a 504 student’s worst nightmare, I have been in a situation where a teacher tried to talk me out of using my accommodations and attempted to make it more difficult for me to use them. Because I had been self-advocating my 504 accommodations for years already, I was able to handle the situation, but many students in these kinds of situations are not so lucky, and are therefore barred from exercising their legal right. 

The phrase “self-advocating” is key to fixing these kinds of situations. Teachers, parents, and administrators can do a lot, but ultimately, when a student stands up for themselves and insists on getting the help they need, whatever they feel that may be, it’s a much more powerful thing. 

And you can help. 
Yes, you. Sitting there worried about GPAs and trying to beat the school at its own game, when there is a whole group of people fighting just to get the chance to play. 
Regardless if you have a learning disability or not, everyone can help.
And here’s some tips to start:
Don’t interrogate the guy in your History class who gets to use a laptop on essays when the rest of the class doesn’t. Believe me, he knows he’s the only one with a laptop. No need to point it out.
-Don’t point it out
If a friend is having difficulties getting their accommodations in class, encourage them to self-advocate for themselves, so that they will be able to handle the situation, and the next one. Because, more than likely, there will be another one.
-Support your friends
And above all else… remember this… 
-Labels do not define us