I can't possibly see how 'intelligence' is a disablist term. Any more than phrases like 'going for a walk' (use it all the time, regardless of whether I'm going in the wheelchair), or references to 'sight/seeing' or similar might be disablist. They're just not. We know there's diversity in ability - that's what it is to be human, and diversity is great.
As I worked through it in my discussion with smonster I think it's counterproductive to follow every logical parallel to an offensive phrase to its conclusion. I think that curbing the language use needs to be in response to specific instances of objection, and shouldn't be a broadly generalized principle.
This. And what erika said. (I'm both 'gifted' and 'LD' too. I have dyspraxia, a totally random thing where - among other things - I get a 70 score on some parts of the IQ scale, and a 150 on other parts. And I love that.)
I'm also gifted and LD. I once took an informal poll of the grad students in my department, and of the 20 people I asked, all of whom are studying for a Ph. D. in math, 3 of us had been either identified as or suspected of having a math disability in elementary school. (And it's entirely possible that there were a few more where the teachers discussed it with their parents but the kid never found out.)
Binet was researching in order to help identify students who might need extra help because he believed intelligence was fluid. It was the good ol' USA that took the test and said, "Hey, this would be a nifty way to categorize people in order to stratify them and match them up with the hierarchical job system we've formed post industrial revolution!"
Yes, the person who wrote that original post doesn't know anything about the history of intelligence testing. Binet didn't even believe in intelligence in the American sense. He was measuring children's current skills. It was the Americans who divided current skills by age to create the intelligence quotient (IQ). That made it into a trait that could be permanently assigned to a person.
Random Binet fact. His probably the first person in history who wanted to go to medical school, then decided against it because he was sqeamish about cutting up a cadaver, and went into psychology instead. He was not the last.
There's actually been a bunch of research lately in gifted education about gifted+LD kids. If you google "twice-exceptional" (I hate that phrase, but it's the one that's caught on) there's a lot of information.
My physical therapist wants me to use arch supports rather than the ankle brace, on the theory that keeping my feet in the right position will force my ankle into the right position. I'm skeptical, but I just put them in my shoes and I am going to attempt to go to the library and CVS.
Random Binet fact. His probably the first person in history who wanted to go to medical school, then decided against it because he was sqeamish about cutting up a cadaver, and went into psychology instead. He was not the last.
In contrast to J.G. Ballard who kind of fell in love with his anatomy cadaver. (But not in a sexual, necrophiliac way.)
sj, a book for the plane ride home?
Glam for the win! Thanks, that is a great idea.
LD=learning disabled? If you're gifted and LD, I just take that to mean that the giftedness is a symptom of your non-standard brain wiring, which seems to be all that's needed some days for a kid to pick up the LD label. "Little Johnny doesn't do well on the test the other kids are taking." "That's because Little Johnny has deduced the theoretical underpinnings of the questions that are being asked, seen the logical flaws, and is sitting there wondering WTF?"
If you're gifted and LD, I just take that to mean that the giftedness is a symptom of your non-standard brain wiring, which seems to be all that's needed some days for a kid to pick up the LD label. "Little Johnny doesn't do well on the test the other kids are taking." "That's because Little Johnny has deduced the theoretical underpinnings of the questions that are being asked, seen the logical flaws, and is sitting there wondering WTF?"
More like, Little Johnny Tests High, but flubs every piece of homework, because Little Johnny has no sense of the passage of time, gets obsessed over weird and small details, and suffers from both hyperfocus and an utter lack of focus, depending on the task.
Little Johnny feels like s/he is disappointing everyone around, why won't you live up to your potential? and is halfway to an ulcer from the stress of it all when Little Johnny discovers, no, that's not normal, your brain's just peculiar in ways that make it harder to function at some tasks.
Not that Little Johnny is bitter about the years spent assuming s/he was just lazy/undermotivated/whatthefuckever or anything like that. Oh no. S/he is thrilled about it. Honestly.
