Speaking for Themselves Ethnographic Interviews With Adults With Learning Disabilities

While most people associate the term “learning disabilities" with children, or students, research has shown that these problems do not disappear in adulthood. As a result, interest in adults with learning disabilities is increasing. In Speaking for Themselves, nine adults with learning disabilities tell the "inside story" of how they deal with a very real handicap that the outside world does not see. Through their interview format, authors Paul J. Gerber and Henry B. Reiff take the reader beyond the usual boundaries of educational research and into the daily lives of fascinating individuals. Their subjects respond to in-depth to questions about careers, education, social and emotional concerns, daily living, and their own keys to success. Faced with a variety of challenges—from problems with processing language to difficulties in organizing daily routines—they describe their own strategies for coping with them, which are often amusing, sometimes sorrowful, and always intriguing. The subjects go on to offer their own first-hand definitions of learning disabilities and to give suggestions and advice not only to other adults who share their difficulties, but also to all of us who will come into contact with them. Their contributions produce a book that extends its interest not only to professionals in the field of learning disabilities, but to family members, friends, employers, educators, and psychologists. The interviews in this unique volume demonstrate that, for many individuals, learning disabilities do not preclude successful adjustment to adult life.