Disclosing a Learning Disability

Download your free guide: The Quick Guide to Admissions Resumes — The center’s director will often determine the accommodation that’s best for you.

Learning disabilities such as dyslexia or ADHD fall under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those laws assure you of your right to obtain reasonable accommodation for education. As such, admissions offices cannot discriminate against you because of your disability during the admissions process. However, the admissions officer is also prohibited from asking you about disabilities. So, if an admissions officer does not know why you struggled in high school or in college due to your disability, your application may be discounted.

I recommend you disclose your disability in an optional essay or statement of purpose. Your learning disability must be professionally tested, diagnosed and documented, and upon disclosure, an admissions officer will understand the full scope of your issues and make an appropriate decision on your application. Once admitted, the admissions officer will direct you to the school’s center for disabilities that helps learning disabled students navigate their way through the school with proven methods of alternative learning.

The center’s director will often determine the accommodation that’s best for you and communicate your personal needs to your program director or dean. It is your school’s obligation to communicate the accommodation to your faculty based on the documentation you provided and any additional testing the school requires. Always explain to your program director the kind of learning processes that have helped you in the past.

If while in school you feel you are being unfairly treated, file a formal complaint with the office for disabilities and with your program director. They will act as your liaison between you and the faculty. Many successful CEOs have dyslexia or ADD, and their disabilities became an asset in school and at work.

For further assistance on your applications, contact a consultant at Accepted.

By Natalie Grinblatt Epstein, an accomplished Accepted consultant/editor (since 2008) and entrepreneur. Natalie is a former MBA Admissions Dean and Director at Ross, Johnson, and Carey.

Related Resources:

• The Quick Guide to Admissions Resumes, free guide
• Writing About Overcoming Obstacles in Your Application Essays, short video
• How To Write The Statement Of Disadvantage

lisa

HI. My daughter is applying to med school. she has a 3.75 GPA and great research and shadowing experience. her mcat score is 507, just below the average accepted student, but her scores are really disparate because of dyslexia. all between 79 and 99 percentile except CARS section which was 25 percentile. do you think she should mention dyslexia in her personal statement? she is so accomplished academically and experientially and has great references. would appreciate your input. thank you.
- Barry Rothman
  
  Hi Lisa. Even with a dyslexia diagnosis, your daughter’s scores seem difficult for me to understand. Many applicants with dyslexia have lower MCAT scores in all areas due to the global effect of dyslexia on test performance. Your daughter’s low CARS score might also be explained if she were bi- or trilingual, as in my experience, many such students perform poorly in the CARS section. My best guess is that these students process all two or three languages more slowly than their monolingual counterparts, even if they speak, read and write each language with complete fluency. I am assuming that your daughter’s high academic performance is due to a combination of her hard work, spending lots of time on assignments and, perhaps, accommodations due to an officially diagnosed disability.
  I would recommend disclosing her dyslexia to med schools through her personal statement, as without disclosure, they may misinterpret her MCAT scores to mean that she has poor English language skills. Alternatively, they might guess that she has an undisclosed learning disability.
  Feel free to contact me directly if you’d like to further discuss this issue.
  Best wishes, Barry
DL

Hello – I was diagnosed with dyslexia in 2015. I am applying to business school with a non traditional background (running my own small business which provides private swim lessons to infants and toddlers). I got a 720 on the GMAT and have a 3.3 from UCLA. I want to discuss my recent dyslexia diagnosis in my application essays because finding success without any awareness of my learning disability is one of the things I’m most proud of. However because I have a non-traditional background I am worried that bringing up my dyslexia may give the admissions committee opportunity to doubt my candidacy. Do you think I should avoid mentioning in my essays that I was recently diagnosed with dyslexia? Thanks!
- Natalie
  
  Hi DL, Your concern about your non-traditional background and your learning disability are apples and oranges. While learning disabilities may impact work, an admissions director is most concerned about the way the disability has impacted your academics/test scores. You should most definitely be proud of your academics given your disability and it is worth mentioning for that reason. However, the adcom will also evaluate your work experience as it relates to your goals and the ability for the school to guide you towards achieving your goals. Feel free to contact me directly if you have additional questions regarding disclosing your disability. Natalie