Dyslexia isn’t real
p2pnet news view | Off Topic:- If you think you have dyslexia, you don’t
Because it isn’t real.
At least, that’s what a Swedish scool principal reckons.
In the Spegeln newspaper in a Malmö suburb, “Gert Åkesson, principal of the Sundsgymnasiet high school in nearby Vellinge, opines about the way in which Sweden seems to create public agencies in response to media coverage of perceived problems in society,” says The Local, going on »»»
In making his case, the principal makes fun of a number of illnesses and handicaps by comparing them to made-up diseases featured in television comedy sketches.
“Sometimes it’s a mix of state, regional, and self-appointed agencies. Examples of the latter are associations and councils created for all of the handicaps and diseases invented after the 80s like allergies, Asperger’s, DAMP, ADHD, anorexia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, oral galvanism, anal magnetism … the limits can only be found in one’s imagination,” writes Åkesson.
In case you haven’t come across it before, “Anal magnetism is a made-up disease from a wildly popular Swedish television programme from the 1980s called Nöjesmassakern (’Fun Massacre’), featuring comedians Gösta Engström and Sven Melander,” The Local explains.
And Oral galvanism?
“Concern over the harmful effects of oral galvanism (electrical currents in the mouth resulting from the presence of metal), said to cause discomfort, has been great in Sweden, a country where excitement is, perhaps, hard to find,” it says, quoting the abstract from a 1990 article detailing questions about condition published in the Journal of the American Dental Association.
If you know what dyslexia is, “you would never express yourself like he does,” the story has Sven Eklöf, chair of the 6,000-member Swedish Dyslexia Association (FMLS) telling the Sydsvenskan newspaper.
On anorexia, it has the highest mortality among psychiatric diseases,” declares Lauri Nevonen, from Capio Anorexicenter.
Meanwhile, “The chair of the schools’ committee in Vellinge, Carina Larsson, told newspaper Sydvenskan that Åkesson’s formulation was ‘unfortunate’ but refrained from commenting further on the article before having a chance to discuss it with the principal to learn more about what he was trying to say.”
The Local – ‘Dyslexia and anorexia aren’t real’: educator, October 28, 2009
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October 28th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I thought “Anal Magnetism” was either something someone develops in an extended prison stay, or possible proof that alien abductions really do happen.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
So basically, anything that is not immediately visibly obvious to him does not exist.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
May be in Sweden only those students who failed all the grades and learned nothing can become principal.
Otherwise what else can they possibly do once grown up? Serve in the Sarkozy or GW Bush government?
October 29th, 2009 at 5:33 am
he probaly didnt want to say bring the cane back and these so called behavioral probs will go away. im sorry sir i will try to learn better even though i cant see the letters correctely send the principle back to the stone age where he belongs
October 29th, 2009 at 9:24 am
It does exist , but its also used by middle class people as an excuse for having stupid children as a sort of “kudos condition” .
November 1st, 2009 at 10:28 pm
oops! i guess i thought it had something to do with his anal area and where it was located,such as where his mouth would normally be !!
thanks Jon.