After trying out several colleges, Andrew Marvin found himself at Beacon College. Marvin, who has ADHD, says that Beacon was the only school that was able to meet his particular learning needs. The unique institution, located in Leesburg, Florida, is one of a handful of colleges that accept only learning disabled students.
Learning disabled (LD) students are pursuing postsecondary education in rapidly growing numbers. How colleges and universities will step up to meet the needs of these students, though, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Beacon College is on its way to perfecting an educational model that has proved to be successful for the diverse needs of its student body.
As a new freshman at the University of Southern Florida, Marvin stopped by the student disability department to meet his case worker and discuss his educational needs. His case worker greeted him in American Sign Language. The catch? Marvin is not deaf.
That sort of miscommunication proved to be the theme of his year at USF and ultimately resulted in him leaving the university. Marvin says the mix-up was indicative of a generalized misunderstanding of learning disabilities at mainstream institutions of higher education.
“I don’t think [the case worker] had any ill intention,” Marvin says. “She had just done however many case loads she had that day, she could have mixed up my file, she could have confused what the particular nature of my needs was. It could have been a bunch of circumstances, but it didn’t set me up for success.”
