How Do Different Cultures Perceive Learning Disabilities? A Social Psychology Podcast Episode.

We know from social and cultural psychology that our attitudes and opinions towards different topics are largely informed by the world we live in. Everything from our culture of origin, our family, our friends and more can influence our attitudes. This extends into our beliefs and attitudes surrounding mental health conditions and the lived experience of others. For example, hearing voices is heavily stigmatised in the West but in certain cultures, hearing voices is often celebrated and seen as a sign of the gods. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you're going to learn how culture impacts attitudes towards learning disabilities across the world, why this is important and more. Whether you're an aspiring or qualified psychologist, a teaching assistant or a mental health professional, this will be a great episode for you. 

Today's psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Gamification of Autism: A Guide to Clinical Psychology, Mental Health and Psychotherapy. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca.

What Are Learning Disabilities?

To ensure that we’re all on the same page about learning disabilities, we need to define the range of conditions. Therefore, learning disabilities can be neurological, neurodevelopmental or mental health conditions that negatively impact a person’s ability to pay attention, coordinate their movement, perform maths calculations or it can impact their spoken or written language abilities. As well as whilst we mainly talk about children and learning disabilities because they typically aren’t recognised until the child reaches school age. They can impact a person at any age of their life and learning disabilities can be lifelong.

Why Is Learning about How Culture Impacts Attitudes Towards Learning Disabilities Important?

Even if you never ever intend to work outside your country of origin, like the United Kingdom for me, it is still flat out critical that you learn how different cultures see the mental health condition that you support in your clinical setting. Since we never know who is going to come through our therapy doors and into our service. They might be white, black, be a second or third generation immigrant or they might have another ethnic or cultural background that is different from our own. And when this happens, because it probably will during our psychology career and that flat out isn’t a bad thing. We must never assume that their experience and social network will be the same as our other clients. 

The cultural beliefs, attitudes and opinions of their culture of origin will impact how they see their own mental health experiences. As a result, we will need to bear this in mind when it comes to our psychological interventions. 

In addition, I wanted to research this podcast episode because in episode 353 of the podcast I discussed in the psychology news section that different cultural beliefs about thinness and body image impact eating disorders in ethnic minorities. As well as in the special educational needs school I am currently working in, there are a handful of children from other cultures. Therefore, by learning about how their families might see their learning disabilities and other conditions, it might help me to better support them. 

On the whole, the entire point of this psychology podcast episode is to enlighten you about what those cultural beliefs and attitudes might be towards learning disabilities. As well as I’ll suggest some ways how these beliefs might impact our clients and therapeutic work.

What are Western Attitudes Towards Learning Disabilities?

The first type of culture we need to understand is how the Western world generally perceives learning disabilities. Now, the main research is typically done in the United States of America and given how there are cultural differences between how the “West” and Europe see learning disabilities. This section might as well be termed how does the United States see learning disabilities. Yet I think a fair comparison would be to say that this first section covers how countries with a very, very strong American link perceives learning disabilities.

Thankfully, over the decades, there has been a real shift in how the West sees learning disabilities. Instead of a lot of countries like the United States and some parts of Europe seeing learning disabilities as a range of conditions that need to be treated as diseases as dictated by the biomedical model. There has been a real shift in recent decades to move towards seeing learning disabilities through a lens of human rights as well as inclusivity. The focus in these cultures is to provide people with learning disabilities equal opportunities and access to learning, daily activities and society as much as possible, regardless of their condition and the severity of their condition.

For instance, in the United States in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act makes it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities in all areas of public life. Such as, transportation, school, jobs and all private and public places that are open to the general public. In other words, you cannot legally treat two people differently just because one person has a disability and the other person hasn’t.

Furthermore, in Western cultures, there is a strong focus on enabling people with learning disabilities to participate fully in society. This can be achieved through technological assistive devices, legislation and an inclusive education system. Since the overall goal in Western Cultures is to minimise the barriers that people with learning disabilities face, whether they’re social or physical barriers and empower these individuals to live more independently.

One example of this empowerment and inclusive education system is the special needs school that I work at at the time of writing. The entire school focuses on decreasing barriers to education and empowering the students to be as independent as possible. For example, in my class, there is a great kid who struggles talking so he has a communicator (or a talker as we call it), and this allows us to communicate with him when we can’t understand what he’s verbally saying. Another student has selective mutism so she has communication aids. As well as the smaller class sizes and increased number of teaching assistants means that children with learning disabilities are able to receive better scaffolded support than they would if they were in a mainstream school.

As a result, whether you’re a mental health professional, a teaching assistant or anyone who works with people with learning disabilities. It can be very useful to think about the benefits of the Western view of learning disabilities, and please rest assured this isn’t intentionally going to be cultural imperialism. I will point out the benefits of the other perspectives on learning disabilities too throughout the episode. Since the Western perspective stresses that we should be empowering people and this comes back to a very important fact about clinical psychology. We should never ever believe someone cannot do something just because of their mental health condition, until proven otherwise.

For example, the brilliant kid in my class who uses a talker, whilst I am not going to write about his medical and mental health conditions. Just because he has a condition that makes it very difficult to walk and speak clearly, flat out doesn’t mean he is bad at communication. He actually is amazing at communication, typing stories on his talker and he is great at maths. Yet unless he’s empowered, supported and we scribe for him, no one would know just how brilliant he is.

In addition, there’s another kid in my class who I essentially work one-on-one with and at first glance a lot of people would say is a massive pain in the backside. Yet because I’ve empowered him, I give him decisions and I want him to work independently, there has been a massive behavioural improvement. He is actually in class, he is actually doing work and he is a joy to be around. As well as because I was covering another class today at the time of writing, this particular kid was a little more troublesome today because I wasn’t in there.

All of us have the potential to have a much greater impact on children with learning disabilities than we realise.

Ultimately, the Western view of learning disabilities can be boiled down to having a strong focus on equal access as well as non-discrimination and this can be achieved through legislation. Like the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990). These cultures make use of technology to support independent living and inclusive education models.

How Does The Middle East Perceive Learning Disabilities?

Given how much the Middle East is on the news, I’m surprised that I very, very rarely cover it on the podcast because the Middle East does have some fascinating cultures, history and opinions. Therefore, the Middle East has a relatively different view of learning disabilities compared to the West because their perspectives on disability are complex as well as they are typically influenced by traditional values and religious beliefs.

Traditionally, learning disabilities would have been viewed through a charity model where the person with the learning disability would have often relied on family support. That was it. Yet, there have been modern shifts in recent years in this geographical region because there are countries, like the United Arab Emirates, where governments and social groups are seeing learning disabilities as a social issue that needs government support and systemic intervention.

Moreover, if we look at the United Arab Emirates in more depth then we can see that the country has been proactive in creating accessible environments and promoting awareness through dedicated policies, like the “National Policy for Empowering People with Disabilities”, as well as campaigns. What I find really interesting about these efforts is that the country actively wants to make Dubai a disability-friendly city. This is brilliant because it strikes a good balance between embracing modern inclusive practices and respecting traditions.

Personally, what I think is flat out brilliant about the Middle-Eastern perspective on learning disabilities is that they’re trying to make their major cities disability-friendly. This I think is a great idea because in my batch of podcast episode ideas, I have something along the lines of ways to make society more autism friendly. Also, sometimes I feel like in the West, there is such a strong resistance to making major changes because people do not want to change the way they live their lives, the way their cities run and they want to protect their traditions as much as possible. In other words, I cannot imagine Western cities wanting to become more disability friendly. Because whilst we have things like dropped curbs, lifts and accessible entrances, as a number of conversations that I have had had with people in wheelchairs amongst other disabilities have proved to me, Western cities and life is nowhere near as disability friendly as the general public believes.

Therefore, it might be extremely useful for Western cultures to learn from Middle Eastern cultures about how to make disability friendly cities.

Moreover, as an aspiring or qualified psychologist or another type of mental health professional, understanding how the Middle East sees disabilities can be very useful. If you have a client from the Middle East then understanding that traditionally learning disabilities are seen to rely on family support can be useful. It might explain why the parents or social support network of a child or even an adult with learning disabilities are resistant to the idea of getting governmental support. They might not understand that in the West, families get more support and the accessing of government support is emphasized.

In addition, if you’re working with a client from the Middle East then you might want to bear in mind that you might have to do more signposting and explaining of how government support works for learning disabilities than you normally would. Middle Eastern families might be brand-new to the idea of government support or specialist support for learning disabilities, so you might need to explain everything from scratch.

Equally, as a teaching assistant at a special needs school, this information can be useful to me because whilst I do not deal with parents. Their traditional beliefs about a person with disabilities should only rely on family for support might rub off onto their child. Therefore, if I see a child struggling and trying to do something themselves and not wanting to ask help from a non-family member then I can do two things. I can empower the child like I normally would by providing scaffolded support so they can do the task themselves, and I could explain to them that it is perfectly okay, normal and understandable to ask for help from me or any staff member. Then I can work with the child over time to improve their ability to ask for help and undo the negative impact of some of these traditional beliefs.

Ultimately, the Middle Eastern perspective on learning disabilities can be boiled down to influences of tradition and religion, but there is a trend towards governmental policies and support for those with learning disabilities and an effort to create accessible urban environments. Also, the government is helping to raise awareness and conduct inclusion campaigns.

How Does Asia View Learning Disabilities?

There are parallels between how the Middle East and Asia view disabilities more generally, because in several Asian countries, traditional attitudes towards disabilities are heavily influenced by historical contexts as well as religious beliefs. Yet more recently, these traditional attitudes have started to become more balanced with inclusivity but these traditional attitudes are still very much present. For example, in India, if someone has a learning disability or any disability for that matter then it links to karma and it is believed to be a punishment for their negative actions in a past life. Whereas in Japan, a learning disability brings a lot of shame on the family. Both of these cultural beliefs are rooted in certain historical and cultural narratives that are still present to this day.

Nonetheless, it should be mentioned that Japan, whilst having stigmatising cultural traditions towards learning disabilities, it is making great strides towards becoming more inclusive. For example, Japan is developing accessible public transport as well as there are media campaigns to promote disability awareness.

Furthermore, even in India where their traditional views stigmatise disabilities, there’s a growing movement in the country to empower and legally protect people with learning disabilities. For example, in 2016, India passed the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act and this legislation aims to protect people with disabilities against discrimination and give them equality. As well as the legalisation supports India’s advancement of various support systems and educational reforms and seeks to change how Indian society perceives learning disabilities and ultimately dismantles outdated stigma.

Personally, whilst I do admit, it is good that the Asian perspective on learning disabilities aims to balance modern inclusion efforts with people’s right to follow a religion. A lot of the religious and historical contexts that influence public attitudes are harmful and negatively impact the lives of people with learning disabilities. Since if you grow up in Japan, for example, and society teaches you that you, the person with the learning disability, is bringing shame to your family. As well as if you can see your family being treated badly because of you, then that is definitely going to impact your self-esteem, your wellbeing and your mental health. Also, this cultural shame and people treating your child differently and the rest of your family differently because your child has a disability is going to take its toll. The parents might blame the child for having a disability and that will impact the parent-child relationship that we know from developmental psychology is so critical to outcomes in adulthood.

I hope over time that these traditional views that stigmatise people and families with disabilities continue to change.

On a more practical note, as an aspiring or qualified psychologist or another mental health professional, understanding how Asian culture impacts learning disabilities can be immensely useful. If you’re supporting a client from an Asian country with a learning disability and they’re experiencing a lot of shame then this might be an explanation. Then in your therapeutic work, you can explore, rewrite and challenge these cultural beliefs. As well as if you’re supporting a child with a learning disability and the parents from an Asian background are blaming the child, wanting to keep the therapy a secret or their engagement isn’t what you would expect. Maybe these traditional attitudes rooted in cultural and historical narratives might provide an explanation for you.

Just some thoughts.

As a teaching assistant, if I’m ever working with an Asian child who struggles with their self-esteem, feelings of shame and if they apologise a lot when they struggle with something that they perceive is easy for other people. It might be useful for me to acknowledge that cultural and historical narratives might be at play here and then I can think about how to better support, empower and encourage independence in this child. Therefore, this would hopefully over time show the child that they don’t need to be ashamed of themselves, their learning disability isn’t something to be ashamed of and they are a brilliant person in their own right.

On the whole, when it comes to how learning disabilities are perceived in Asia, attitudes coexist between inclusion and traditional beliefs, there are efforts to increase accessibility in urban planning and there is a growing legislative framework to support equality. Also, the media has a big role to play in changing the public’s perceptions of learning disabilities.

What Are African Perspectives on Learning Disabilities?

African perspectives on learning disabilities and disabilities are generally some of the most varied and diverse in the world. Sometimes this is a good thing because some countries and regions focus on the empowerment and supporting people with learning disabilities to become more independent. Whereas other regions do not work towards inclusivity in the slightest. 

As a result, in many African countries, how cultures perceive disabilities can vary wildly from one region to the other. Yet generally speaking, the community plays the most important supporting role because the majority of African countries lack formal infrastructure for people with learning disabilities. Even though this is thankfully starting to change. 

For instance, there are several grassroot organizations throughout Africa. Like in Uganda, there is the National Union of Women with Disabilities of Uganda (NUWODU) and this organisation works towards empowering women with disabilities, as well as advocating for their rights and fostering community support.

Nonetheless, even though these countries are starting to develop more support, these African communities still face immense barriers on several fronts. For instance, these communities lack good quality healthcare, have limited access to education and there are low economic opportunities for people with disabilities. 

These are major problems because you need good healthcare in place to give people with learning disabilities the support they need. Learning disabilities don't only impact a person's speech, reading and mental abilities. They also negatively impact their ability to walk, communicate and swallow. You need the expertise of healthcare professionals to recommend treatments, ideas on how to overcome the language and swallowing difficulties and more. Also, my special needs school is a brilliant example of how a child with a learning disability never ever only has one condition. I think the fewest number of mental health and physical conditions for a single child in my class is 3 or 4. Each of these conditions require a unique treatment. Therefore, if you lack healthcare services then your ability to care and support the person with learning disabilities is greatly reduced. 

Similar to limited access to education, if you're a parent or supporter of someone with a given condition you need to be able to learn how best to support them. You need to learn a lot yourself about the condition, how it impacts a child and how best to support them at different stages of their life. If you don't have the local resources or ability to educate yourself then you will struggle to support a person with learning disabilities. 

Whenever I want to learn something for my teaching assistant job or as an aspiring psychologist, I go online, look at websites and watch videos. If you don't have access to the internet, or if you don't have the technological skills to do research. Then again, you can't effectively support someone with a learning disability.

Additionally, there are a wide range of cultural beliefs in African regions that sometimes hinder progress towards inclusion. Since in Africa, disabilities can be viewed as divine punishments or curses placed on individuals. This is a problem because no one wants to be associated or support someone punished by the gods and interfere with curses because it might negatively impact them too. 

This is why it's important to focus on educating people as well as continue to challenge misconceptions about learning disabilities. Over time, this leads to African regions becoming more understanding and accepting.

Whether you're a teaching assistant, an aspiring or qualified psychologist, knowing about African perspectives on learning disabilities are useful because these cultural beliefs might explain treatment resistance, why the client might be all for the treatment but their social support network is resistant and the negative treatment from others might explain the low self-esteem and other negative mental health outcomes for the client. 

On the whole, African perspectives to learning disabilities can be boiled down to there are strong community networks that support people with disabilities. And even though there are brilliant grassroot organizations that advocate for change, there are challenges and cultural beliefs that negatively impact perceptions.

What Are Latin American Perceptions of Learning Disabilities?

Now, the Latin America perspective on learning disabilities, and disabilities more generally, is something I really want to learn about. In fact, the Latin America perspective was the main reason why I created this podcast episode because in my class, the boy I do one-on-one lessons with, his family is originally from a South American country. Of course, I do know which country it is but I don't want to include too many identifying features in this episode. Therefore, I want to understand how his family's culture of origin could impact his disabilities. 

As a result, the main difficulty for Latin American countries when it comes to addressing disabilities is the immense struggle to overcome socioeconomic barriers. For instance, it is true that Brazil has passed several progressive laws that aim to support people with physical and learning disabilities. This is known as the Brazilian Law of Inclusion, or the LBI for short. This law aims to promote the fundamental freedoms and rights of people with disabilities in the country. As well as it encourages people with disabilities to get involved in society and social activities by making them more accessible.

Nonetheless, part of me feels like this is a great example of a law being beyond brilliant in theory, but in practice, it isn't as effective as intended. This is because of the economic disparities as well as the different levels of implementation across different regions of Brazil. Since we know making places more accessible, giving people wheelchairs, talkers and other communication aids, all cost money. Money that is very hard to get in Brazil. Also, people with physical and learning disabilities experience a lot of barriers in employment and

education in Brazil. 

Again, as I spoke about in the above section, if you can't have an education then you cannot learn the skills you need to become independent and empowered. As well as your parents, family and other supporters cannot learn how best to help you. Also, they cannot get an education, get a good job and earn the money needed to support those with learning disabilities.

Thankfully, there are signs that advocacy groups and social movements across Brazil, and the rest of Latin America, are becoming increasingly active in pushing for policy changes and raising awareness about disabilities. Therefore, they can make Latin America more inclusive. 

Personally, similar to what I've mentioned before, being aware of the Latin American perspective is useful because whether or not if you have a client who directly comes from Latin America or has strong family connections to the continent. These can be useful explanations and social factors that can maintain psychological distress, or explain treatment resistance. For instance, parents of your client might not have the education level needed to fully understand how to support their child's learning, they might have a very, very low income and struggle to earn enough to support themselves and their child. As someone living in the United Kingdom, we have a good welfare system, so support is available. Not all countries have this level of support. 

Additionally, another reason why learning the Latin American perspective is useful is because your client might not be from Latin America. Yet they could live in an area with a high Latin American population and the comments, discrimination and negative attitudes from other people might decrease the mental health of your client. For example, other people in the community might be bullying your client with a learning disability because they lack the education and therefore, understanding that they have a learning disability, it isn't their fault and they need support. 

Just a thought.

The final fact for this section is that the Latin American perspective is a healthy reminder for all of us that all physical health and mental health conditions are holistic in nature. You can try to support people with learning disabilities legally, but your support means little if you don't have the education, healthcare and accessibility plans in place to support them. This is why it's flat out critical that we always remember to work with other disciplines, other professionals and with the community and social support networks. We'll only be able to support a client with the best support if we work together.

Ultimately, the Latin America perspective on learning disabilities can be summarized as varied with different levels of success. There are countries like Brazil that have the legal framework to protect people with disabilities from discrimination and empower them. Yet economic disparities impact their implementation. Then there are challenges for people in Latin America to have access to an education and employment. Yet there are increasing advocacy groups and social movements fighting for positive change. 

What are the Scandinavian Perceptions of Learning Disabilities?

I’ve saved my favourite perspective until last because I am so excited to share the Scandinavian perceptions on learning disabilities, and disabilities more generally. I enjoy a lot of Scandinavian ideas on topics ranging from mental health to offender rehabilitation and a whole host of other brilliant topics. Now, I get to learn even more about their perceptions about disabilities and I get to share it with all of you. This is going to be a lot of fun.

As a result, Sweden, Norway, Denmark amongst other Scandinavian countries are often seen as the best in the world when it comes to their approach to disability. Since Scandinavian countries have robust welfare systems as well as inclusive policies in place, because for Scandinavian countries, it isn’t about just empowerment or giving disabled people equal rights to able people. In Scandinavia, people with disabilities, whether they’re physical or learning disabilities, are integrated into all facets of public life.

I just want to stop there for a moment because that very basic idea is fascinating to me, and it shows a massive difference between the Scandinavian and the Western view on disabilities. The West might focus on inclusion and empowerment, but this is always thought about after the fact. For example, after a building was built and designed, after a school was created and after a housing project was designed. In the Western world, it is always Able People first and disabled people are always an afterthought.

Therefore, the very idea that disabled people are thought about in the first place, I think it is amazing, positive and it’s actually heartwarming. So many of the children in my special needs school do not only have mental health conditions, but they have physical disabilities too. Many of them live in situations, houses and more that are not made for people with disabilities and it is a nightmare for them. Yet if a housing project or another aspect of public life focused on people with disabilities first and foremost then I know so many of the children I see every day would have a much, much easier home life.

In addition, Scandinavian countries focus on universal design principles so these environments as well as products are accessible to everyone, regardless of whether they have a disability or not, to the greatest possible extent.

And this is what I want to focus on for a moment. Some critics would argue that there is no point thinking about disabled people from the start of a project because it is impossible to make it completely equal for them. Perhaps that is true. Perhaps that is false. Yet the entire point of becoming more inclusive and supporting people with disabilities is that we are trying. We are trying to make their lives better, empower them and we are trying to make them capable of participating and contributing to society as much as possible.

If we can only get a little closer towards equality in a given project, then that is still fantastic. As long as we try to give people with disabilities the same opportunities as people without disabilities. Then that is okay.

We have to try, and Scandinavian people understand this idea.

This is something we should all be trying to understand better.

Furthermore, in Sweden, there is the Swedish Discrimination Act and this includes direct support measures for people with disabilities and this ensures they have equal opportunities. Also, Sweden has a massive emphasis on educational inclusion so students with disabilities are integrated into regular classrooms and they’re supported by specialised staff as needed.

That is mind-blowing to me as someone in the United Kingdom.

I am speaking very generally here, but generally speaking in the United Kingdom, when we have someone with a learning disability, we rarely admit them to a mainstream school, or a “regular” classroom. They are sent to special needs schools where there are staff. Please note, I did not say that there are trained staff or specialised staff that are trained in how to support those with special educational needs.

As I am still employed by a special needs school, I cannot say too much, but I am definitely not a learning disability specialist. I don’t really know many in the entire school. That is all I will say however, because I need money, I need the experience and I would like to keep my job.

Anyway, the very idea that we would keep students with learning disabilities in a regular classroom is rather insane or flat out weird in the United Kingdom. We just wouldn’t do it, and I do feel like this creates a lot of spare room for misconceptions, lies and even misinformation to be spread about people with learning disabilities. Therefore, I certainly think we can learn from Scandinavian countries about integrating people with disabilities in the education system, all aspects of society and make them just a normal part of society.

A group of people without shame, without separation and without exclusion.

On the whole, Scandinavian perceptions of learning disabilities highlight the importance of systemic support and these ensure practical inclusion at all levels of society. Also, Scandinavian countries focus on universal design principles so they are accessible to everyone, they have a strong welfare system to support individuals with disabilities, they focus on integration in education, as well as there is legislation to promote inclusion and equality.

Clinical Psychology Conclusion

As you’ve seen throughout today’s psychology podcast episode, across the world and its different cultures, there are a lot of different thoughts and feelings towards physical and learning disabilities. These cultural attitudes are influenced by historical, social and religious contexts, but despite these differences, there is, thankfully, a positive global trend towards fostering equality and inclusion for people with disabilities. Largely, this is because there is greater awareness and this increased awareness grows support for policies, wider social acceptance as well as community-based programmes.

Personally, I’ve really enjoyed learning about different cultures, their contexts and how they perceive learning disabilities, amongst disabilities more generally. Not only has it been important for my own awareness as an aspiring psychologist, but also as a teaching assistant at a special needs school. It’s given me new ideas, new perspectives and a greater understanding of the potential challenges and benefits that my students face in their wide social support networks.

In addition, it is flat out critical that we learn about these global perspectives because to be able to be global citizens, it is important that all of us as aspiring or qualified psychologists or mental health professionals are able to recognise and respect cultural differences when working with people with disabilities. This understanding can lead to greater and more effective strategies in promoting mental health, physical health and any other therapeutic interventions we are doing with the client.

As a result, an additional takeaway that all listeners and readers of the podcast can do is to start or continue to advocate for inclusive policies, support your local grassroot organisations and engage in cross-cultural dialogue and understanding so all of us can work towards improving the lives of people with disabilities everywhere. Also, I would add make sure you share your knowledge about disabilities with people, because knowledge empowers all of us to take active steps towards advocating for change within our local communities and beyond.

For example, you could see what your mental health service, your employer or your local community is doing to support those with physical or learning disabilities. If you find something you like then support it, get involved and if there isn’t anything locally, make something.

In my opinion, I understand that I have just asked a massive thing of all of you and you might be wondering what I’m doing. Not only do I work at a special needs school so I can support, empower and educate people with learning disabilities every working day. Yet I am doing podcast episodes and sharing my knowledge and experience with other people too. Even if you learn one thing about a learning disability and share it with someone every week for 52 weeks (one year), you would have made a massive positive impact compared to doing nothing at all.

Just a thought.

What small action could you take today to improve the life of someone with a learning disability?

I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode.

If you want to learn more, please check out:

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Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading

Alnahdi, G. H., Saloviita, T., & Elhadi, A. (2019). Inclusive education in Saudi Arabia and Finland: pre‐service teachers’ attitudes. Support for learning, 34(1), 71-85.

Artiles, A. J. (2023). Beyond responsiveness to identity badges: Future research on culture in disability and implications for response to intervention. In Mapping the field (pp. 310-331). Routledge.

Grigorenko, E. L., Compton, D. L., Fuchs, L. S., Wagner, R. K., Willcutt, E. G., & Fletcher, J. M. (2020). Understanding, educating, and supporting children with specific learning disabilities: 50 years of science and practice. American psychologist, 75(1), 37.

https://know-the-ada.com/cultural-perspectives-on-disability-from-various-countries/

Jansen-van Vuuren, J., & Aldersey, H. M. (2020). Stigma, acceptance and belonging for people with IDD across cultures. Current developmental disorders reports, 7(3), 163-172.

Lipka, O., Khouri, M., & Shecter-Lerner, M. (2020). University faculty attitudes and knowledge about learning disabilities. Higher Education Research & Development, 39(5), 982-996.

Moberg, S., Muta, E., Korenaga, K., Kuorelahti, M., & Savolainen, H. (2020). Struggling for inclusive education in Japan and Finland: teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education. European journal of special needs education, 35(1), 100-114.

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