rsm400
04-26-09, 06:55 PM
Greetings,
I am very interested in joining the USMC because I want to serve our country and it's something of a family tradition going back to WWI.
My question is this: do any of you have any experience with learning disabilities being a disqualification? My recruiter says that he has never dealt with this situation and wants to look into it.
To be specific, I have what is termed a Non-Verbal Learning Disability, meaning that I have difficulty with some kinds of math. This is not the same as mental retardation or anything along those lines. I have an above-average IQ score, got a 3.7 in high school and a 3.5 in one semester of college. In fact, I score in the 99th percentile for "verbal" capability (but only in the 45% percentile for non-verbal i.e. math). That discrepancy is why I am diagnosed with a learning disability.
How this affects me is that I'm usually the last one to finish a math test but the very first to finish a reading or writing assignment. I have no disciplinary record from any school and, on the contrary, I could probably get character recommendations from every teacher/professor. I participate in athletics fine and was president of the National Honor Society/Student Government in high school. But if you look at my transcript, the disparity is clear: As in every social science and most natural sciences and Cs/Ds in math. This supposedly represents a "right-brain dysfunction" because the right-brain controls mathematical ability. The term makes it sound like I've had a stroke or something.
I talked to a history teacher of mine from high school (he happens to be a Marine) and he thinks I should give it a go. The recruiter says that MEPS will most likely have to look at this and he's talking to his superiors to see what they know. The thing that's making this drag on is that Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities are extremely rare (something like 1/30th the incidence of dyslexia, which actually impairs daily life).
One other thing: if you look up NVLD on the internet, you'll read things about "spatial perception difficulties" or "social difficulties." I've never had either. I have a private pilot's license (spatial perception comes in handy) and I've got plenty of friends/experience in team sports. I have also held a job for four years. Apparently a lot of people with much more severe NVLD can't (or won't -- I've met some lazy ones) do these things. I have a relatively mild form of the disorder and really is just confined to math.
I doubt that there are any experts in this field out there, but I'm doing my best to gather in all the opinions I can at this point.
All the Best.
I am very interested in joining the USMC because I want to serve our country and it's something of a family tradition going back to WWI.
My question is this: do any of you have any experience with learning disabilities being a disqualification? My recruiter says that he has never dealt with this situation and wants to look into it.
To be specific, I have what is termed a Non-Verbal Learning Disability, meaning that I have difficulty with some kinds of math. This is not the same as mental retardation or anything along those lines. I have an above-average IQ score, got a 3.7 in high school and a 3.5 in one semester of college. In fact, I score in the 99th percentile for "verbal" capability (but only in the 45% percentile for non-verbal i.e. math). That discrepancy is why I am diagnosed with a learning disability.
How this affects me is that I'm usually the last one to finish a math test but the very first to finish a reading or writing assignment. I have no disciplinary record from any school and, on the contrary, I could probably get character recommendations from every teacher/professor. I participate in athletics fine and was president of the National Honor Society/Student Government in high school. But if you look at my transcript, the disparity is clear: As in every social science and most natural sciences and Cs/Ds in math. This supposedly represents a "right-brain dysfunction" because the right-brain controls mathematical ability. The term makes it sound like I've had a stroke or something.
I talked to a history teacher of mine from high school (he happens to be a Marine) and he thinks I should give it a go. The recruiter says that MEPS will most likely have to look at this and he's talking to his superiors to see what they know. The thing that's making this drag on is that Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities are extremely rare (something like 1/30th the incidence of dyslexia, which actually impairs daily life).
One other thing: if you look up NVLD on the internet, you'll read things about "spatial perception difficulties" or "social difficulties." I've never had either. I have a private pilot's license (spatial perception comes in handy) and I've got plenty of friends/experience in team sports. I have also held a job for four years. Apparently a lot of people with much more severe NVLD can't (or won't -- I've met some lazy ones) do these things. I have a relatively mild form of the disorder and really is just confined to math.
I doubt that there are any experts in this field out there, but I'm doing my best to gather in all the opinions I can at this point.
All the Best.