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Rickie Sugars is glad the study proves a link between learning disabilities and poor mental health.

I have no idea when this story ran in the Vancouver Sun, but it’s worth a look.  The Learning Disabilities Association of Canada has released a study on the long-term effects of undiagnosed learning disabilities.  The results?  Lasting psychological harm.

I can certainly attest to this.  My LD went undiagnosed until half way through my junior year of college.  By that point, I was at a top-20 liberal arts college, surrounded by people who were able to do the assignments AND the reading for all of their classes, and my self esteem was not only in the toilet but flushed into the sewers.  Since my disabilities are in areas that are the focus of most entry-level professional jobs (paperwork, scheduling, filing, and occasionally light bookkeeping as well) I essentially have no career to speak of.

As a result of this, I’ve been diagnosed with major depression and dysthymia, anxiety and panic disorder, stress-related asthma, and even a heart condition.  It’s taken my whole adult life to come to terms with this. I have had to rebuild myself from my foundations.  In short, friends, it has sucked, and it has sucked mightily.

Mad props to LDAC for taking this issue seriously, and for getting the word out.