Unique Affirmative Action Dilemma

sartorialiste
Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:00:10 +0000

Alerting schools of his disability isn’t really an affirmative action situation; it just presents a more complete version of who he is that colleges can use to put everything in context, which could potentially excuse (slightly) some lacking areas that would not be excused otherwise. Affirmative action exists because colleges want more socioeconomic diversity on campus, and I think specifically desiring a certain amount of disabled kids would just be a bit weird, if not almost twisted.

This cousin doesn’t sound like he’s opposed to affirmative action, it sounds like he’s opposed to potential pity. Which is very understandable, but it sounds like something that he should let colleges know about regardless of whether or not it could be exploited. That’s not the issue here, in my opinion.