ARTICLE IN PRESS

International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29 (2005) 127–130

doi:10.1016/j

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijintrel

Video review

Miguel Gallardo, A culture undiscovered, Fanlight Productions, Boston, MA,

2003, USA

The most powerful moments in this video production are the honest and insightfulcomments of six diverse college students diagnosed with learning disabilities. Theirpersonal perspectives will open others’ minds to the obstacles, frustrations, andstereotypes such students have experienced in educational settings. In this video,producer Miguel Gallardo presents a series of personal reflections interspersed withdiscussion about the nature of learning disabilities by Dr. Micki Bryant, SeniorCoordinator of Disabled Student Services at California State Polytechnic University,and comments concerning cultural and racial stereotypes by Dr. Sam Chan at theCalifornia School of Professional Psychology. In interviews with Gallardo, who wasa clinical psychology graduate student at the time of production, students fromAfrican American, Asian American, and Hispanic or Latino backgrounds offerperceptive accounts of the obstacles and stereotypes they have encountered; theimpact on their relationship with their parents and home communities; and thecultural values and expectations that have influenced their ability to cope with thediagnosis.The video emphasizes that colleges and universities have begun to expand their

efforts to integrate and accommodate students with learning disabilities. In theprocess, however, they have sometimes failed to take into account the different needsand experiences of students with learning disabilities from culturally andlinguistically diverse backgrounds. Students with learning disabilities may behesitant to tell their professors about their need for accommodation since fewfaculty members have much knowledge of either disabilities or appropriateaccommodations. Students may fear that the professor may see their request forassistance as a sign of laziness or an excuse for not meeting expected criteria forperformance. For students from diverse backgrounds with disabling conditions, thesituation is even more difficult as faculty members may have stereotypic views ofvarious ethnic, racial, and cultural communities (Baca & Cervantes, 2003). Asianstudents are often assumed to be ‘‘smart’’ and more capable than other students;faculty may have difficulty accepting that they have learning disabilities. On theother hand, African or Latino American students’ request for assistance andaccommodation may be taken for slacking off or trying to get out of an assignment.

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The issue of racial and cultural prejudice is touched upon briefly in the video;linguistic discrimination is not addressed at all, though it is a factor in languageprocessing diagnoses.The students in the video also provide a personal perspective on how they feel

about their disabling condition and the diagnosis they have been given. Most feltrelieved to receive a diagnosis and viewed it as helpful to know why they had beenstruggling in school. All of the students referred to their diagnosis and disablingcondition as a ‘‘learning disability.’’ Dr. Bryant defines learning disability as adifficulty in neurological processing, exclusive of intelligence or sensory impairment,which is most often first identified within a classroom or school setting. This is why itis usually referred to as a ‘‘learning disability’’ rather than a neurological processingdisability. Many professionals in the field generalize this neurological problem tobeing one of difficulty perceiving and manipulating patterns in the environment,whether patterns of sounds, symbols, numbers, or behaviors (Collier, 2002).However, as the diagnoses for each student are presented as captions across thescreen (e.g. ‘‘mixed receptive-expressive language and attention deficit hyperactivitydisorder’’) and no specific explanation is provided, it may be difficult forprofessionals unfamiliar with the terms to connect these diagnoses with specificclassroom behaviors or performance outcomes. Moreover, besides being obscure orincomprehensible for an outsider, the use of some of the diagnoses is also puzzlingfor professionals in the field when applied to culturally and linguisticallydiverse learners. This is not to say that diverse learners may not have learningdisabilities, particularly neurological processing disabilities. However, wherestudents have learned English as an additional language, disabling languageprocessing issues can be confused with normal elements in the language acquisitionprocess (Collier, 2002). Given the current ill-defined state of separating languagedifferences from language disabilities (Baca & Cervantes, 2003), the frequentdiagnosis of receptive and expressive language processing disability in the video issuspect with this population.Nevertheless, the video does an excellent job in presenting the cultural and

psychological perspectives of the students trying to balance their traditional culturalbackgrounds with the university culture. The differences between a student’s heritageculture and how faculty view culture and disabilities is not explored per se, butenough personal reflections are provided to establish an excellent foundation fordiscussions.Another noticeable success of the video is the representation of ethnic and

racial issues. The students speak for themselves and are not labeled; specificethnicity or racial identification of students is not given except through self reference.Although the issue of racial and cultural prejudice is only briefly mentionedin the video, the students provide many specific personal examples of prejudicethey have experienced. If this video is used in classrooms, the students’comments about their experiences could be used as the basis for further researchand discussion.The six students do more than speak about their personal challenges; they

also offer advice to other students about how and when to discuss disabilities

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with families, friends, and professors. They offer simple, straightforward suggestionson approaching professors about their learning disabilities and specific accom-modations they may need. They also address facing the prejudice and mis-understanding of their professors and others when they are frank about theirdiagnosis. An excellent example in the video was provided by the African Americanstudent concerning his course in mathematics. He had received low scores ontwo previous tests and at the final asked the professor for accommodations(to take the test at Disabled Student Services). His teacher was relieved andsaid that he wondered what was wrong. He thought the student was justbeing lazy on the tests as he was clearly one of the brightest students in theclass based upon his questions and answers in class. To deal with thissituation, faculty members can engage disabled students in private discussions andtake time to model for their classes how to treat these students with respect anddignity.Dr. Chan provides useful, though general, information about the characteristics of

‘‘collectivist’’ cultures that contribute to the difficulties many of these students havein communicating their diagnoses to their families. He also discusses the challenge todiverse students with learning disabilities in communicating their needs to schoolpersonnel and the difficulty faculty members have in understanding what ishappening with their students. The discussion is from the external observer’sstandpoint and the listener remains curious how Dr. Chan feels about these issues inhis own life and from his own perspective. Dr. Chan provides a clear discussion ofthe context for many of the students’ particular responses to their disability andmakes understandable many of the misunderstandings among families and facultymembers about the disabling conditions. Enough psycho-social information isprovided to facilitate many interesting exchanges within a graduate course on thissubject.Another very useful aspect of the video is the discussion by the students

of their interactions with families and friends. The students are concerned with howother students perceive them and how to explain the accommodations (notetakers, etc.) they may need in the classroom. It would have been beneficial tohave the students exchanging their views on this with one another, but the video usesindividual cameo settings exclusively. The students offer very useful advice toother students with disabilities faced with similar communication problems.They point out that there are many different channels to learning and thateach individual has to find out what works in his or her own situation. Knowledgeis power in these circumstances, and ‘‘if you know you have a problem,you can make accommodations. Whatever the problem, one has to keepgoing and never let a disabling condition stop you from doing what you wishto do.’’

A Culture Undiscovered provocatively explores the interplay between cultural andeducational issues as they are experienced in the daily lives of students from diverseracial and ethnic backgrounds. This could be an important resource for students,faculty, and professional staff who work with diverse students who have learningdisabilities.

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References

Baca, L. M., & Cervantes, H. (Eds.). (2003). The bilingual special education interface, (4th ed). New York,

NY: Prentice-Hall.

Collier, C. (2002). Separating difference from disability (2nd ed). Ferndale, WA: CrossCultural

Developmental Education Services.

Catherine CollierCrossCultural Developmental Education Services, Ferndale, WA 98248, USA

E-mail address: catherine@crosscultured.com