A premed would like some thoughts about learning disabilities:
I know of two dyslexic med students who have some experience with this.
The first one is myself who does not have this info on any of her paperwork and it is/was not known by any admissions office. I read slow and need to focus more than others on this. My spelling is horrible, more notibly when I write by hand than type. but, I compensate for it and don't want the stigma associated with such a diagnosis. My case is pretty mild anyway.
My frend is more open about her disability. She has run into people who say "wow, its amazing that inspite of this all, you made it this far." There are other who thinks that she is faking and doing it just for extra time on exams. Even if they believe she has this disorder they do not think it is fair that she receives more time on tests for a lot of reasons. She is sure that some admissions offices saw her as a liability.
There are also a few students in my class who have claimed they have LDs and possibly do not have one, but other students and faculty do not agree. I hate assuming that someone is faking, but I am sure it does happen. It is possible to be diagnosed with ADD as a med student, but we know the diagnosis well enough to fake the test just to get aderall or the time and a half on exams.
I cannot speak for an admissions office, but disabled students do get into medical school. I can say with certainty that students do talk about those who qualify for LD services. I choose not to listen and defend the dyslexic friend when others talk crap about her behind her back, but med students in general will complain about anything they can and this is no exception.
Also know that it is difficult to get special accomidations on the boards. The friend I talk about above is the first student at my school who applied and was accepted with out too much of a fight. She did have to get her disability reevaluated by a professional, but it was approved (and then she wound up getting screwed by the testing center, but that's a whole other story). The NBME is apparently very difficult to explain these things too.
