Use My Calculator or Use My Contacts
“Dyscalculia” is a brain-related condition that makes basic arithmetic hard to learn”. (webmdllc) One of the symptoms that people have, would be using their fingers to count. A resource that many use is a calculator while working on a math assignment.
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
“Myopia“is a condition that makes it hard to see objects in the distance. You’ll often hear that contacts can be used to help while driving.
Photo by David Travis on Unsplash
Flashback to my grade school years: One of the challenges I had was arithmetic. My best friend was the calculator. At times, I struggled to finish a math warm-up required to be completed without using a calculator, so my fingers were my handheld calculator. No pun intended :). Pretending to hide my fingers to avoid embarrassing myself was another challenge. I was blessed to have this wonderful time in my life ahh.. joyous memories.
Fast Forward to my teens: I worked with the public at the cash register and I needed my calculator to figure out discounts. The computer program at that time didn’t take the discount off. I can remember getting negative comments from customers. “You can’t do that in your head?” “You need a calculator?” As the guests left the restaurant, I can recall the emotions I had. I felt embarrassed, guilty, and ashamed all because I wasn’t good at math. As I was pondering the guest's comments, I thought to myself, “that guest wears prescription eyeglasses to see in his daily life.” As a society, we don’t dwell on how basic it is to visually see things. We see it as a norm to wear prescription contacts or prescription glasses to fix the challenge we have with our sight.
Why can’t we see it as a norm if someone uses a calculator for what someone else considered basic math? The resources we use are the calculator and prescription glasses. Let's use both to clearly see the next math problem.
In conclusion, use your calculator when needed. Challenge yourself however, you may want to use the calculator to save time. Use your contacts or prescription glasses when needed it may help you see the numbers on you calculator a bit easier. Lastly, everyone has different strengths and challenges. The alternative is to equip yourself with the right resources.
