u/Calm-Instruction864

So I’m a 22 year old college student who is just about to graduate from a public university with a 3.7 gpa and I have had a IEP since 1st grade. I was diagnosed with dyslexia in the 1st grade and it was always been something that I was ashamed about and hid from people. I used to get pulled out of class in elementary and a little in middle school to go to reading and writing classes until I was able to make it to grade level. It took me 4 years of extra tutoring and lots of work to get to be on level and to stay there.So even though I never told people a lot of people knew I had a disability, I used to be made fun of because of this and honestly it made me a better student because of it. Hear me out- because I was ostracized for being different and bullied it made me want to be like the other kids and strive to not have an IEP. It was more embarrassing for me to be pulled out of class to read books at a pre-k level than it was to be bullied by my peers for getting B and D mixed up. Even today I still struggle with spelling and grammar which you can probably tell by this post lol but I have learned that is a my problem only. I made the decision at a very young age that no one will ever help me and that I have to advocate and change for myself which I have done with a lot of success. So this brings me to my post why are students my age or younger trying to get IEP plans? Is it not embarrassing for them? I have a relative who works in the public school system telling me that she had parents constantly wanting there kids to get IEP/504s but they do not need them and are perfectly capable of doing the working for their level? Though in the moment as a kid the bullying was hurtful and caused some damage I have to say it taught me a lot of valuable lessons that sometimes you just need to get through it and nothing in this world is handed to you. Because IEPs are so normalized and with mental health/disability advocating more mainstream is that why parents want to get in on the extra time/special treatment?