The Work Around: How teaching with andragogical practices can normalize learning disabilities in education By: Kimberly M. Cuny Cuny, K. M. (2018). The Work Around: How teaching with andragogical practices can normalize learning disabilities in education. In M. S. Jeffress (Ed.), International Perspectives on Teaching with Disability. (pp. 205-218). Routledge, NY: New York. Made available courtesy of Routledge: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315099941 This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in International Perspectives on Teaching with Disability on 21 March 2018, available online: http://www.routledge.com/9781138296572 ***© Kimberly M. Curry. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction is authorized without written permission from Routledge. This version of the document is not the version of record. Figures and/or pictures may be missing from this format of the document. *** Abstract: This chapter provides the author's own learning disabilities (LD) experiences as faculty director. It examines andragogy as the framework that helps the author to better ensure all of his students have opportunities to learn, regardless of who they are as learners. The chapter then presents an exploration of how and why the author applies the basic assumptions of andragogy to teaching his students to become peer educators at the oral communication center. It also addresses the role of disabilities in the interplay between the author and his students. The lens of Speaking Center (SC) citizenship became increasingly important for the author as the director in 2007, when the center moved from a space that had already outgrown into a smaller space in a newly constructed building. Andragogy's roots are in Germany and other European countries. In 1927 it was first introduced in the United States by Martha Anderson and Eduard Linderman (Davenport & Davenport, 1985). Keywords: learning disabilities | andragogy | higher education | adult learning | pedagogy Book Chapter: Despite my success in academia, for most of my own education, learning was difficult. Until my early twenties, I most often felt like I did not belong as a learner. I got through the difficulties because I established habits of working hard, doing my best, finishing what I started, and never giving up. While “doing my best” became my mantra, it led to the development of what my family identifies as my genius: the work around. When this work around mentality is at play, I am essentially a creative, unstoppable force.