I have a superpower…I’m dyslexic!

I have a superpower…I’m dyslexic! Crazy right!?! My brain is wired a little different than most and I’m thankful for it. In this blog post, you will find out why I think that for me, being dyslexic is my superpower. I have been wanting to post this for almost five years but hesitated because I was afraid of what people would say. Luckily, I have the full support of my family and my bosses. October is national dyslexia month SO here we go!

I wanted to take a moment to explain to you what its really like being Dyslexic. Let me start by giving you some statistics.

It is estimated that 1 in 10 Americans are Dyslexic. Only about 15% know they are.

It is not gender-specific meaning an almost equal amount of males and females have it.

It IS passed down through families.

Being Dyslexic has NOTHING to do with your IQ. News flash people, Einstein was dyslexic as well as Steve Jobs and over 50% of all NASA employees.

Having chronic ear infections as an infant can cause dyslexia. (I had chronic ear infections my whole life)

So then why are Dyslexics looked at like we are stupid and incapable? It’s because it is hard for non-Dyslexics to understand how our brains really work.

After getting many comments regarding my blogging skills; I have made the decision to put myself out on a limb and try to explain what it’s really like being dyslexic.

 

The best way I can describe it is like having a piece of cardboard splitting your brain in half. You can feel the answers swimming behind this piece of cardboard and you know what you are trying to express but it’s stuck. Feeling defeated half the time is par for the course. At least for me.

Once someone finds out that you are Dyslexic they have varied reactions, often giving you a half-smile and a head tilt or the wide-open “oh my gosh” eyes.

During a conversation with one of my friend’s ex-boyfriends, I casually mentioned that I was Dyslexic, he stopped the conversation and said, “Not to be rude, but, I never knew that Dyslexics where so intelligent and articulate. No offense.” That is a common misconception for us Dyslexics.

All throughout my early academic career I was made to feel sub-par. During the 80’s they really had no way of teaching children like me, so instead of trying to figure out why I couldn’t read aloud and calculate math like the other kids; I sat alone in the hallway at a desk. Imagine a 7-year-old sitting in an empty hallway all day long.

The teaching staff did eventually send me to a counselor, which resulted in nothing. I truly believe that they just thought I was slow or dumb. What did my parents have to say? Nothing. Why? Because the school system back then didn’t let my parents know that there was a problem. Instead, the school system just shuffled us along to be the next teacher’s problem.

Looking back I’m not angry with anyone. I was a very shy and quiet kid that couldn’t read, spell, or grasp the nuances of the English language. While math made sense to me the numbers would just float in the back of my head and I was rarely able to get them out on paper. And the school system failed with their “free writing” curriculum. That meant that they allowed us to write freely without correcting our spelling, grammar, or punctuation.

In 5th grade, during the standardized testing, I was singled out for cheating. I apparently didn’t miss a single question on the test so they thought I cheated. After making me retake it. I only missed 1 question the second time. this should have been a red flag for them, showing that I was intelligent but couldn’t express it the way others could.

Throughout middle and high school it was more of the same. Failing classes left and right. Freshman year a conceptual physics teacher made me stand up in front of the class and made the declaration that I was the dumbest person she had ever met. She allowed other students to bully me until one day I had had enough and punched one of the kids in his mouth. YIKES! On a side note, the teacher was later fired.

It took meeting my husband to show me that I was intelligent and capable. I opened up to him about all of my struggles and he made sure that I went to class (he lived 2 hours away) and even helped me pay for night school. Yes, we were only 14 and 15 when we started dating but he is a genius and helped me to succeed. That is not to say that my parents didn’t support me, I hid the truth from them so they would have never known. Yes, they saw my report cards and would punish me for failing. But the truth of the matter was we had no clue that I “suffered” from dyslexia.

Like most Dyslexics, you find ways to compensate for your shortcomings. I deflected mine by being successful in extracurricular activities like Maypole, African dance, singing, and basketball. And now with writing this blog, opening an Etsy shop, and being a great pediatric dental assistant. Dentistry is one of the best fields for dyslexics because everything is backward’s.

It wasn’t until my first year in college that a professor asked me to stay after class and told me he thought I was Dyslexic. He asked me to go get tested. So I did and found that I was Dyslexic. WHAT!?!? I thought that all dyslexics couldn’t read and wrote backward? I was also uneducated about Dyslexia. He suggested I take speed reading classes as part of my course. Eureka! I could finally study like the rest of you. It was for me my holy grail. I graduated college with Honors!

Although I may not be wired like the rest of humanity, I have an arsenal of superpowers that you don’t. DYSLEXIA IS MY BIGGEST ASSET! I am very creative, outside the box thinker. I am able to think mechanically (without training), I have a super memory (ask my friends and family it’s freaky), I have an intense habit of retaining everything I hear, I can speed read, I can speak German fluently as well as understand most Cambodian, Russian and Spanish and I am a kinder more understanding person because of it.

There are some things that I find to be very difficult. I have a hard time with directions; even getting lost walking to high school. When someone tells me to take a left I usually take a right and vice versa. Driving a stick shift is all but impossible for me. Lastly, I struggle with spelling and punctuation.

I wonder if you know how many famous and uber-intelligent people are dyslexic?

1. Albert Einstein
2. Steve Jobs
3. Stephen Spielberg
4. Pablo Picasso
5. Richard Branson
6. Mohammed Ali
7. Kevin O’leary
8. Agatha Christie
9. Ludwig Von Beethoven
10. John Lennon
11. George Washington
12. Leonardo da Vinci
13. Walt Disney
14. Thomas Edison
15. George Patton
16. John F. Kennedy
17. Alexander Graham Bell
18. Thomas Jefferson
19. Hans Christian Anderson
20. Lewis Carrol

I hope this shows you that the label does not make the person. Having dyslexia is not always easy but it’s who I am, and I have found that who I am is pretty awesome!

For all of you parents who have a dyslexic child, hang in there. Their superpowers will show themselves. Even if that only means that they are a loving good person, who could ask for more.

Cheers,