Imagine that reading every article in websites, books, and instruction manuals feels like this. Now you have a rough understanding of what it is like to cope with dyslexia.
I had to train myself to focus my attention. I became very visual and learned how to create mental images in order to comprehend what I read
—Tom Cruise
Dyslexia isn’t rare.
One in ten people is estimated to have dyslexia, according to Dyslexia International, affecting more than 700 million people worldwide. It is a language-based learning disability that results in people having difficulties with specific language skills, particularly reading.
When you have dyslexia, your brain takes longer to make some of the required connections and do it in more steps. It especially has trouble matching the letters you see on a page with the sounds those letters and their combinations make. This makes reading, and sometimes other skills, harder to accomplish and acquire.
Dyslexia isn’t a barrier to success.
In fact, there are many highly accomplished people who struggled with dyslexia. People like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Stephen Spielberg, Albert Einstein, and John Lennon, to name but a few. Of course, having dyslexia does not make every dyslexic a genius, but it is good for the self-esteem of one to know that his or her mind works in the same way as the minds of great geniuses.
A teacher sent the following note home with a six-year-old boy. ‘He is too stupid to learn.’ That boy was Thomas A. Edison.
—Thomas Edison
Many believe peeps with dyslexia are often creative.
It could be that because they are wired differently, they see problems and solutions in “out-of-the-box” ways that can support innovation and success. Perhaps the words and sentences that give them trouble forced them to develop some clever and unexpected skills to tackle challenges. Maybe the extra work they need to put in to succeed at learning and reading teaches them the way to get ahead in life is hard work. Clearly, it doesn’t stop them from accomplishing great things.
You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.
—Walt Disney
Kudos to those who made it to this paragraph. Alright, I shall stop here before you tear your hair off. You get the gist. And that’s all that matters.
