I am dyslexic (Part 1)

This is a very raw and vulnerable truth for me. 

I am not telling my story for sympathy or anything like that. The purpose of me talking openly about my dyslexia is because after more than hundred years since the name "Dyslexia" was coined, and the high percentages of humans who are dyslexic, very few know about it or understand it. Most people go their whole lives without knowing why they had a hard time learning. Some people never learn how to read, no matter how hard they try! I won't go into all the stats today, but they are worth looking at.

My mission is:

To spread the great wealth of knowledge we have about dyslexia and make sure that every teacher and parent understands what it actually is!

To transform the words "Dyslexia" and "Dyslexic" from a disadvantage to an absolute advantage and positive trait! If you are dyslexic, you should be proud to be who you are. We all are good and bad at certain things. No one is good at everything! Embrace your abilities, work on the things you want to be better at and love who you are, as you are!

I am not sure if you know what dyslexia is? If you don't, or if you want to understand it more, I will tell you. But I want to tell you about my dyslexic story first.

Dyslexia can present very differently in deferent people. There are many stories, this is mine . . . 

I didn't feel different until I started school:

My earliest memories of school are very distant, but still clear. I remember sitting in a small room with someone, reading little books. "Sam has a cat, Bob rides his bike, Tom can run". It was then that I was diagnosed with dyslexia. It was in the mid to late 80's. At this time, the understanding, or even acceptance that dyslexia was real, was rare. The idea was, if you couldn't read or spell you were either lazy or dumb. There were exceptions of course, but not many.

As the years went by, the harder it was: 

Skip a few years and I can still feel my emotions. Sitting in class, maybe grade 4 or 5. The teacher making us do a spelling bee on the black board. You were given a word and then you had to get up in front of the class and write it on the board. The rest of the students had standard words for our grade. It was my turn, I heard snickering around me, whispers saying" just wait for it, here comes the baby words". And sure enough my word was "Bat". I remember a teacher handing workbooks around. When he got to me, he ripped it in two and gave me the front 3 pages, everyone else had 6 (The harder, more complex work was always at the back.) . I don't ever remember not knowing how to read, I was just a slower reader. I definitely had a hard time spelling and with math's. It always took me longer to get through work. It wasn't that I couldn't do it. (Instead of actually teaching me, I was given tasks that I could already do, maybe so I wasn't embarrassed, or maybe I was put in the too hard basket?) As every year passed, everything just got harder and harder. And as a young girl, I understood, that most of the teachers were not teaching me, they were just dealing with me. Pushing me through the easiest way possible. I was occasionally sent to the special learning classes with the "naughty" kids (who all were most likely ADHD or Autistic), and most of the time we just watched movies in these classes. Most of these teachers were wonderful, kind and passionate. There is no way they would have had any idea of the disadvantages I was going to have because of it. They were simply doing what they thought was the best for me. 

The best thing my parents did for me:

Around the same time my parents did an amazing thing for me and hired me a tutor that specialized in dyslexia. Within 6 months I was reading at my grade level and above. This was the best (bar none) thing that happened for me through primary school. 

Highschool is hard for most people, not just dyslexics:

Between grade 6 and 7 we moved halfway across the country, to Saskatchewan. I was starting high school in a new town, where I knew no one. I asked my parents to not tell the school about my dyslexia. I was over being treated differently and being teased about it. But after all the years of teachers just "pushing me through", I was so behind, and high school was going to be a few of the hardest few years of my life. I struggled, but I managed to get by for a few years. It wasn't until grade 10, that a teacher pulled me aside and asked me if I had ever heard of dyslexia and that he thought I had it. A teacher with that knowledge in the mid 90's would have been far and few between.

I was about to disappear:

In grade 11 we move back across the country again. I went from a small farm school of a few hundred to a city school with thousands. I was about to disappear. Every class I attended, I barely made the grade. I felt so dumb, and I was so embarrassed that I often skipped class. If we had a presentation due, I would pull a sicky for as many days as I could. Although there were a few classes that I loved. Art, CAD and Drafting, Home Economics and Cooking. I excelled at all of these classes. I liked the sciences as well, but I was never great at the written tests, and I was that kid that mispronounced "organism" in front of the whole class. I'm sure you could picture this. I always had a little dream of becoming a marine biologist, but I never would believe enough in myself to chase that dream.

My cooking teacher pulled me aside one day and said I should apply for this specific scholarship for a cooking school. I was so excited to think that was a possibility. I filled the paperwork out and hand delivered it to the school counselor. He told me that I was wasting my time, I wouldn't get it, and he suggested I should pop it in the bin to avoid disappointment. I did bin it. I gave up. I disappeared. I don't know how I even graduated in the end. 

Real life is easier for a dyslexic, but not without its hurdles:

Life got better after school. I didn't go to college or university. Up until recently, I just put it in the "not for someone like me" basket. I know now, having dyslexia doesn't mean your dumb. Dyslexia has no bearing on IQ. A dyslexic can do anything they have a passion for (Doctor, CEO, Scientist, President or Prime Minister, Astronaut, Engineer, The Vise Chancellor of the University of Tasmania (yes, we have one!), anything). It has only taken me to my 40's to completely understand this. And this is why I want to tell my story now. My son has been diagnosed with dyslexia too. And 35 years after I was diagnosed, I am finding not too much has changed. He is having a lot of the same experiences that I had. And I want to help change this. So lets talk about it!

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a brain-based difference that affects reading and spelling skills and a handful of other areas such as math's, working memory, executive function and can also affect handwriting skills.

Individuals with dyslexia have trouble with reading and spelling despite having the ability to learn. Individuals with dyslexia can learn, they just learn in a different way. Often these individuals, who have talented and productive minds, are said to have a language learning difference.

Some Facts about Dyslexia:

-Dyslexia occurs on a continuum from mild to severe and no two are alike.

-Dyslexia is highly hereditary. Children have a 50% chance of having dyslexia if one parent has it. And a 100% chance if both parents have it. 

-Those with dyslexia use only the right side of the brain to process language, while non-dyslexics use three areas on the left side of the brain to process language

-Up to 1 in 5 people have Dyslexia (Although the official numbers vary from country to country depending on the accessibility of screening and diagnosis.)

-Around 40% of people with dyslexia also have ADHD.

-Those with dyslexia use about 5 times more energy to complete mental tasks than a neurotypical person.

-Dyslexics do not “see” words backwards. The “b-d” letter reversal for example is mainly caused by deficits in interpreting left and right.

Please feel free to share this story. The more people who are brought into the conversation the better. And make sure you check out my free "I heart Dyslexia" poster download for your children's school or classroom! I will be sharing more about Dyslexia in future emails but if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!

Cheers, Sarah