When I was 10 years old I was taken to a doctor. The type of doctor and reason for going were a mystery. When I arrived at a strange home and not a doctors office, I became confused and anxious. Upon entering the home I was greeted by two friendly Yorkies and directed upstairs to a dim room with a large table where an old woman introduced herself and told me I would be taking a series of tests. Hours later the testing was done and the old woman left the room to talk with my mom. I was officially Dyslexic.
No, dyslexia is not a bunch of words jumping around on a page. Whoever decided to describe it like that was obviously not dyslexic. Every person with dyslexia experiences it differently and with varying severity. For me, it's more like looking at a page full of letters that don't add up to anything, so I stare at them until I can form each series of letters into a word. When it came to schoolwork I was easily discouraged and frustrated as a kid. In my mind, I just couldn't understand things like everyone else. I wasn't wrong. Dyslexics cannot understand and learn the same way everyone else does, but we are not incapable or stupid.
Over time, I discovered the way I learn which is very different from the way schools try to teach us. I have to put more time and effort into classwork than my peers but having this "disability" has given me an amazing work ethic. I am no longer afraid of hard work and that has transferred into all areas of my life. Once I stopped looking at my dyslexia as a "disability" I began to realize my potential and it involves more than marrying rich because I couldn't achieve a college degree.
My learning disability has taught me to persevere and not be discouraged if I fail the first time. Overcoming my dyslexia has given me the stubbornness to not give up until I understand a complicated math problem or book written in early English. If you have a learning disability you know it can be frustrating and easy to doubt yourself but you are not your "disability".
By changing my mindset from, "I can't do anything right" to "I'm smart and I can do this", my attitude toward school shifted tremendously. I'll admit that I've become a nerd and actually love learning things (unless its math, still not a fan of that). So my fellow learning disabled people don't get discouraged if you want to be a rocket scientist don't let the fact that you take longer to stop you. Patrick Dempsey and Walt Disney are both dyslexics, so we have something in common with both McDreamy and the guy who brought us The Lion King, I think we'll be okay.
