Dyslexia - How it feels to have it. One Person's Day to Day Account

How it feels to have it?  One Person’s Day to Day Account and living with Dyslexia.

I explain that being dyslexic is like running a 100-meter track race. In my lane I have hurdles, but no one else does. I have this feeling that it’s unfair that I’m the only one with hurdles but don’t know how to explain it. Soon the feeling leaves me as the starting gun shoots and I take off running. I try running like the other classmates, because we have all had the same education on how to run. But then I hit the first hurdle and fall flat on my face. My parents and teachers are yelling at me from the sidelines “ try harder, the other kids are making it down the track ok, you must be lazy or slow”. Pulling myself up I try running faster and fall even harder after hitting the next hurdle. Then someone takes the time to show me how to run hurdles and like an Olympic hurdler, I outrun the other classmates. The key, though, is that I have to do it differently, the way that works best for me. Learning is like a tailored suit; it takes a while and is unique to everyone.

Dyslexia is not a “disease” to “have” and “be cured of”, but a kind of mind. Very often it is a gifted mind – there have been many famous, productive, creative dyslexics. Every one of us is unique, different from everyone else, and people’s ways of coming to terms with language are some of their normal differences.

If you are a dyslexic, this is the kind of mind you have. It is yours for life. You can teach it to work better and better, and you can congratulate yourself on its strengths and creative abilities.