I moved to New York when I was eight years old, in 1978. I grew up in Manhattan. I couldn’t speak any English, and I had dyslexia, so it took me many years before I could read.
I’d like to help other kids with dyslexia, because I’m dyslexic. It was very hard, and I know that what I went through, other kids are going through.
In order to be Miss Anybody you had to have excellent grades, and I had terrible grades because of my dyslexia.
I am greatly honoured to become Patron of The Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre. I have benefited hugely from their work, and I am looking forward to supporting them in giving a chance to others to benefit from their experience and teaching.
I didn’t read a book until I was 31 years old when I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Books terrified me. They made me nervous. Now I know you can travel to the bottom of the ocean or to outer space or anywhere in between without leaving your armchair, and I’m so, so sorry I couldn’t read when I was younger.
Being asked to memorise a script in one day when you have dyslexia is the same as having a broken foot and being asked to dance. You have to make exceptions for it.
Being a poet, the advantages of dyslexia are many, affording me sensitivity to the musical nuances of language and the ability to juggle complicated ideas and narratives simultaneously.
My wife has a public charter school for children with dyslexia. Almost every one of them has failed in a public school.
People don’t realise how dyslexia affects your confidence and how brutal it can be. People think you’re dumb, and you know you’re not. it’s just how your brain works.
I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s. Back then they didn’t even know what dyslexia was.
It would surprise you how many government and business leaders with dyslexia. Some people view it as a weakness, and maybe it is. What dyslexia forces you to do, you don’t go A, B, C, D, E… to Z. I can go A, B… Z with speed.
I think my dyslexia was a vital part of my development because my inability to read and write meant that I had to find knowledge elsewhere so I looked to the cinema.
Many people with dyslexia truly suffer, and their lives are worse off for having had that disability.
I found many ways around my dyslexia, but I still have trouble transforming words into sounds. I have to memorize and rehearse before reading anything aloud to avoid embarrassing myself by mispronouncing words.
I’ve got one grandson gone to MIT. Another grandson had been in the American school here. Because he was dyslexic, and we then didn’t have the teachers to teach him how to overcome or cope with his dyslexia, so he was given exemption to go to the American school. He speaks like an American. He’s going to Wharton.
You can be extremely bright and still have dyslexia. You just have to understand how you learn and how you process information. When you know that, you can overcome a lot of the obstacles that come with dyslexia.
I think my dyslexia was a vital part of my development because my inability to read and write meant that I had to find knowledge elsewhere so I looked to the cinema.
I have dyslexia, and I never did learn to read music, and I even had a problem in reading because everything was turned upside down, so I just had to draw from the lyrics and the voice that I would hear in my mind.
When nobody read, dyslexia wasn’t a problem. When most people had to hunt, a minor genetic variation in your ability to focus attention was hardly a problem, and may even have been an advantage. When most people have to make it through high school, the same variation can become a genuinely life-altering disease.
What I would tell a kid with ADHD and dyslexia or someone who struggles with anything in life is this: ‘When you put your mind to it, you can do anything.’
Dyslexia, though, made me realise that people who say ‘but you can’t do that’ aren’t actually very important. I don’t take ‘no’ too seriously.
I can’t remember a time when I stepped into an airport or train station without wishing I were somewhere else, doing almost anything else. Just thinking about traveling gives me the willies. Traveling and dyslexia don’t really get along.
I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was seven, and it was a bit of a struggle to begin with. It was a challenge as I began my school career – spelling and reading was something I couldn’t really get my head around.
In 1976, divorce could still raise eyebrows, as could a woman’s decision not to have children. Dyslexia wasn’t as commonly recognized then, and thus not treated as it is today.
It’s an individual waste and it’s an economic waste for Australia not to recognise dyslexia.
My father is Cuban. Spanish was my first language, but I don’t speak it that much anymore because I had dyslexia, and in school they work with you only in English. But I’m proud to be Latina, and most people don’t know I am.
I know that some girls look up to me for certain things, like dyslexia, and that way I know that they like me for me, so it adds no pressure.
Suddenly, everyone wanted to talk to me, it seemed. And not about my poetry: it was my dyslexia they were most interested in.
I didn’t do plays at school, because I didn’t have the confidence. At 14, I was at boarding school in Devon and I suffered from dyslexia quite badly, but they had a very good department there which specialised in it.
I’ve had such a hard time with dyslexia my whole life. When I was a child, I didn’t learn to read until I was a lot older, and I was behind in my classes; it was such a challenge.
I definitely have managed to overcome dyslexia now to become a fully functional human being but things were a lot more difficult when I was younger.
Whenever people talk about dyslexia, it’s important to know that some of the smartest people in the world, major owners of companies, are dyslexic. We just see things differently, so that’s an advantage. I just learn a different way; there’s nothing bad about it.
I was dyslexic before anybody knew what dyslexia was. I was called ‘slow’. It’s an awful feeling to think of yourself as ‘slow’ – it’s horrible.
Being asked to memorise a script in one day when you have dyslexia is the same as having a broken foot and being asked to dance. You have to make exceptions for it.
When people hear that I’m a neuroscientist, they ask me tough questions. ‘Will grandpa learn to walk again after his stroke?’ ‘How can my son overcome his dyslexia?’ ‘What could have caused my best friend to become schizophrenic?’ When I can’t give satisfying answers, they look disappointed – and I feel embarrassed.
Though my parents assured me over and over again that I wasn’t stupid or slow, I sensed that my dyslexia was now a stigma on all of us.
My wife has a public charter school for children with dyslexia. Almost every one of them has failed in a public school.
My dyslexia means I can’t read for long periods or the letters start moving around on the page, giving me headaches.
Ozzy has dyslexia.
I’m very proud of my dyslexia. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It sits absolutely with what I do, how I think, and who I am.
I feel dyslexia is a strong point in me now. I usually joke that it’s like a superpower – you only have it if you’ve got it!
In 1976, divorce could still raise eyebrows, as could a woman’s decision not to have children. Dyslexia wasn’t as commonly recognized then, and thus not treated as it is today.
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