I'd like to begin by acknowledging German ophthalmologist Rudolf Berlin who coined the word Dyslexia back in 1882. I'm British, so I have an appreciation for dark, twisted and sarcastic humor. Oh, the irony of giving people who can't spell, such a word. On a more darker note If you dissect Dyslexia it comes from the Greek word Dys meaning 'difficult' and Lexis meaning 'reading.' Like most things in society, this is only a half-truth and negates the vast, multifaceted brilliance of the dyslexic mind. Even today with our extensive knowledge of the human brain we are still labeling dyslexia as a 'learning disability.'
I have this 'disability/difficulty' as society likes to define. I've battled with concealing this perceived difference my whole life. Mainly through my own fears of being different and the feelings of shame and low self-worth one accumulates, through an extremely floored education system. However the more love and support I gave my inner child the more I wanted her to have a voice. I wanted that little girl who could never get her teachers to see her, to know that what the world is defining as a difficulty, was what made her unique. Why are we not calling Dsylxia what it is a 'Unique Processing Skills'. We could even use the acronym of UPS; you see we would remember UPS because we could relate it to an image in our mind. In my head right now I see a UPS parcel person delivering me a gift, and that's what my mind is a gift. However the English language was never designed for empowering the masses, it's a language of commerce, but that's another blog for another day.
What I describe is the all to often story of those with 'Unique Processing Skills.' Like many whose brains are different, I spent my entire childhood feeling like an outsider struggling through school always trying hard, but never quite making it. A feeling of never being good enough lingered in my shadow. I felt defeated in life before I had begun because whatever I did it was never good enough. I spent so many of my school years listening to my English teacher repeatedly tell me to use a dictionary, but you see a dictionary is no good when you don't know the second letter. The school system is failing these children, and our massed produced one size fits all curriculum, could be overlooking some great talent and minds.
One of my more light-hearted memories of my school years is when I eagerly presented my school work to my teacher. It was a design of a natural sweets range for The Body Shop, which was my favorite store as a child, oh I can smell The White Musk as I write. That's another thing dyslexic children are always told off for, daydreaming. I mean why you would tell a child off for being in their imagination, its one of our most potent tools. Right back to the story when she asked ‘what is Sruwberies' in a firm voice. I answered " You asked me to make something up Ms, so I made up a fruit too'.' she laughed and replied ‘you, child should be a politician.' I was seven at the time, and I could think on my feet and around my teacher's criticism, I was a pretty smart kid. That was my first insight into seeing I was a little different from my classmates. However, I was incredibly talented at concealing my struggles at school, at college, at university, in the corporate world and when I lived in South America and could only ever pick up the odd words of Spanish. I was terrified of not being like everyone else, until now.
For every child, teenager and adult who is struggling with processing information differently, I'm going to tell you why you are brilliant, marvelous and incredible. I want to shine a big beacon of light on your hidden treasures within.
TREASURE ONE- WE THINK IN PICTURES
I LOVE that we think in pictures. It is wonderful living in a mind full of images. As I mentioned, I spent a couple of years working with a plant medicine called Ayahuasca, in the Peruvian jungle. Its a little bit of a controversial topic for many reasons, which I'll write about at a later date. What I loved about Ayahuasca is, she spoke to me in my language- pictures and an often convoluted storyline, which my dyslexic mind relished to dissect and loved to connect. I often wonder if hallucinogenics could be the future for not only helping those with dyslexia but allowing them to thrive.
TREASURE TWO - GOOD SPATIAL KNOWLEDGE
I mentioned that we think in pictures, well those pictures we can turn 3D. Many people with dyslexia demonstrate better skills at manipulating 3D objects in their mind. Many of the world's top architects and fashion designers have dyslexia.
"I performed poorly at school – when I attended, that is – and was perceived as stupid because of my dyslexia. I still have trouble reading. I have to concentrate very hard at going left to right, left to right, otherwise my eye just wanders to the bottom of the page."
Tommy Hilfiger
TREASURE THREE- THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX /PROBLEM-SOLVING
We have an intuitive way of solving problems. When we look like we are daydreaming, we are letting our brains hit neutral. When our minds are in the neutral mode, we allow the connections to begin, and this is where you will see unique approaches and insights into problem-solving appear from nowhere.
We need to give dyslexic people the space to do this. I've lost count of the number of teachers that would tell me to "get my head out of the clouds" or "you're away with the fairy's."
TREASURE FOUR - READING OTHERS AND EMPATHY
Last year I was on a course where the teacher in front of the whole group decided to tell me "you're away with the fairies' that old chestnut came into my mind. The shame and embarrassment of my childhood flooded back as they ridiculed me in front of the class. At that point in my life, I was going through some internal emotional distress, so I wasn't in the place to be doing a course, but I was adult now, and no way was I going to pay for public criticism, so I walked away.
I had a lot of empathy for this individual as I could see they were projecting a lot of their issues, as I listened to them countless reminiscing stories of their past student's failings and shortcomings. Rather than coming from a curious mind, this teacher's critical part was trying to dance with my lack of self-love part. Luckily I had enough sense of SELF, compassion, and courage to walk away from this situation.
It's a beautiful trait of the dyslexic mind we almost have x-ray vision for what others are feeling. We can empathise well with people because we know what it feels like to be criticised continuously and to be consistently failing, we grew up with it.
TREASURE FIVE- FINDING THE ODD ONE OUT
We are such visual creatures that we have a natural knack for being able to spot things that are out of place. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has been researching how the Dyslexic mind can memorise and identify complex images. Which is a beneficial skill when analysing enormous amounts of visual data and accurately and finding black hole anomalies.
TREASURE SIX- PATTERN RECOGNITION
This natural knack for spotting things that are out of place means, we can detect a pattern. We can interconnect and form complex visual systems and identify similarities and sequences, a useful skill in the field of science and mathematics.
"I recognized that I had dyslexia and then I realized I had this gift for imaging. I live in a world of patterns and images, and I see things that no one else sees. Because of dyslexia, I can see these patterns."
"You can't overcome it (dyslexia); you can work around it and make it work for you, but it never goes away. That's probably a good thing, because if dyslexia went away, then the other gifts would go away too."
Beryl Benacerraf, M.D., Physician. World-renowned radiologist and expert in ultrasound.
TREASURE SEVEN- SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE
The whole world is mathetics and if we connect the treasures above it might explain why we view the world in such a holistic way. Sometimes we see the entire Amazon rainforest but might miss the tree.
"It's as if people with dyslexia tend to use a wide-angle lens to take in the world,
while others tend to use a telephoto, each is best at revealing different kinds of detail."
Matthew H. Schneps, Harvard University
TREASURE EIGHT- BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURS
Did you know that one in three American entrepreneurs have dyslexia?
Entrepreneurs like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs and Charles Schwab were all dyslexic.
I believe its the creative out of box thinking that gives a dyslexic a flair for business and a competitive edge. I also intuitively feel that we get used to failing, we've been failing our whole life. When we enter the world of business the knockbacks and harsh criticism of a tough marketplaces don't affect us in the same way, we think of another way around.
I was lucky in my life that I had a good support network around me. The education system failed to support me, but my parents did not. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for many and under supported dyslexic people are 200x times more likely to commit suicide than their non-dsylexic counterparts.
If any teachers are reading this, please remember you have one of the most critical jobs in society, and I thank you, you help shape and mould our little peoples' minds. Our children absorb so much; please fill that sponge with love, care, and respect.
We have an opportunity every day to shape our future timeline, whatever struggles you are facing, love them, honor them and hold them as you would a child. You are perfect just the way you are!
BE Excellent, Be More, BE YOU.
Ana- Stasia xx
