Inside the Mind of a Dyslexic

For a dyslexic person, everyday life is full of surprises. We have to literally rediscover everything around us simply because we have forgotten it overnight, unsurprisingly. Have you ever woke up and wondered about what day is today? Yes,  OK… but probably not just because you are trying to overcome sleep inertia but because you can’t remember the days of the week (really?). Oh, and not to mention the word “daily routine,” a prevalent notion among regular people, an excellent way to make worth most of your time, and a practical invention to get things done by placing every usual task inside a 24/7 loop calibrated to your needs. Much work to do, people! All this thing seems to need lots (lots) and lots of organizational skills. This prerequisite was practically nonexistent during our childhood when things were easygoing because our constant struggle for everything requiring focus was perceived as one more growth leap waiting to reach a significant life-changing milestone before our teenage years.

Thinking Differently is not a Disability

You may think it is a matter of laziness, but gratefully it’s not! For dyslexic learners, the degree of achievement springs from motivation. For everything. Otherwise, there is no need to remember useless information, as long as the place for storage in our brain will end up to be our precious Working Memory, which although it is a fast processor, rarely recalls whatever is designated as a standard. Why you have to nominate specific parameters as standard, though? How can you remember all those totally unrelated rules-of-thumb and why all things have to be done in the well-known strictly unbreakable manner? Unless the “useless thing” happens some time to become captured to a casual synesthetic event or even better to be considered as a door that opens a level of achievement. It’s true that we really need a strong reason to engage in almost every activity.

As dyslexics, we can become passionate about everything that is happening around. We can catch the vibes of a complex melody, distinguish the finest nuances of colors and notice tiny details of a painting. Give us the big picture, explain the concept and allow our mind to reveal the connections even between the most random notions. But not for too long. Easy boredom and decision fatigue are conquered with hyper-focusing and spontaneity. Acting on impulse in front of many options is a frequent challenge for us to deal with. However, a popular alternative is to give up and simply run. And no looking back. Indifference? No! Forgetfulness. I have already pointed out this quality of us. Entire events from our life can become deleted together with the taste they left as they were passing by. Wonderful! No worries!

The Dyslexic Way

For a dyslexic, there is only one way to do something: The dyslexic way. Everything is reversed. Always picking the other end of the story and tracking towards the beginning. What an excellent method to learn physics, don’t you think? As solid visual thinkers, any random notion or visual stimulus can trigger a deep and long brainstorming. The right timing to catch up with a new project. That’s the easy part. The rest is up to how much enthusiasm and immediate reward implies the issue. The excitement of a fresh start outweighs the hidden obstacles until the time of delayed gratification. No plans, no strategy, no time schedule. Just eyes on the prize (for as long as it is considered to be worthwhile). Given that, we can’t stand judgment.  Later in life, we struggle not to take the so-called “constructive criticism” personally without feeling so discouraged that we wouldn’t try to get better.

Better tell us what to avoid than what we should do. Point out the general idea of what you want us to do by emphasizing the most essential parts of the story, avoiding too much descriptive language (it’s so confusing to listen, although we use it quite frequently because we have a hard time retaining specific terms). Struggling to recruit positive attention often goes unnoticed because it is hindered by lots and lots of blunders, mostly considering simple tasks, letting our fellows and teachers no choice for any type of positive reinforcement towards ourselves.

But here is the paradox: most dyslexics perform excellent with complex tasks labeled with “Instructions Not Included” (a real relief!). But, on the other hand, everything that comes into a multi-page document form is fearfully rejected as a definite source of imminent dismay and frustration. By the time a dyslexic person becomes passionate about a specific cause, everything goes by heart. Dyslexics always feel free to dive in deep waters as there is nothing to interfere with imagination, visual thinking, and plenty of time. Time! The third most scary notion after the words “instructions” and “writing.” Suppose, for most neurotypical individuals, time is mind-pictured as a simple, cute dial indicator in dyslexic peoples’ minds. In that case, it flows as an unreasonable, surrealistic set of numbers destined to ruin the meaning of life. This is a significant truth, by the way.

Procrastination is not the proper term to describe the amount of time a dyslexic needs to enter the subject. It takes much time to get involved in things because we juggle between perfectionism and deficient literacy skills. A dyslexic is always eager to learn and tirelessly seeks out new challenges. They try to approach inventing functional methods to overcome reading disabilities. Dyslexia is not a reversible condition and has no relapses and remissions. If you have it, you should learn to deal with the symptoms and make the most of its advantages. Just dig a little more into the science of persistence, and you’re done. Creativity, unbiased thinking, and inventiveness combined with social, artistic, and hands-on skills put together make up much more than the fixed mindset to which most people stick to. Lucky to know that for you, these are essential qualities that you can cultivate through your efforts. The people’s true potential is not always obvious. Look for people who will challenge you to grow and who can discern all those qualities.

20 Dyslexia Sayings and Quotes to Inspire You

• An incredibly high percentage of successful entrepreneurs are dyslexic. That’s one of the little-known facts. – By Malcolm Gladwell
• Dyslexia is a neurological issue, not a character flaw. – By James Redford
• Dyslexia is not a pigeonhole to say you can’t do anything. It is an opportunity and a possibility to learn differently. You have magical brains; they just process separately. Don’t feel like you should be held back by it. – By Princess Beatrice
• Dyslexia is not due to a lack of intelligence; it’s a lack of access. It’s like, if you’re dyslexic, you have all the information you need but find it harder to process. – By Orlando Bloom
• Dyslexia is the affliction of a frozen genius. – By Stephen Richards
• Dyslexia isn’t a disease. It’s a Community. – By Ben Foss
• Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life thinking it’s stupid. – By Albert Einstein
• I had to train myself to focus my attention. I became very visual and learned how to create mental images to comprehend what I read. – By Tom Cruise, Actor
• I cannot spell. Have never been able to. I do not pay attention to spelling and mix letters. – By Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway
• I said, ‘I’m going to the United States to study with Stella Adler and do movies because nobody here has done it, and my passion is films.’ But I came here, and I didn’t speak English, I didn’t have a green card, I didn’t know I had to have an agent, I couldn’t drive, I was dyslexic. – By Salma Hayek
• If children can’t learn the way we teach, then we have to teach the way they learn. – By Robert Buck
• If you are dyslexic, your eyes work fine, your brain works fine, but there is a little short circuit in the wire that goes between the eye and the brain. Reading is not a fluid process. – By Caitlyn Jenner
• If you have kids who are struggling with dyslexia, the greatest gift you can give them is the sense that nothing is unattainable. With dyslexia comes a very great gift, which is the way that your mind can think creatively. – By Orlando Bloom
• Science has moved forward at a rapid pace so that we now possess the data to reliably define dyslexia … For the student, the knowledge that he is dyslexic is empowering … [It provides him] with self-understanding and self-awareness of what he has and what he needs to do in order to succeed. – By Sally Shaywitz
• Some people read really fast, but you’ll ask them questions about the script, and they’ll forget. I take a long time to read a script, but I read it only once. I directed a movie, and I never brought the script to the set. – By Salma Hayek, Actress
• The advantage of dyslexia is that my brain puts information in my head in a different way. – By Whoopi Goldberg
• The biggest problem with dyslexic kids is not the perceptual problem; it is their perception of themselves. That was my biggest problem. – By Bruce Jenner
• The one advantage of being dyslexic is that you are never tempted to look back and idealize your childhood. – By Richard Rogers
• Understanding our children’s frustrations with dyslexia and giving them the tools to blossom will provide them with the confidence to reach their true potential. We can help our children channel their interests and talents and ignite the passion within. – By Carolina Frohlich
• When a child knows that he or she is dyslexic, that it’s the way their brain is programmed, and it’s not their fault, that makes all the difference in the world. – By Philip Schultz
• When someone helping you gets frustrated, don’t let them. Take a step back because you can’t learn anything under pressure. And don’t worry about the label [dyslexia]! – By Erin Brockovich