In Gratitude for Dyslexia

In Gratitude for Dyslexia

It isn’t a gift. It’s an inherited brain function that cannot be treated. With good management and early intervention one can learn to stickhandle around it so that it is not experienced as a lifelong handicap.

I am not grateful for it, but ingratitude is not useful and only adds to the many complexities. So I am stuck with the limitations but have developed creative, ingenious strategies to slip around the learning difficulties. I can then be selectively successful, like telling stories instead of giving learned lectures on theoretical issues. Spelling? Spellcheck is a stroke of magic.

Dyslexia has made me develop creative impulsivity in solving mechanical problems in the woodworking shop, in designing and constructing stained glass widows and lamps. I have learned to trust myself in designing furniture in my head without making drawings and having real success in building useful items for the family.

Accepting laborious reading, and avoiding reading aloud in public, has made slowly plowing through novels and short essays into satisfying experiences.

I have discovered that I learn best by experience, by doing things first and then reading about the theory that explains what I just accomplished.

Empathy for people experiencing crisis or relationship difficulties has come easily, as well as not making judgments of them or their circumstances. Concentrating on my own strengths and capabilities has been helpful, in the same way that it has been helpful in empathically understanding people facing difficult times.

Yes, in fact, I am grateful for my version of dyslexia. It has become an integral part of my life and has set the stage for my failures as well as my successes.