I’m not dumb. But, if I’m being honest, I have frequently
felt dumb throughout most of my life (mostly when it came to school).
However, I am not “dumb;” I am dyslexic. And unfortunately, if you
aren’t familiar with what dyslexia actually is, it can be difficult to
tell the difference.
I was told I was dyslexic my senior year of high school (you know, after 12 or so years of feeling like I was stupid, doing poorly on tests, and just struggling through school in general), but no one ever really explained what exactly that meant. I mean, until yesterday I thought having dyslexia only explained why I sometimes mix up my numbers and letters. I’m so glad that I randomly thought to read up on the topic a bit, because…HOLY.SHIT. I could hardly believe all the ways in which dyslexia can affect your life!
Before I go any further, I want to say that, like most things, dyslexia can affect people differently, and obviously I am only speaking on behalf of my own experiences.
I had no idea that some of my weird little “quirks” could be explained by my dyslexia. For example, I have always been teased (sometimes more playfully than others) for the way I tell stories. I tend to describe every single detail, more or less, and the story takes forever to be told. And despite being teased about this for years (which has really bothered me at times), I still sometimes find it nearly impossible to just summarize a story.
Another big “quirk” of mine is that I have a difficult time organizing my thoughts in conversation. If you’ve watched any of my vlogs, I’m rather positive you’ve heard me say, “What are words?” after messing or mixing up a sentence or saying the wrong form of a word. As I’m sure you can imagine, that gets extremely frustrating. It makes me feel dumb, confused, and is overly frustrating because I KNOW that I know how to speak or “do words,” as I’ve also probably mentioned in my vlogs, you know?
But, the thing is, I AM NOT DUMB! And reading about dyslexia and being able to explain these “quirks” is beyond fantastic. It’s such a tremendous relief. I mean, so what if I tend to transpose my words and mix up my sentences (saying things like “mawn lower” instead of “lawn mower”)?! Who cares if I have a difficult time comprehending what I’m reading or following a set of directions?! Okay, well, that last one could get tricky in certain situations…lol. But I think you see my point. I absolutely loath idioms because I have an extremely difficult time understanding them and that isn’t because I’m “dumb,” it’s because I have dyslexia…and knowing the difference feels pretty awesome right now.
I was told I was dyslexic my senior year of high school (you know, after 12 or so years of feeling like I was stupid, doing poorly on tests, and just struggling through school in general), but no one ever really explained what exactly that meant. I mean, until yesterday I thought having dyslexia only explained why I sometimes mix up my numbers and letters. I’m so glad that I randomly thought to read up on the topic a bit, because…HOLY.SHIT. I could hardly believe all the ways in which dyslexia can affect your life!
Before I go any further, I want to say that, like most things, dyslexia can affect people differently, and obviously I am only speaking on behalf of my own experiences.
I had no idea that some of my weird little “quirks” could be explained by my dyslexia. For example, I have always been teased (sometimes more playfully than others) for the way I tell stories. I tend to describe every single detail, more or less, and the story takes forever to be told. And despite being teased about this for years (which has really bothered me at times), I still sometimes find it nearly impossible to just summarize a story.
Another big “quirk” of mine is that I have a difficult time organizing my thoughts in conversation. If you’ve watched any of my vlogs, I’m rather positive you’ve heard me say, “What are words?” after messing or mixing up a sentence or saying the wrong form of a word. As I’m sure you can imagine, that gets extremely frustrating. It makes me feel dumb, confused, and is overly frustrating because I KNOW that I know how to speak or “do words,” as I’ve also probably mentioned in my vlogs, you know?
But, the thing is, I AM NOT DUMB! And reading about dyslexia and being able to explain these “quirks” is beyond fantastic. It’s such a tremendous relief. I mean, so what if I tend to transpose my words and mix up my sentences (saying things like “mawn lower” instead of “lawn mower”)?! Who cares if I have a difficult time comprehending what I’m reading or following a set of directions?! Okay, well, that last one could get tricky in certain situations…lol. But I think you see my point. I absolutely loath idioms because I have an extremely difficult time understanding them and that isn’t because I’m “dumb,” it’s because I have dyslexia…and knowing the difference feels pretty awesome right now.
