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half-genius, half-wit |
An amazing and heartwarming story, to be sure. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-43700153 What a burden it must be in today's civilised world, not to be able to read. It must be difficult enough in a world where the written language has only twenty-six letters, but imagine what it must be like in places where the written language has many thousands of different shapes and sounds - any of the Chinese languages or Japanese, which has THREE different writing systems in daily use. Even worse is to imagine a person with a degree of brain damage, like my own daughter, who could not even copy down the letter K until her late teens - she just didn't see the 'shape' the way that most of us do. And Arabic, with its ornate cursive shapes and forms? Fergit it. Dyslexia, in ALL its forms, is a crippling syndrome, but as John has shown the world, it can be overcome. tac | ||
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Lost |
Very inspiring, and so true that dyslexia need not hold you back. A guy I used to work for, name of Charles Schwab, is dyslexic. So am I, to a small extant, due to a brain injury. | |||
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Do---or do not. There is no try. |
Eddie Shack, who played in the NHL from 1959 to 1975, was illiterate. He faked his way through school, dropped out early, and after he got married he’d take his wife along everywhere, including meetings with team management at contract signing time. He’d nonchalantly look at the document, hand it to her, point at part of a couple of pages, and say, “I think we might want to change this or that, what do you think?” She covered for him for decades. He finally decided after retiring that something needed to change, and he worked hard to make up for missing out all those years. He now says he can read and write “a little bit.” He does, however, make frequent public appearances at schools to promote literacy. Jacques Demers coached in the WHA and NHL for over 20 years and has been a member of the Canadian Parliament since 2009. He revealed in 2005 that he was functionally illiterate as a result of extreme abuse from his father as a child. He worked extremely hard to learn to read and write at a reasonable level, although he still needs assistance. Demers also spends a great deal of time promoting literacy programs. The teacher’s story and those of Shack and Demers are shining but all too rare examples of people who succeeded despite not having one of the most basic skills needed to survive and thrive in society. If there’s any single reason for those of us with even one spare evening a month to go volunteer at something, an adult literacy program would be a great place to start. | |||
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Too soon old, too late smart |
My wife had a little girl in her class one year that wanted to read, but just couldn’t. It broke my wife’s heart to not do anything more than watch the little girl wear out dozens of pencils laboriously copying pages and pages of words while hoping that it would somehow enable her to read like the other kids. | |||
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Bald Headed Squirrel Hunter |
Both of my boys are dyslexic. They were helped very early in their elementary education (kindergarten thru 5th Grade) and were taught skills that helped them vastly overcome this disability. They have both graduated college. One majored in music and is now a band director. He says that words still tend to jump around but sheet music with music notes have always been very easy for him to read and they don't move around at all! "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" | |||
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Member |
A woman I know has two daughters. One, as a child, loved to read but could not string the words together enough to understand a sentence. For nine months her parents took her to professional trainers, who worked with the daughter 6 hours a day. Now she reads perfectly, with no disability. Both daughters are now in their 20's. The one with the initial reading problem encounters typical life problems occasionally, but is never intimidated and overcomes them. So in many ways this reading problem ended up being an advantage. The other daughter, who had no problems growing up, is frustrated by the various obstacles that she encounters. This one easily gives up and says "it is too hard". -c1steve | |||
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Member |
There was a movie that starred Dennis Weaver as an illiterate man working as a supervisor. It was called "Bluffing It", and was released in 1987. I remember thinking at the time how hard it would be to make it without being able to read, but people find the way to persevere. | |||
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Member |
I was in the lowest reading “group” in elementary school. Definitely struggled. Got glasses at 10. They helped. Read “Ice Station Zebra” by Allister McClean in 8th grade. One book turned me on to reading. Still finished school as an average student. Enlisted, USN. Figured I was done with education. Then earned a B.S. in Education. Then a Masters degree. Then a D.Ed. Then I stopped. Keep plugging along. Sometimes you’ll surprise even yourself. | |||
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Facts are stubborn things |
I have Dyslexia. I didn't have a name for it until my sophomore year of high school. I could read. But it was a struggle. Math was my saving grace. For some reason numbers were always clear... My sophomore year of high school my grades in Biology were steadily declining. I remember the day my secret was revealed like it was yesterday. My teacher asked me to stay after class for a couple minutes. She told me she was going to call my parents that evening and discuss my work. I left class terrified. I spent all evening next to the phone. I had hatched a plan, phone rings, I answer and tell her my parents were not home and I would give them a message. She called, I answered, she told me she would call back. When my parents asked who called, I told them it was a wrong number. This pattern repeated itself twice. The fourth time, my Dad answered. I thought I was dead meat. I was hiding in my room when my parents came in, to my horror, I was not in trouble for my grades but my secret was out and it was my Biology teacher who knew and shared that knowledge with my parents. Apparently, she knew because her now adult son was the same way. She recommended my parents take me to a relatively new place in Charlotte, The Dore Academy for testing and tutoring that could help me. God bless that teacher. It is because of her I found a solution to my struggles. I graduated from High School. I earned a Bachelors Degree. I earned a Masters Degree. I am in the top 10% of wage earners in the United States. And to this day, it takes me a second to figure out if a d is a b or a d. Do, Or do not. There is no try. | |||
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