| That's a good question and it makes me think - | | | | not to whatever it is that they are meant to be |
| because being dyslexic is normal for me; I've | | | | referring to. |
| always been dyslexic, and I don't know any other | | | | What I mean is, whereas the Chinese symbol for |
| way. I don't know what 'normal' is. | | | | 'mountain' actually looks like a mountain, the |
| For years I thought I was 'normal' - although | | | | squiggles called 'letters' bear no similarity to a high |
| perhaps a little stupid, or maybe just 'dumb'. I | | | | hill at all. This might not be a problem to you, but |
| knew I was always a little behind the eight-ball, I | | | | I'm dyslexic, and that means that I think in |
| didn't understand what the teacher was talking | | | | pictures, and with these 'letter' things, I don't get |
| about, and couldn't 'pay attention' to the | | | | the picture at all. I don't know what you see |
| classroom situation, but with enough effort, huge | | | | when you open a book, but the first thing I see is |
| concentration, and a degree of canny strategizing | | | | flashes of lightening jumping all over the page. |
| I got through. | | | | When my primary school teacher asked what I |
| Being dyslexic is usually associated with having | | | | meant, I drew a line where the lightening went, |
| reading and writing difficulties, and that is certainly | | | | and she said that it followed the gaps between |
| the case for me. Eventually, somewhere round | | | | the words down the page. I said yes, this is the |
| about my 10th birthday I figured I had mastered | | | | same as the ladders in 'Snakes and Ladders', and I |
| the art of 'reading' and became an avid reader - | | | | always hit the bottom. |
| for the next three days. Finally I gave up | | | | The same teacher asked me why I like to draw |
| exhausted, having read my first book five or six | | | | a line around my page, and I told her it is not a |
| times - up to page six - and eventually realizing | | | | line, but an electric fence - like on our farm - to |
| that although I could read, and say each word, I | | | | stop the words, and my eyes, from wandering |
| had no idea what they meant, or what the book | | | | off the page. I was not allowed to draw my lines |
| was about. Now, as an adult, I will happily dig your | | | | on school reading books, and that made reading |
| garden or mow your lawn in preference to | | | | too hard - the words wouldn't stay still long |
| reading a book. | | | | enough for me to work them out, and they kept |
| 'Dyslexia' is about language, and about not being | | | | jumping from one line to another. The teacher put |
| able to do language well. Difficulty with reading is | | | | a blank card under the line I was reading, and that |
| only one part of being dyslexic - but let's explore | | | | helped - but they wouldn't let me do it at college. |
| that for a moment. As a dyslexic, I know that | | | | Now, as an adult with my laptop, I can finally |
| words are the things that come out of your | | | | write (neatly what's more) because the computer |
| mouth - and into your ears. The things in books, | | | | puts all the bits in the right place. I know I can't |
| or in the newspaper are not really words at all - | | | | get a computer to read for me, but the |
| they are just pictures of words, they are things | | | | interesting thing is, comics work really well for me |
| to remind you of the words that you can say | | | | because all the pictures are there and I can see |
| and hear. The really hard part is that they are | | | | exactly what the message is. I can even read the |
| made up of squiggles - black marks on white | | | | words in comics - and this is because they are all |
| paper - and these things have no recognizable | | | | in square letters or capitals, which people like me |
| resemblance to anything real at all; and especially | | | | find easier to understand. |