Can you hear me calling Out your name

You know that I'm falling and I don't know what to say.

1. Dyslexia runs in my family...My aunt has it pretty significantly and in those days there were no learning specialists to support her so she struggled through school with a tremendous amount of shame... At 74, she still struggles.

2. Up until 12, I excelled at school…. mostly because it was a lot of memorization... but then it shifted and we started word problems... and I was completely lost.

3. Reading comprehension always was and still is very hard for me… Instructions that went, “Read the the following paragraph and answer the questions below” would make me panic… my heart would race, my mind would swim and I would become completely overwhelmed.

4. I specifically remember the last year in elementary school, we’d go round the room and read a paragraph out loud from the same book and I would count ahead and rehearse mine in my head… I'd be filled with trepidation and would be horrified if I’d miscalculated and was called upon to have to read out-loud the text that I hadn't prepared… I’d have to stumble my way through in front of the whole class, embarrassed and mortified and praying I sounded okay... not taking in a word of what I was saying… just hoping it'd be over as soon as possible.

5. Many of my school reports would come back, “She didn’t answer the question.” … but the truth was I genuinely thought I had.

6. I wasn’t formally diagnosed until my kids were tested. “Does your child fatigue when reading? Does your child have little or no comprehension of what was just read? Does your child have different spelling for the same word? Does your child have a hard time following a sequence of written steps?” OMG... yes.. yes… yes….YES.

7. And then in the process of their diagnosis, I received mine too... which made so much sense as I’ve compensated my whole life as way more right brained.

8. They always say surround yourself with people smarter than you… so thankfully I have amazing people on my team, who can think in a much more linear way than me.

9. Luckily we all come in different shapes and sizes and celebrating how each of us as unique is what its all about... and thank goodness for Audible.

10. I don’t care if people know I’m dyslexic… and can only hope that my kids find their calling in life that builds on their strengths so they feel good about themselves and their sense of self includes being dyslexic, but it doesn't define them for being anything less than... nobody's difference should be seen as anything less.