Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. In the U.S. alone, 20% of school-aged children and 40 million adults are dyslexic. Dyslexia is often mislabeled as a sign of low intelligence, laziness, or a symptom of visual or auditory impairments.
Dyslexia is an especially challenging disability for students, as 70 to 80 percent of students with poor reading skills are more than likely dyslexic. Students with inadequate reading skills often experience ongoing challenges in academic environments because full engagement and participation in learning environments often require reading fluency. Dyslexia can be a significant barrier to completing high school and especially college, as 62% of non-readers are likely to drop out of high school and 30% of children with dyslexia may also have ADHD or other learning disabilities.
Students with dyslexia have difficulties with decoding and encoding words. Typically this results from weak phonemic awareness that makes it difficult to hear the distinctions in sounds of language and connect sounds to letter combinations. While many think of dyslexia as a condition that causes people to read letters backwards, that is only one type of this reading difficulty. Students with dyslexia often experience poor pronunciation, limited oral reading fluency, spelling, and writing issues. Individuals with dyslexia have a different neurological makeup that causes their brains to receive and interpret information differently.
Famous Dyslexics
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein is one of the world’s most well-known mathematician and
physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity. In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize for physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. Albert Einstein is a dyslexic genius. One major misconception that people have about dyslexic people is that they have lower intelligence. He was able to accomplish all of his achievements and change the way people perceive dyslexia.
“Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st Vice President of the United States from 1974 to 1977, and previously as the 49th Governor of New York. Rockefeller claimed that later in life dyslexia helped him develop invaluable administrative skills.
“Don’t accept anyone’s verdict that you are lazy, stupid, or retarded. You may very well be smarter than most other children your age.” -Nelson Rockerfeller
Richard Branson
Richard Branson launched Virgin Records in the early 1970s, eventually building out Virgin Group. Richard, who struggled with dyslexia, had a hard time with educational institutions. He nearly failed out of the all-boys Scaitcliffe School, which he attended until the age of 13.
“I was dyslexic, I had no understanding of schoolwork whatsoever. I certainly would have failed IQ tests. And it as one of the reasons I left school when I was 15 years old. And if I – If I’m not interested in something, I don’t grasp it.” – Sir Richard Branson