Wednesday, January 20, 2010

I Am Not Alone

On Monday night I met another dyslexic who's story was quite different from my own. Unlike me his dyslexia had been discovered early on. Well at least earlier than me. He was diagnosed in 8th grade and still reads at about a third grade level. He claims that he cannot read. He never received any special training or had much help in school. He did not even know that dyslexics are protected under the American's With Disabilities Act. I always thought that it was the non dyslexics that did not understand the disorder. I am finding more and more that most people in this country do not really know what dyslexia is all about, that there is training and there are laws that protect us.

I just finished my tutoring for my dyslexia. I cannot say that I am cured and I know that I never will be, but I know that it has helped greatly. I get retested on the 29th of this month so I will not know officially how much it has helped until then. But I can tell you that it has helped me read more efficiently and it has even helped my ability to read music.

I know that with knowledge comes responsibility to do something with it. I need to use what I have learned to help other people out there that are struggling to make the letters stop moving and to educate all the others about the gift of dyslexia. To all of you out there that struggle with this disability remember this; you are not alone and your voice will be heard.

2 comments:

  1. Dear Lizz -- Great Elizabeths must stick together!

    Congratulations to you for working so hard!

    No, dyslexia is never "cured", but people with dyslexia can learn to read and to read fluently.

    My darling daughter began remediation thirteen years ago. Her formal remediation continued for several years, and she continued to have accommodations for the effects in high school and college.

    She is considering an assistive technology device to help with the difficult reading in college. The story is here:

    http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2010/01/trying-out-texttovoice-readers.html

    The Intel Reader device was concieved of by an Intel engineer who is himself dyslexic.

    I wonder what you would think if you'd try one out yourself?

    The Universal Mom speaking: It took a bit of doing for me to find a device for my daughter to test-drive, so let me know if I can put you in contact with someone who can show you the device.

    Conflict of Interest Disclosure: to the best of my knowledge, I do not own stock in Intel or any other manufacturer of assistive technology devices.

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  2. oops -- I meant to subscribe to responses by email & forgot to click.

    Carry on.

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