by Phil
(Melbourne, Australia)
I discovered that I am dyslexic at 44 years of age and all of a sudden my whole life makes more sense.
Despite many challenges at school where my teachers could not believe how bad I was at spelling or that I had actually tried to read the books despite not knowing a thing about the book afterwards, i later managed to complete a university Physics degree. This was not an easy task as i could not remember anyting I read from a text book. Fortunately I had a few very good lecturers who taught me in a style that worked for me. When taught well, I grasped the concepts quickly.
Sadly I did not work in science as I did not have the self confidence when i graduated to work amongst my peers, but i found an opening working in the music industry producing and engineering records and subsequently discovered I had a gift for technical production and critical listening. I have worked in music now for 20 years and currently have the pleasure of working with some of the best musicians going around.
My sound engineering skills also got me a job recording talking books for people with print disabilities. This work has been an enormous blessing for me as I have now spent many years listening to audio books while reading along as the technician as the book is recorded. This has helped my reading enormously. I now also manage the audio library and studios which produce the books. The irony is that I have spent the last 20 years working to help other people with Print Disabilities while my own Print Disability (dyslexia) went un diagnosed.
Dyslexia is one of the biggest causes of print disability (about 5 times more than vision impairment) so organisations who supply audio books free for people with print disabilities will generally supply dyslexics. Many countries around the world have organisations like this and Audio books are a fantastic help!!
I would not change being dyslexic for the world as in spite of the many challeneges I have faced, it defines who I am in so many ways and i like that.
The abilities that I have which are due to the way my brain works being dyslexic far out way the 'disability'.