Professional Experience and Personal Reflections
by Lisa Bowstead, Founder

PREVIOUS                                                                                                    NEXT

Another of My Heroes
Comes Out 
as Dyslexic
May 25, 2013

Last week, I stumbled across this video interview on the web.

When I describe it to my students, I just tell them that it's an interview with a man in his late 60s. I tell them of these highlights: 

Back in the 1950s, "I dreaded going to school."

Teachers "didn't quite understand why I was so behind the rest of the class in my reading skills." 

"...all they could do is assume that I wasn't studying hard enough, wasn't reading hard enough, that I was perhaps lazy."  

When I was a kid, "I wish I had somebody helping me to understand that there were many, many others like me." 

"I'm in a business right now where reading is very important." 

"I just know I'm still slow in reading, but I've learned to adjust."


When I tell this story to my students, their demeanor softens. They perceive this as a sad story. When I ask what they think, they talk about how their lives are just as hard. ... and frustrating. ... and demeaning.

             When I tell them who it is in the interview, 
they are speechless

...and my point has been made.

Re-read the quotes, above,
and think about them for a few minutes,
before you watch the interview: