Dyslexia And Understanding It
In his reflection of his younger days, David Raymond shows us the struggles of what it was like to be a teen who was smart, but still lacking the basic educational skills. It was all because of a disorder called Dyslexia. Mr. Raymond's story taught me to value what gifts of life we have and moved me to try to understand better the conditions of the people around me. As the old saying goes, "Never judge a book by it's cover." This is important because contrary to common thought David wasn't stupid, he was just restricted in his capability to learn to read. A report in CBS News describes it as "a debilitating condition in which letters are scrambled, words are blurred, and reading is difficult, if not impossible." Most people with Dyslexia actually have an average and even an above-average intelligence. However, they cannot learn to read the way most people learn and so they may be viewed as dumb and often underestimated. What may look as easy material to read for everybody else may be very confusing for a Dyslexic. To help others better understand his condition he inserts an example of what an excerpt of what Moby Dick might look like to him and others with Dyslexia:
It is a thiug uot nucommonly happeuiug to the whale-doats iu those swarming seas; the sharks timesaqqareutly following them iu the same qrescieut way that vnltnres hover over the danners of marchiug regimeuts in the east.
In his story "On Being Seventeen, Bright-and Unable to Read" David recalls an account of a teacher who didn't understand his difficulties and thought of him as a trouble-maker for refusing to read for the class. For his unwillingness to cooperate he had to talk to the teacher after class. Often we choose not to read even though we can, however David couldn't because of his condition. It is truly an embarrassing situation for anyone with such difficulties as his own. Some people are not accustomed to Dyslexics, but as David Raymond said "she (referring to his teacher) was...
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