Gifted Dyslexics
Thursday, July 8th, 2004
© 1997 Richard Wanderman
There has been lots of talk over the years about gifted dyslexics. The list includes Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and many others who have shown talent in diverse areas and were or are dyslexic. I get many requests from people wanting the complete list (as if it were compiled and held by some authority), and I can see how it might be motivating to see such a list. On the other hand, what does such a list prove or mean?
Many people would like to think that there is some correlation between being dyslexic and being gifted; as if having this particular kind of learning disability/difference means that there is a higher probability that you will be bright. It’s like a rebound from the correlation between being dyslexic and being stupid.
In asking these questions I am in no way saying that people who are dyslexic can’t be gifted or are always gifted; I’m questioning the seemingly automatic linking of the two.
First of all, what exactly is “bright” anyway? Fast? Horsepower? Horsepower expressed in what kinds of environments? I suggest anyone reading this who hasn’t read the essay What is Intelligence, Anyway? by Isaac Asimov should read that essay. It says a lot about this issue.
It certainly is possible and probable that people with certain kinds of learning styles that are marginalized by the culture end up doing what looks to the culture like creative “end runs” to achievement. Who knows, this may be the culture’s built-in way of changing through mutation: catapulting an Edison or someone of lesser stature into a place where they can get things done by calling their different learning style “creative.”
There is another question here: can we separate Edison and his achievements from the fact that he was dyslexic? Can we separate Stephen Hawking from the fact that he has ALS? Does Hawking’s having ALS make his achievements seem even more amazing? Did/does Edison’s having dyslexia make his achievements seem even more amazing? Or, maybe, the dyslexia is what made the achievements possible in the first place.
On the other hand, if you change the culture to the point where being dyslexic is not unusual and there is no cultural resistance, would an Edison be able to achieve as much?
Certainly in my case, a certain amount of energy has been spent proving that I am both dyslexic and not as dim as people thought. The question is, does the energy spent proving myself account for my (few) achievements?
It’s an interesting question.
As a dyslexic adult who’s not particularly gifted but is certainly performing better than anyone thought I would when I was younger, let me tell you that when you’re coming to terms with dyslexia, it’s nice to know that it is possible to be both dyslexic and smart. But after you’ve “come out” and are grown up and have a life, it really doesn’t matter. Why? Because when you’re older you have experience to reflect brightness (or lack of brightness).
What matters, with anyone, is what you do, not what you’re capable of doing. Yes, it might be nice to know that you’re capable of doing more than you are, but that knowledge alone might not be enough to prime your pump. You also have to do the hard work of doing.
Being smart does not assure that you will do anything with what you’ve got.
It’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you do with it.
I know many people who seem to have more “horsepower” upstairs than I do, but for one reason or another they’re not doing much with their lives. It doesn’t mean they’re not smart, but so what if they are?
Would you rather know you were smart but have no achievements, or achieve great things not knowing how smart you are?
Or, put another way, if they were mutually exclusive (they’re not, but just for argument’s sake), would you take the horsepower or the accomplishment, the knowledge that you could do something or the actual doing of something?
Horsepower isn’t all its cracked up to be. Doing things, on the other hand, is more important than most people believe it is.
Give me experience over horsepower any day of the week.
So back to Edison. It’s only in retrospect that we make an issue of his dyslexia. Why? Because he achieved something. But his achievements stand on their own. He was one of the greatest inventors ever, who happened to be dyslexic. To reverse this and say that if you’re dyslexic there’s a higher probability that you will invent things is ridiculous. On the other hand, when you do invent things and you happen to be dyslexic you’ll then know that you can be smart and creative and also dyslexic.
But, you have to do the inventing first.
After reading this article I have more questions than answers. The first question is if you were dyslexic do you see problems in a differnt context than do other without dyslexicia? If this were really the case then it would not be suprising for people with the condition to be considered gifted as they would not see the same solutions as everyone else to the same problems. To put it shortly they would naturally see outside the box all the time. I see this rationale as false due to the fact that people with dyslexicia are able to perform, with extra care, the same tasks, in the same fashion as people without dyslexicia. I think that having the condition is part of who they are not what defines, or sets them apart from those who don’t. It may make them unique, but certainly does not mean that they have the cornerstone to a different way of looking at a problem, nor does it make them better at solving said problem.
Joe, you hit the nail right on the head, thank you for a great comment.
I think many dyslexics do see outside the box more than ohters, but:
1. Seeing outside the box is not “gifted” it is simply seeing things from another perspective, an unusual perspective.
2. I think the reason “we” see outside the box is not giftedness but from having to struggle to find ways to learn that are not traditional. If you can’t do thinhgs one way you find another way. Learn how to do that a lot and you’re pretty much outside the box.
Thanks Joe, for bringing me back to thinking about this.
I am dyslexic and when you are talking about dyslexics you are missing the fact that basicly every grand achiever that gain public top recognition is dylexic. I belief that the key is dyslexics focus more on the imagination and therefor perception that occurs in the minds eye and less on the outside imagination that most people live in.
I may sound reluctant to your opinion, but lets face it basicly all inventions that made a great difference in the world are developed buy dyslexics.
I see a motion picture circulating, giving me answers and iformation if i have interpreted the received information in a correct manner, and helps me being intuative problem solver.
The world exist in a land of oppertunities, and unsought oppertunities are considered problems, fi they wouldn’t be created, nothing would be created.
Iam not saying that dyslexics are gifted buy god, but they possess a focus 80 or more%,that the rest of the poppulation doesn’t.
Thank you
Mikael: Not sure I agree that all the great acheivers were or are dyslexic. But, I would agree that many people with reading and writing problems have done great things in spite of having the problems. And, many people with reading and writing problems have become literate when many thought they could not. Thanks for weighing in on this stuff.
I have come to the realization that knowing you are dyslexic helps your self-esteenm a bit, but I feel the real triumph will be when people quit seeing dyslexics as something broken needing to be fixed. I personally don’t feel broken quite the opposite. The way we are viewed and treated is what needs “fixing” ……honestly if the school system wants to produce more successful students they should hire more dyslexic people to teach. I read a story one time that sums up how I feel… It was a freezing cold winter day 4 inches of snow had fallen and all of the kids were waiting outside the school. their was a set of steps in front and ramp to the side that needed shoveled before all the students could be let in. all the students were shivering and the little girl in the wheel chair made her way to the front to speak to the janitor in charge of clearing the stairs. she asked how long it would be, he politely but annoyed told her I have to get all these steps cleared to lo let the majority of the students through I’m sorry but I’ll get to the ramp as soon as I can. She looked at him with her innocent eyes and said sir…why don’t you shovel the ramp first then we can all get in.
Sincerely,
Heather W. (Ohio)
Heather: Nice. That ramp story kind of sums of the essence of “universal design” at least as I understand it.
Oddly enough, I appear to be on the other end of the spectrum. I am gifted. I’ve been in special programming throughout primary and secondary education. It’s only now, in my 20′s that I am being tested for dyslexia. And I just want to say that it works both ways. Kids who are diagnosed with dyslexia younger may have the resultant self esteem problems, but it’s just as confusing and disheartening not getting the help you need because you’re “smart”.
Erin: Absolutely. Were you labeled “gifted” early? What did that label mean to you?
Hi, I do not know whether I am dyslexic, but after reading about the symtoms I might be. I could drive A farm tractor when I was 4 yrs old , now I can’t drive,also could draw better then high school students{still can} and was the party in kindergarden. Then I could not read or write to say the least, and getting older it is getting worse.I am also lefthanded because my right hand is kind of bumbed, I do make up for it in sports so I can distract people, I also start sweeting because I think people are judging me, this takes up time when you think your being judged and can’t read very good.I am 37 and had an argument with a co worker about math for 20 minutes for a very easy question. Then finnally they said oh I see your doing it backwards,{this would explaian my troubles in math at school},I say I got the answer first then the question. So your guest is as good as mine. Oh, my uncle never learned to read or write. Bye.
Terry: I would suggest you make an investment in time and money and have yourself tested by a licensed psychologist who specializes in this kind of testing. The results of this test will give you a lot of information that, with the help of the psychologist can change your life.
if nothing else, a label for what’s been going on with you will help you feel better about yourself which will change many things, including the way you interact with others.
Thanks for taking the time to post a comment here and if there’s anything I can do to help you, as a fellow dyslexic adult who spent much of his life also not feeling very good about himself, let me know.
Richard, you and I have travelled similar paths. I was an adult when diagnosed with a math learning disability, dysgraphia, and ADHD. I was also involved in ACLD before it became LDA, and was the state chairman for the Adult Section of ACLD of Utah in 1984. I also found a way to get fixed by going back to the University of Utah, where I got to use my first computer in the Disabled Student Offices, and the support courses that I took to get me ready for modern education in 1984. Once I got that Apple IIe cranked up, I was an instant writer, and have had a 3.5 gpa ever since. Now, after 20 years as a Resource Specialist, I have a Master’s in Education Administration, and I’m ready to rock that world from the inside. Assistive Technology Practitioner certificate in hand, I plan to change the way that many of my own kind of human being are treated in public education settings (although I have been including computers in education of my students from the beginning), now I’ll get it going big time. It’s good to see that you’ve done well for yourself, and I now feel vindicated in having kept after this particular aspect of our society’s myopic view of those who are different. I have made fun of normal people for a long time, but now I will open their eyes to a larger view of normal, and hope that makes my life’s journey worth it. Sad that persons as intelligent and capable as you and I have to spend their whole careers tilting at these windmills, huh? But that’s how societies improve. Oh, by the way, I’m gifted as well, but what the heck, don’t hold that against me, ok?
Richard (nice name): wow, great to hear from you, thanks so much for taking the time to comment here.
Two things:
Sometimes resistance, like we’ve faced in our lives, can shape positive outcomes. In other words, take away the resistance and it’s possible that neither of us would have pushed hard enough to have done what we did. So, it may not be such a shame that we’ve had to work hard to overcome obstacles, many pioneers do the same and it helps focus their energy.
I’m not gifted, although because I operate a higher level than people think someone like me ought to operate on I’m many times mistaken for gifted. Maybe that’s another more useful definition of “gifted,” god knows the one used most often (IQ) is totally meaningless.
Richard, if you’d like to do an autobiographical piece for this web site, I’d be honored to publish it. Just expand on the comment above, build a timeline and tell your story and comment along the way. I know there are many folks out there would would love to read it. Let me know:
richard at gmail.com
I’d be happy and honored. I’ll work something up, and send it to you.
Rich
Fantastic Richard, I look forward and no rush, take your time. Thanks.
research needs to be done into this subject and educational authorities need to take action, I’m a dyslexic and I don’t know about anybody else but I’ve never really had a real problem with learning anything, fine I made silly mistakes as a child but jesus, what do these people expect from a child? it’s like a production line of employees in school…anyhow, that’s besides the point, what i believe is the whole system is flawed, the way people are raising their children, what they’re being taught, that is the real problem, look at yourselves everybody, and turn on the tv for half an hour and look back as far as you can and just try and remember what you thought the world would be like and how it turned out, dyslexia is the cause of a disappointed over-active imagination and also other people’s ignorance about different learning styles of people, if everybody is not the same then why does everybody have to be educated in the same manner? like a mental slave, just born to work, procreate and die. there is something very wrong with the world and if people don’t see, I must be crazy.
“if everybody is not the same then why does everybody have to be educated in the same manner?”
Amen H. Well said.
So interesting. As the stepmother of a “gifted” dyslexic, I am trying very hard to learn more about the subject. Although I adore my ten year old stepdaughter, we get along wonderfully, I really have some trepidation about the term gifted. She goes to a wonderful school that specializes in gifted dyslexics, but I wonder how far that goes. Her mother is quite knowledgable about the subject and volunteers at her school, but when does the issue of “caring” for a dyslexic child go to far? Her parents sometimes make me feel like a bit of a Nazi because I make her tie her own shoes and make her attempt to read things on her own before I help her. ( which I always, happily, do.) Although I realize that she needs special attention, I fear her constantly being reminded of her specialness may actually cause problems as she becomes an adult. An opposite effect to that of Edison or Einstein, perhaps. Maybe I am over analyzing the situation, but I do care for her, very much, and would appreciate your feedback, seeing as you seem to have a more objective eye than others on this situation.
Esme: You have exactly the right attitude and your position is a tough one.
There are issues between birth mother and step mother on top of or underneath the issues related to a “special” child.
There are issues of enabling built into any parent/child relationship and there is always a tension between pushing them to work through problems and helping them (a little or a lot).
Then there’s the issue of “gifted” and how that affects all of this. I can tell you from my experience that in many cases parents who parade around this term are doing it at least partly as a defense mechanism from having to talk about the “dyslexic” part where the child is having problems.
In other words, it’s easier to say: “my child is having problems because they’re a genius” than “my child is having problems because they have a language based learning disability or difference.”
As I think I allude to in my writing about this, how does one know where the normal difficulty of learning new things ends and the abnormal difficulties associated with learning disabilities begin? It’s tough for both parents and the child to know this. It’s even tough for developmental psychologists to know this with any certainty.
Too much enabling makes it even more difficult to see this line because parents step in too early to make things easier for struggling kids.
And, these days there is a phenomena that educators talk about called “helicopter parents” where parents are too involved in their children’s educational activities attempting to help them do better but in fact, getting in the way of teachers attempting to figure out how to teach the child. Amazingly, the most difficult helicopter parents have been given the name “Blackhawks” because those are attack helicopters.
So, to sum, you’re in a tough situation which you already seem to realize and it sounds to me like you’ve got the right ideas about how to handle it. You have to live with this stepdaughter and you have to be true to yourself and your values; you’re not a conduit for her mother’s ideas and values but at the same time, you have to acknowledge those so you don’t put the child in a tougher position than she’s in already.
Happy Holidays to you and I wish you the best of luck in this common but difficult situation. I’m here to support you as I can and i know others here will do the same.