“It is hard to speak and look like I understand everything around me, but when I look at numbers or words and I read them out loud, people make fun of me because I’m wrong and they think it’s just a mistake I made, but I was embarrassed to say I am dyslexic.”
Literacy is part of the common core curriculum in many schools across the US. However, with the importance and push for students to excel, it makes it even more difficult for students to feel like they are ‘good enough’ to be in school. Statistically, “70-80% of people with poor reading skills are likely dyslexic. One in five students, or 15-20% of the population, has a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia is the most common of the language-based learning disabilities”( https://www.dyslexiacenterofutah.org/Statistics).
With an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), many students with dyslexia still find it hard to analyze text in the way that the nation requires or wants the students to achieve. When a student has a minor form of dyslexia, they are usually given exams that are not formatted for them, at least this was the case for a Hayley*.
Hayley has a minor form of dyslexia that makes it difficult to read numbers and bigger words, but she was not given an IEP because it was looked upon as it being “normal” to not be able to read ‘big’ words and numbers. However, even the words that were supposed to be known for the age she was, she could not spell them or read them off correctly. In oral presentations, or even day-to-day conversation she can use these words as anyone would be, but in written form, the connection does not click.
There are times when Hayley looks at the word for extended period of times, where she can figure out the meaning, but with the time restraint and pressure of common core exams, it may make the student feel inferior. “It is hard to speak and look like I understand everything around me, but when I look at numbers or words and I read them out loud, people make fun of me because I’m wrong and they think it’s just a mistake I made, but I was embarrassed to say I am dyslexic. I was never the student who excelled, but I was a hard worker.” Hayley looked for various ways to help with dyslexia on her own. As she said many times, “it is hard to find resources that could help me or even take me serious, but the places and people who did, were the best relationships I could ever ask for.”
“Now, I am okay with saying that I am dyslexic. Having dyslexia has taught me a lot about myself and the world around me. Even though I know there are people with different forms of dyslexia, I know that learning and getting better with my dyslexia is how I better myself.”
*Name was changed under interviewee’s discretion
