I almost failed Kindergarten. Yes, I joke about this a lot, but it is kind of embarrassing. This didn’t happen because I was a bad student or because I never went to class. I almost failed kindergarten because I was not achieving the basic tasks that my classmates were. These tasks included, saying the alphabet, simple math and being able to read. When I was in the first grade I was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADD.
In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Dyslexia is defined as; “a variable often familial learning disability involving difficulties in acquiring and processing language that is typically manifested by a lack of proficiency in reading, spelling, and writing.”
Attention Deficit Disorder is defined as; “a syndrome of disordered learning and disruptive behavior that is not caused by any serious underlying physical or mental disorder and that has several sub-types characterized primarily by symptoms of inattentiveness or primarily by symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsive behavior (as speaking out of turn) or by the significant expression of all three.”
I have two learning disabilities that are by no means fun to face every single day. My mom tells me stories of when I was little about how difficult it was for her to have to see me struggling so hard in school. When I was in the earlier grades during elementary school, I never really understood what I was going though. I actually never knew that I had ADD, my mom told me that the medication I took was just allergy medication. In middle school, I was able to learn how to deal with these disabilities more. My mom and the doctor decided to take me off of my ADD medication. With a lot of patience and learning how to live my life with dyslexia and ADD I, in a way, outgrew them.
College was a different story for me though. We go through everything so much faster. You are expected to complete so many tasks in different classes. The entire degree of learning goes up when you enter college. This was expected, but the way that my dyslexia and ADD effected that learning was not expected. When you have learning disabilities it makes almost everything about school harder. When I get a reading assignment I read that assignment slower than my classmates. I also have a hard time comprehending it. If I get math homework or another assignment I have a much harder time figuring out how to work everything through. During class it can be almost impossible to pay attention to a lecture for the entire class period. There are so many things that people like me have to do differently and, to be honest, it sucks.
One of the hardest things I have had to learn how to do is live my life as a normal person who doesn’t have a learning disability. These disabilities don’t just effect your time in school but during everyday life. I was up knowing that if I don’t take my medications my ability to have a conversation with someone will be extremely difficult. Even when I take ADD medications, I have to think out everything before I speak. Not because I will say something rude but because if I don’t, I will get words mixed up or lose track of what I am talking about and completely forget what I was going to say next. It is simply a hard for me to pay attention to something without getting too bored.
I am lucky enough to have my school make the right accommodations for me. My friends who see me struggling with my school work will help me. My parents did everything that they could and can do to help me learn. I have learned how to deal with this, but so many people who don’t have a learning disability do not understand how hard it can be. I once had a graduate student point blank tell me that people with learning disabilities should not get extra help. Then he went on saying that if a person needs help then they do not need to go to school. I was basically told because I had dyslexia and ADD, I did not deserve to be in school.
When it comes down to it, I wish I did not have to deal with these disabilities on a daily basis. But this is something that I have been, in a way, blessed with. One thing I want the most is for people to understand that it is much harder than they realize to live a life with learning disabilities. I have had to learn how to become a harder worker in everything I do. It is a blessing and a curse, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
