Dyslexia: How I learnt to fight it, literally.
Dyslexia, some people call it a disease, some call it a problem and some call it a challenge. I am a dyslexic and for the past 25 years, even I have used the above mentioned words to describe myself. In this write up, I just want to write about how I tackle dyslexia. Major issues that I face due to this difficulty are weak motor skills, experiencing extreme fatigue while reading and writing, really bad arithmetic skills and lastly a concentration span of 10 minutes.
When I was 4, I was clinically diagnosed. My mother was the first to sense that something was amiss. It is because of her and only her hard work and dedication that I am writing this article. I can’t recall the amount of psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and other people (I don’t know what bracket they come under) I have visited. But the only thing I remember is my mother going to the cyber café and researching on different methods to improve my skills, such as- writing alphabets in a sand box or pressing a soft ball 20 times a day so that I could hold a pencil properly.
I feel the turning point in my life was in 10th grade. This was when I ACCEPTED who I was and what challenges I had to deal with.
I knew that to catch up with my peers I had to change myself.
So the first thing I did was identify my strengths and weaknesses. I had a lot of weaknesses but I realized that there were two qualities which could take me ahead- Perseverance and Eidetic Memory.
From then on, I decided to make a life-style change which involved disciplining myself. I started leveraging my qualities by planning my daily schedules and making a calendar of the deliverables.
If something takes a non-dyslexic one hour it might take me three to four hours, so I needed to accept that and plan accordingly.
After all these years here I am, looking my past right in to its eyes. I am a graduate from Delhi University, have been a Teach For India Fellow and am presently pursuing my Masters. I also hold diplomas in Spanish and Italian. For discipline and a good life-style I chose martial arts. I consider it as my savior and it is the only thing that keeps me going. I train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai and Capoeira.
Consistency is and was the key to my success.
The author wishes to remain anonymous