that letters don’t make words a simple
comment that could be laughed off as
something little kids say doesn’t make
any sense but they’re cute when they say
it my mom didn’t do exactly that I don’t
think she took it to heart but she
definitely didn’t ignore it as I grew up
letters still didn’t make words they
were separate words were words and
sentences were sentences and paragraphs
were paragraphs they had nothing to do
with each other
I learned my ABCs when I relatively
should have preschool 3 4 years old and
I like to sing it a lot that was
something about me if I could sing
something if I could say something I
would it hasn’t really stopped but when
it came to words they were foreign words
didn’t have meaning I for a long time
was illiterate I couldn’t read and I
couldn’t write if you put a book in
front of me depending on my age I would
either stare at it blankly or fake it
and when I mean by fake it is that I
figure it out really soon if you look
like you’re reading and you act like
you’re reading the teacher will think
you’re reading I had to learn a lot of
things like that elementary school for
me was a time of trying to fit in in the
classroom socially I had friends recess
was the best time but in class I was
different in 2nd grade I was diagnosed
with dyslexia a learning-based language
disability that is very common a lot of
people have it enough where if you say
to someone
they’ll probably nod their head and be
like oh yeah I know what that is but for
me it has always been more than just B’s
and DS it was a lack of access because I
never had the proper education at that
young age to give me literacy the world
didn’t look the same street signs meant
nothing books meant nothing the Internet
beyond videos and pictures meant nothing
if I was playing a video game and there
were written instructions I’d ignore it
and just figure it out but that was
until I got to the right school and I
didn’t get to the right school because
of luck or because of teachers I got to
the right school because of my parents
they were vigilant and they said
something is wrong are curious
intelligent insightful talkative little
girl isn’t reading isn’t writing and the
teachers she has are telling us to wait
wait for what nothing so they took it
into their own hands they tried
everything they tried summer tutors they
tried summer school they tried extra
help they helped me in every way they
could but it wasn’t enough my dyslexia
was too severe to be augmented with a
little help
luckily they found a school that wasn’t
that far away about 45 minutes from home
and fortunately they had the financial
means to send me there a private school
that tailors their education for
students with learning based language
disabilities I was fortunate lucky and
so thankful to go there from 5th through
12th grade I am certain without that
education I wouldn’t be here today and I
don’t mean on this stage I mean in
college I probably well maybe would have
flunked out of high school like
thousands of other students with
learning disabilities who do not get the
help they need the school system that we
depend on as a nation doesn’t help these
students and more often than not they
don’t really understand what’s wrong and
they go their entire life struggling
some of them never even get diagnosed
many of the parents of students at my
specialized school didn’t even know they
had dyslexia or another learning
disability until their child was Disick
was diagnosed and then a lot of things
started to make sense for them this
shouldn’t be the narrative this
shouldn’t be the truth that we live in
students should be helped at a young age
I had all the potential to be literate
at a young age but the methods in which
I was taught did not give me that it’s a
big problem with big questions and big
answers none that I have I’d be lying to
you if I said well if we do X Y & Z it
would all be better it’s not that simple
the education system in this country
isn’t that simple but one thing that
sticks out to me through those years of
being different is the way people talked
about me the way in which they talked to
me I was slow I was dumb I was stupid
and according to one playground bully I
was retarded I was worthless and those
feelings they’ve stuck with me and
they’ve stuck with a lot of kids like me
and it isn’t just little elementary
school kids and playground bullies it’s
teachers who look at you with pity and
little confidence maybe parents who
don’t really know what to do or even in
high school cafeterias where you say it
took me so long to write that paper and
everyone goes what do you mean it was so
easy
not everything is easy not everything is
simple and for so many people the act of
getting up every day and going to school
whether elementary middle high or
college is the hardest thing they have
to do it feels impossible there are days
when I know what is waiting for me in
those classrooms and in my assignments
and I don’t want to get up I don’t even
want to look at it but I do and what
helps me is having supportive people who
understand or try to who
sighs who talked to me in a way that
isn’t belittling the way in which we
talk about disability can change that is
something that has a simple answer it’s
being aware in the way we talk that
disabilities are just that disabilities
they aren’t what makes a person people
with disabilities aren’t those
disabilities and the way in which we
speak to them speak to the acts that we
do every day that for you might be easy
maybe calculus is a breeze I know
there’s a lot of people who don’t think
that and going around laughing at them
saying it’s so easy doesn’t help anyone
and for people with disabilities that’s
amplified so think about the way in
which we talk talk to each other talk
about things we do if you were to
walking with someone who was in a
wheelchair and started going up the
stairs would you turn around and look at
them and say come on it’s easy I think
not for people with invisible
disabilities such as a learning
disability such as dyslexia this is even
more true it’s not like someone in a
wheelchair you can’t see it so being
aware being conscious is the first step
to using language that is inclusive
inclusivity is a great tool for people
with disabilities and for people without
by including those people in the
language that you use or don’t use can
make a world of a difference I know
there are days when I want to leave a
classroom because the ableism stinks in
it but I don’t I sit and I talk but not
everyone that’s up for that not everyone
is up for being an ambassador to
disabilities to learning to education so
we as individuals need to be conscious
need to think statistically speaking I
am not the only person in this room with
a disability visible or invisible would
you want the people around you to feel
bad about themselves and about their
ability or lack thereof it would you want them to feel excluded thank you