LD Blog

I don’t remember why I went off on this tangent in my thinking, but I think it was because of a broadcast I reviewed about dyslexia. On the program, a couple of people reported that they saw their own dyslexia as a gift. I have reservations about this idea.

In his book, The Gift of Dyslexia, Ronald D. Davis has popularized the idea that dyslexia is a gift, based on his observation that some highly regarded historical figures had dyslexia. Mr. Davis’ reports, “Dyslexic people are visual, multi-dimensional thinkers. We are intuitive and highly creative, and excel at hands-on learning. Because we think in pictures, it is sometimes hard for us to understand letters, numbers, symbols, and written words.”

The idea of dyslexia as a gift is appealing in the way captured by the aphorism, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Make the most of the situation.

But one has to wonder whether the observations are true. Are individuals with dyslexia “visual, multi-dimensional thinkers?” What does that mean? How do we know that people think visually and multi-dimensionally? How many people think that way? What proportion of individuals with dyslexia think that way? Intuitive? Highly creative? Same questions.

Although some other aspects of the recommendations on the site are suspect, the folks over at Audioblox pretty thoroughly discounted these observations.

The myth — the “affliction of the geniuses” — continues to be spread despite the fact that knowledge of the definition of dyslexia and the reading of any standard biographies would immediately reveal the inaccuracy of many such claims. For example, as Coles points out in his book The Learning Mystique, Einstein’s reading of Kant and Darwin at age thirteen is hardly representative of individuals who are currently labeled dyslexic. As Coles also points out, Edison was not learning until the age of eight and a half because he was a sickly child. Although he did have problems when he finally went to school, these problems were a result of his social behavior, not his mental abilities. The problem was not that Tom Edison was a poor reader but that he became annoyed with having to share the text with other children. Tom, “a rapid reader, had no patience with his classmates.”

Although it is true that some people are successful in life in spite of their dyslexia, unfortunately many LD stories don’t turn out so well.

When one reads interviews of adults with dyslexia, the joy of receiving a gift doesn’t come through. Many of them describe lifetimes of struggle, doubt, and disappointment. Check the books by Gerber and Reiff and by Rodis, Garrod, and Boscardin (see sources at the end of this entry).

Here’s a simple test: Suppose you had a means—a magic wand or a special snap of the fingers—to give your child dyslexia. Would you do it?

Links: Mr. Davis’ Website, Dyslexia the Gift; he has many others, but this is the lead one. The Audioblox take down of the idea of dyslexia as a gift. At Myomancy, Chris Tregenza has an analysis of the matter, too.

Gerber, P. J., & Reiff, H. B. (Eds.). (1991). Speaking for themselves: Ethnographic interviews with adults with learning disabilities. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Rodis, P., Garrod, W., & Boscardin, M. L. (Eds.). (2001). Learning disabilities and life stories. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.