When a person suffers from a disorder such as dyslexia, people would understand if that dyslexic person will experience one failure after another throughout his whole life. This learning disability can be wielded as the primary alibi for all misfortunes. But dyslexia could not be regarded as a sentence that will convict a person to a lifetime of self-pity. In fact, there are many dyslexic people who were able to overcome this particular learning disability and create a positive impact on the world. Here are some of them.
- Albert Einstein (scientist) – His name is synonymous to genius. But with today's school system, with its developmental milestones and numerous academic expectations, the young Einstein would have been considered to have below average intelligence. His speech developed late and he could not memorize. His parents transferred him to a non-traditional school where mindless reading was prohibited and creative thinking was emphasized. Having reading difficulties does not mean low intelligence.
- Paul MacCready (engineer) – He is not just an ordinary aviation engineer, he is considered as the Engineer of the Century. But while in school, he had mild dyslexia symptoms, as well as a short attention span. In an interview sponsored by the American Academy of achievement, he admits: “if I write down 274, I say 274 … I look at it, and I've written 254, because I'm still mixing up a few numbers.” He considers people without dyslexia as oddballs because having the ability to read was not necessary during the prehistoric times when people are trying to survive in jungles inhabited by saber-toothed tigers. When asked about facing challenges, he says: “If you want to move mountains, you just go move mountains. If you don't have a big enough shovel, you get some friends to help you.“
- Fred J. Epstein (surgeon) – He was a pediatric neurosurgeon who devised ways to operate on tumors located between the brain stem and the spinal cord. With more than 2,500 surgeries under his belt, nobody could have suspected that he had dyslexia, writing letters backwards. He was even discouraged from entering medical school. But Dr. Epstein simply spent more hours studying to overcome his reading difficulties.
- Orlando Bloom (actor) – Most people know him as the ethereal sharp-eyed elf, Legolas, in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. But Bloom admits to having difficulty in school because he could not recognize the letters. In his own words, “school is always a bit tricky,” but he persevered on reading the works of Shakespeare so that he could enter the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
A dyslexic person need not become one of the famous people with dyslexia. All that is needed is a change of perspective: that dyslexia is not the major obstacle to success. Overcoming dyslexia and dealing with difficulties that are similar to dyslexia symptoms are unique challenges that can be used as stepping stones towards a future of unique accomplishments.