thanks again , here is the Word edited version of my final paper on the subject.


Dyslexia.

What is it like to live in the skin of a profound dyslexic? First off dyslexics share the same joy, dreams, pains and questions about life that all human beings have. Secondly profound dyslexia means that you can not read, spell, converse or write without many associative tricks and other compensatory efforts. The effort required to process language is five to ten times more strenuous than it is for a normal person. The effort is commonly so exhausting that reading more than fifteen minutes can be overcome by sleep or in worse cases a migraine headache develops that may last from one to three days.

There is a physical difference between dyslexics and others that can be seen with the naked eye, that is, as long as you are looking at MRI scans of the brain. What the normal person has that dyslexics do not, is an Angular Gyrus which directly links language symbols to language and is located on the left cerebral cortex near the La Broca's region which controls thought to speech functions. Even a profound dyslexic can compensate for not having an Angular Gyrus by involving large swaths of cerebral cortex on the right side of the brain, deep internal structures and more regions in the visual cortex than non dyslexics use to read, think and visualize things in terms of translating concepts into language and visa versa.
How does this feel? Sometimes it is as frustrating as hell.

Sometimes it provides clarity of visual thought relationships that come from the right brain which are inventive or even downright amazing. But mostly it means that you can not recall lyrics to songs you may have heard a hundred times, or that remembering even a famous name may take many seconds to hours. Mnemonic tricks are helpful but it can never be a cure. Dyslexia can be viewed like a recording studio soundboard with 12 million switches and for each person with dyslexia those switches are at different settings so that one person who compensates with the audible memory switch on high is different from another who has that switch on low. The easiest books for dyslexics to read are films, followed by audio books.

Now get this, one in ten people are dyslexic. The reason you are unaware of all the dyslexics missing on chat forums is because reading and spelling may prevent them from posting. Since some of these dyslexics are brilliant despite an inability to read by some degree, they have to make their own environments and scenarios to contribute successfully. That is why a full 35% of all entrepreneurs are dyslexic. They have unique problem solving abilities as well as a need to delegate effectively. You might now begin to see why dyslexics are often artists, cosmologists, theoreticians, mechanical genius', policy analysts, musicians, natural navigators, time manipulation, dimensional clarity, Noble prize winning scientists, architects and other disciplines that benefit from great subjective insight and spatial understanding.

As a profound dyslexic I am easily out quipped in social settings and embarrassed by not having the necessary word at the right time. If writing on a forum I often get insults that I can not spell and occasionally get a helpful correction. I naturally have great empathy for stutterers but people do not recognize dyslexia in the same context, instead it is seen erroneously as stupidity or laziness. I have found that most people think of reversing a letter as the central issue of dyslexia. Another common symptom of dyslexia can be a dyslexic building a scale model of something but what makes it unusual is the absurd amount of micro detail they will employ.

If a normal person is shown a xyz graph in which the three dimensions of width breadth and height are displayed they can easily conceive of a 3D object represented by the graph. The more points on that graph the easier it is to see a 3D object. However if you ask that normal person to now draw a line in a direction perpendicular to all the other xyz axis, they feel like they are being asked to point in a direction that does not exist. Ask a dyslexic to do this and they will see that to add another dimension, you just immerse the xyz graph into another dimension like putting a very thin fish into a fishbowl.

Famous dyslexics can be successful, intelligent, generous people or the exact opposite. People think of Einstein as being a dyslexic due to his early childhood speech delay and algebra troubles. His greatest discoveries stem from his visual thought experiments such as racing away from a clock face at the speed of light. Modern success stories of dyslexics include Richard Branson, Erin Brokovich , Tom Smothers, Scott 'Dilbert; Adams, Muhammed Ali, John Lennon. I suspect there is a class of dyslexic so far outside the box that they come but once a millennium, perhaps Franz Telsa was one. Dyslexia is not so much a key to any of their success as much as diligence and practice of the fundamentals of their craft. In my opinion there is a rather selfish side of famous dyslexics that include Sarah Palin and George W Bush.

I have a son who is autistic and while there is a somewhat similar verbal challenge and involves a neurological wiring factors, I see autism as almost the polar opposite of dyslexia. Autistic people have a tendency to be very literal and linear in their thinking. I look upon autism as an information overload problem due to the fact autistic people for some reason do not eliminate the redundant wiring in their brains from early childhood and therefore end up with many redundant neuronal connections which can be confusing. To overcome the confusion a rather rigid set of rules and limits helps them organize their abilities best.

While there is currently no solid objective proof for the concept I present to you now, I believe a dyslexic has a a structure deep in the brain that normal people do not have to the same degree. Normal people have a group of 188 cells that determine their sense of time. I contend that dyslexics have an overdeveloped central control of time. It is tucked in the middle of the brain and connects to both left and right limbic systems which are filled with fluid. In the multi dimensional nature of our universe a dyslexic may have the ability to "hear" the echoes of events that bounce both forward and backward in time. At a minimum they may have a more pronounced awareness of these phenomena that normal people. It is just as conceivable that people with an Angular Gyrus may have just as much pre awareness as dyslexics. Having forethought or any kind of warning is an evolutionary plus. Since dyslexia is an inherited trait from, one or both parents, a child may in a sense be able to inherit luck. As you notice I did not employ the word psychic since it opens a can of worms and controversy all its own.

There can be heart breaking moments due to dyslexia. A disturbing scenario from my classical music phase is when I tried to audition for lessons from David Sawyer who was with the Guarneri string quartet. I was simply a dyslexic cellist about to audition but before they could hear my tone, phrasing and singing approach to instrumental music, I was asked to sight read a sheet of music. Between the panic and awkward attempt to fulfill such a monumental task (for me) I tried to explain that with only an extra moment of practice ...David Sawyer took my application and theatricly threw it in the trash can. I thought I saw something akin to understanding or embarrasment in the eye of the first violin player but it was all played out and that door was forever shut, not behind me, but in front of me.

All my life teachers and parents thought I might one day catch fire and read all that I needed. After 5 years of music college, minoring in psychology and political science, I still did not graduate but not due to compensating for dyslexia but rather having one teacher fail to turn in my earned B grade and then retaking the class only to have the professor die before finals and mostly, I ran out of money and hope. I would work briefly at different jobs until I received training as a hypnotherapist. There I refined empathy, foresight and subjective problem solving abilities to do the job to the best of my abilities. I played music increasing by ear and took up the craft of instrument repair and inventions. I met a deaf guitarist and was inspired t help him hear his music which led the first attempts to use an inducer and nerve receptors that eventually became the cochlear implant. If I wanted something I all too often would try to make it myself with what I called Yankee ingenuity but it was really all a response to dyslexia. While I knew I was different I would try to hide it with varying success. Hiding the fact we did not read the entire Shakespeare assignment is something we all know about. Dyslexics know they are making more excuses for reading failures than they should.

In evolutionary terms the variations of people with or without instant visual language abilities begs the question which came first and who is the fittest. Written language gave society memory that spans centuries or millennia. Oral histories can die suddenly. Then the printing press expanded the availability of societal memory. Now the internet can do so in real time! Naturally having a compromise between a dyslexic brain and normal brain would seem like the best advantage in the internet age, I think both kinds of brains will continue to evolve with separate and unique survival traits to each.

I perceive you folks in the majority with normal brains as being linear thinking beings. I think in more volumetric ways. The way I see most people perceive me, particularly in person, is slow, stupid, "there is something off about that guy" kind of reaction. Of course being discredited for bad spelling or "seemingly" magical thinking that pans out in the end is not a horrible thing. Often I am asked to provide a link to the subject I might be discussing. Truth is, 90% of the information I know comes from audible sources.

Math skills vary but it is typical for dyslexics to fail Algebra on their first attempt but score a perfect 100% in Geometry. Not a savant skill but I seem to be able to estimate correct calculus answers at lest within narrow range of error. Not all dyslexics will have dysgraphia, writing difficulties, and/or dyscalculia, but they are both common among dyslexics. Sometimes abilities are improved by unknown mental processes. A savant may be able to do advanced math in their head by way of mentally visualized colored shapes that briefly dance and then end with the shapes displaying the symbolized answer.

Twelve years ago I could not spell, read or write beyond a sixth grade level. Within those limitations I could write about advanced concepts and meaningful poetry. I started with what came naturally and wrote in poetic styles, sometimes writing entire sonnets in perfect form without knowing it. Others would remark, "This is a nice Sonnet. Having read no more than a dozen books in my life I began to read more. I posted on a forum of folk musicians who were comparatively more forgiving than any other social network forum. I've worked hard, and while many people on that forum still do not understand what I write, I have made enough progress that I hereby graduate myself with a degree of doing the impossible for a profound dyslexic, I can read and write.

On occasion someone would remark that I had written something moving and remarkable. They would not understand when I would reply "Thank you but you must realize I am virtually illiterate. No more of that. I am here and I can read and write, but unlike other people. So by the same odds of a blind person seeing this, if another profound dyslexic in later life needs some encouragement in the struggle to read and write, show them my essay. They should be able to learn much faster than I did.

Thank you all,
Don Hakman