I was lucky because I had extremely supportive and encouraging parents. My parents were the type who looked at the learning skills on a report card before the grades. They would spend their summers trying new ways to break down my roadblocks and create a learning style that I could thrive in. What was most important about those summers was not only all the things we learned about myself, but also the message my parents sent me through their efforts. They showed me that I can and will learn and that they were not going to give up on me.

Making friends seemed to be very complex in my childhood. I often became the “funny friend” to draw attention away from my disability. It did not take long for me to realize that the struggles I was facing were not the same as my friends’. When most girls were reading Cosmo Girl for tips on “what to wear on a date,” I was trying to find the answers to “how to pretend that you are able to read a menu on a date”.  In essence, most of my elementary school years were spent wondering when I was going to grow out of my Learning Disability.

Once high school hit I did not want anything to do with the special education department. I made it very clear that I was not to be called down during class, and would not be using my laptop or any other tools that would enhance my learning. I did not want other students to know I was different. By the end of grade ten my grades were barely passing and I was instructed to rethink the classes I was to take the next year. They made it obvious to me that these grades would not gain me acceptance into a university. But I was not going to let that happen.

What happened next was really a build up to that moment when I realized that I was the only person who couldtake control of my disability. All the struggles I had up to that point fueled the fire that pushed me to want to do better and give everything I could offer. I no longer wanted to coast and think of my disability as something I would grow out of. I wanted to own it.

I am now currently enrolled as a third year Psychology major at York University. I got here by using a program called Kurzweil, which allowed me to have my exams read to me at my own pace, as well as edit my own work. This gave me a type of control over my difficulty of reading and gave me the independence to do my own work; like I had seen other students do my whole life. I have developed many different tools and strategies that enable me to be at par with other students. I have learned that my disability sets me apart from other people and this is something that can be celebrated and seen as an advantage. This is not to say that I no longer struggle. I will always be faced with situations where I must learn how to adapt. However, through my past efforts I no longer see a failure as the end result, but rather an opportunity to refine my style and come at it in a different way. The way you view your Learning Disability makes all the difference.