The Ripple Effect

I wanted to talk about how Dyslexia effected not just my life but others around me. It didn't take too long to figure out I was different and being different from other children growing up is not a good thing like my mother always said. It means you get bullied and picked on. It means you have a harder time making friends and you learn how to welcome loneliness.  I remember how children would laugh at me when I had to read out loud. I remember how lunch time sucked because it meant I was sitting by myself. Even my birthday parties I remember my mother inviting tons of kids some I wasn't really even friends with to show up. I found myself playing with my toys by myself and becoming more and more of an introvert.

The effects on my parents were pretty hard. My mother took the main hit of it. I feel like she blamed herself for me having Dyslexia or at least that she could not help me more. I remember having to do tons of extra school stuff during the summers when other kids were on vacation with their parents. I remember it seemed like every report card getting a strong talking to about my grades and that I was lazy and not trying hard enough. It didn't help that my teachers couldn't see or didn't have the training to spot Dyslexia and thought the same things. I don't know how many times I heard from my teachers and even my parents that "Perry is smart but lazy".

As for my father, I just remember the long talks about if I do not get a good education I will be digging ditches for a living. He wanted more for me than that. I don't think it was easy for either parent during my journey through school. It wasn't till I was 16 years old that we found the right person to refer us to Bowman & Gray and their Neurological department. After waiting for what felt like forever we drove to Charlotte, North Carolina. I went under numerous tests and the answer I have asked my entire life upto this point was finally going to be answered, I hoped! I was in fact Dyslexic and the reason it was not found sooner was my intelligence quotient was very high. So instead of what my parents and teachers thought of me being smart but lazy, the reality of it was that I was smart (high 130's IQ at 16 years old) and Dyslexic. The doctor told me she thought because of my high IQ, I managed to hide my learning differences from everyone. I was happy I knew what was wrong with my brain but stressed that no one could fix it. For the next year and a half I spent re-learning the English language through a learning program called "Wilson". It was a pain in the rear.

After completing high school I found myself lost and with no direction when it came to my education. Lucky for me I fell madly in love with the girl of my dreams, my neighbor at the time and now my loving wife.