Dyslexia Confirmation at 40
Written by: Reneé Blanchard
In the midst of my business being mostly shut down, a raging pandemic , and an unprecedented hurricane season, I realized something was not quite right while studying for a biology exam in the early part of Summer 2020. Oh yes, I was also taking two accelerated summer science courses online. I noticed that I couldn’t understand the syntax differences between my textbook and my online quizzes. I reached out to my professor and said I think the quizzes are from a different book. Her reply, they are but the information is the same. Why was I failing all the quizzes but totally able to understand and explain the material from the textbook?
As I was telling this to a staff member whose mom just happens to work for school boards creating policies and curriculums for students with dyslexia, she said “ummmm that sounds like dyslexia, you should talk to my mom”. I was pretty shocked but went ahead with that conversation and some tests. Mrs. Austin immediately offered some free online training with her. “Am I dylexic?” “Oh yes, no doubt” was her quick reply and blurted out how to logon to her program.
I was 40 years old at the time. I had graduated from high school, had a college degree, and had run a business for 8 years at that point. It wasn’t until I read a book she recommended that I realized how clear the signs had been from such a young age. I am just too old for all the more modern tests for this kind of diagnosis that happen in school. Because I had never had any tests regarding my learning abilities, I had created my own ways of learning and pushing through my reading and speaking struggles at a very young age and it worked for me. But the signs were very clear once I knew what to look for.
Our brains are so amazing. There is a big part of me that is glad I was never diagnosed until later in life. I had no choice but to create a path of learning for myself that worked exactly how I needed to learn. I credit my stubbornness for allowing me to keep going through my academic struggles. I often read that people with dyslexia hate school but that was never the case for me. In fact I’m back in school full time as a 41 year old. I loved and still love school, learning and reading. Though all of those things are very difficult for me. I’m an incredibly slow reader. I have a very hard time pronouncing words with R’s and L’s. I struggle deeply learning a new language. I can not learn new words or remember how to spell words through phonics. I basically memorize how a word looks and then recall that photo of the word while writing or reading. Sounding out words? Forget about it!
It is not surprising that I own a business. “Study Shows Strong Link between Business Ownership and Dyslexia” reads one NYTimes article. “Dyslexia Entrepreneurs - Why They Have a Competitive Edge” from The Guardian. The Times of Ireland published, “Secrets of the Super Successful . . Dyslexia”. Article after article, study after study, show that entrepreneurship is full of folks with Dyslexia. Some studies show up to 40% of entrepreneurs are dyslexic, four times the national average.
My brain sees the world differently and I’m so proud of that fact! I will never dismiss the effort I had to put in to learn to read or pronounce words “correctly”. That struggle gave me the experience to get through the constant struggles of owning a business. While my brain fought to learn, it readied me for the moments I face in my business. But it’s not just the struggle that I benefit from, there are real things my brain can do that set me apart from the majority of the population.
Seeing the wider picture, sharper creative and spatial awareness, problem solving, delegating and memory skills are all things those with dyslexia do above average than most people. I have a few things that I really excel at doing in my business. I speak and write as simply as possible to get my ideas across which makes them more accessible. I’m extremely empathetic to others' needs. I have an innate ability to observe and understand staff and customers. I create nurturing environments because I truly understand what it feels like to feel isolated and out of the group for things out of your control. I’m not great at details which gives me a better ability to see the bigger picture, the mission, and the place at which I want my business to arrive. My weaknesses include misspelling and mispronouncing so many words, including people’s names even after I've practiced a million times. I often just leave people’s names out of conversations and skip over more complicated words. I am always quick to make a joke when I mess up words which allows me to be more approachable and make connections with others easily. I very much thrive in more unstructured environments where my strengths can shine.
Owning a business is an obvious choice for me.
