Is Dyslexia a Learning Disability or a Learning Ability? | Gabi Renola | TEDxYouth@ParkCity — Transcript

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1. 0:00I am one of 10 million people in the
2. 0:05United States that has dyslexia I wanted
3. 0:09to know what other kids my age thought
4. 0:11that that word meant so in order to find
5. 0:14out I sent her to school survey asking
6. 0:16what is your definition of dyslexia when
7. 0:20the answers came back they really
8. 0:21shocked me
9. 0:22some said dyslexics can't read others
10. 0:26said dyslexics mix up letters the
11. 0:30majority of the answers were dyslexics
12. 0:32are stupid did you know that Albert
13. 0:35Einstein Robin Williams Walt Disney and
14. 0:39Steve Jobs all had dyslexia some of the
15. 0:42best surgeons attorneys and governors
16. 0:44are dyslexic but yet some people still
17. 0:48think dyslexics are dumb and I was one
18. 0:51of those people it was in the first
19. 0:54grade when I remember thinking that I
20. 0:55was not as smart as the other kids I
21. 0:57thought how come I take so much more
22. 0:59time learning why can't I do this
23. 1:02problem that this other kid can do this
24. 1:04really had me think what was wrong with
25. 1:07me halfway through the third grade I was
26. 1:11behind in reading writing and math so my
27. 1:13parents had me tested this school
28. 1:17district doesn't use the word dyslexic
29. 1:19they used learning-disabled so when we
30. 1:22got the results back I had said wow I'm
31. 1:24disabled I was eight years old I had
32. 1:27struggled for years I already believed I
33. 1:30was stupid and lazy no eight-year-old
34. 1:33should think that themselves so at this
35. 1:37point I knew it was time for
36. 1:38intervention I knew it was time to get
37. 1:41more help
38. 1:42I was already enrolled in a reading
39. 1:44program with my school but I knew that
40. 1:46that was not enough so I spent about two
41. 1:49years with different programs to help me
42. 1:51with hand-eye coordination and balance
43. 1:52and looking at a page full of words and
44. 1:55understanding what it says going to
45. 1:58school was not fun at all when does my
46. 2:01turn to read aloud there was a kid in
47. 2:03the class and he would yell ha just read
48. 2:06it or ha she can't read that's so funny
49. 2:09this really lowered my self-esteem
50. 2:12when those kids said that I thought that
51. 2:14I would never be able to pursue my
52. 2:15dreams becoming a pastry chef because I
53. 2:17thought that I was too stupid throughout
54. 2:20those two years of me working and
55. 2:21reading and helping me with my dyslexia
56. 2:24I realized and I'm really good at other
57. 2:26things I realized that dyslexia is
58. 2:29thinking and learning in a different way
59. 2:30it's using creativity and imagination to
60. 2:34help you solve your problems even after
61. 2:37all these years I just really struggle
62. 2:39today to I struggle with reading and
63. 2:42writing still sometimes I look at all my
64. 2:44friends and they're in an honors class
65. 2:46or they're an AP class I'm not in any
66. 2:49honors classes I'm not in any AP classes
67. 2:51but I don't need to be to become a
68. 2:55pastry chef
69. 2:56I don't need honors English I don't need
70. 2:57honors math and I do not need a PG avi
71. 3:01dyslexia it's not as much of a learning
72. 3:04disability as it is a learning ability
73. 3:06so I may be no Einstein but dyslexia
74. 3:09hasn't held me back from marching band
75. 3:11it hasn't held me back from rock
76. 3:14climbing and making
77. 3:16[Applause]