All That I AM

Auditory dyslexia is another way dyslexia can affect an individual, and it is not about reading and writing. I would say that I present with auditory dyslexia as part of my dyslexia identity. This form of dyslexia can cause individuals to mishear words and is also linked to pronunciation difficulties. When I reflect on my childhood, I have distinct memories of frequently missing what others were saying to me. However, to me, these were the funny memories. My favourite example of this is with song lyrics, and I think that every singer should really have a dyslexic listen to their soundtracks to make sure that they are articulating their messages correctly for all processing styles. My favourite song to use as an example is Ed Sheeran's' South of the Border'. Within this, he is singing about a beautiful woman with caramel-coloured thighs.  However, my brain, every single time, even though I know what he is saying, because I had to look up the lyrics, I hear camel thighs. With...

I regularly say I am dyslexic, and some would say that that is incorrect. That I am more than my challenges, however, that is based upon their interpretation of my words rather than what they mean and represent to me. I am dyslexic because I process everything through my dyslexic brain. It is this which is my first filter for all my experiences and my reality. Within psychology, when we are discussing identity, it is important to understand that we have a BIG I or big identity, which has multiple small i's or small identities that make up and contribute to our larger or BIG I concept of self. Let us bring a more spiritually based aspect into this discussion: we are all starbursts. Each one of us is a little star; we are little balls of light in the world. Some of us are brighter, and some are a little dimmer, and those who align with the dim light might need to do more shadow work within themselves to brighten their light. The way I base my identity through what I assess is the asp...

Gender has more to do with dyslexia than just the representation ratio of 4:1 (men to women). I want to introduce a different concept to think about when discussing male and female brains: we do not have a male brain and a female brain. What we do have is a continuum between the two aspects of male- and female-like brains. Moreover, at the other end, we have a more feminine-presenting brain. When we are born with our external sexual differences (being represented as either a female or male, that does not mean that our brain structure and processing style were aligned with those external genitalia. If we honestly think about everyone we know, we will most likely be able to come up with examples of men who think and process the world more like a woman. Moreover, we know that some females present more like a masculine brain.  However, in psychology, research examines gender classification and external sexual representation when discussing participants. Within the study of dyslexia, it...

 One of the first studies I came across after my first diagnosis was by Virginia Sturm and her colleagues, titled "Enhanced Visceral Motor Emotional Reactivity in Dyslexia and its Relation to the Salient Network." In this study, the researchers examined how phonetic dyslexics responded to visual images that evoked emotional responses.  In this study, they monitored participants' skin temperature, facial expressions, and brain activity, and found that phonetic dyslexics showed increased emotional behaviour. To further this, they shared that those who had increased emotional behaviour also showed higher social skills and symptoms, along with symptoms of anxiety and depression.  Emotional behaviour is how our faces express what we are thinking – it is our facial expressions. Phonetic dyslexics showed increased facial expression when exposed to or expressing emotional experiences, compared to the other participants. These results further the belief that dyslexics are hypersen...

Neurotypical, in general terms, is defined as anyone who thinks or processes information like the average person. Here is the issue with the way of thinking: there is no brain to compare every brain to, so how do we even know what is average or typical? Others may state that this difference lies within the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, but again, who says that this information is doctrine? The DSM-5 is a book that certain professionals use for diagnosis, and its information is based on the research the committee decides is relevant. What this means is that when we look at the DSM-5, the information is stated in a way that the committee believes to be true, not necessarily based on research that's readily proven by current scientific research. As such, there could be readily available research showing characteristics of dyslexics that the DSM-5 does not use to change its narrative or diagnostic criteria, and so it is not used by those diagnosing professionals.  Neurodivergent was first...

Let us get dyslexia out of the classroom, out of the workplace, out of the learning realms, and bring it where, in my opinion, it is really needed: the social world. When I was first diagnosed with dyslexia, it was life-changing, as I ended up with a label or descriptor that I could control. However, what this meant was that I needed to learn and research what this label really was. The negatives were easy to find; it was the positives that I had to search hard to find, but they are there, and they are powerful. When I first began researching dyslexia in the social world, I was horrified. No matter where I looked, the information I found had dyslexia being an issue within relationships. However, once I took a deeper look at this information, I realized the common perspective these articles were written from was the neurotypical or non-dyslexic point of view.  Dyslexics have big-picture thinking, so if you are looking for finite, detailed, fact-oriented, stuck-in-the-facts conversat...