Confessions of a Dyslexic Librarian

I am Dyslexic! Believe it or not. And some might find in ironic that I am also a Librarian. Go figure. It is a complete contradiction, don't you think? I mean who is their right mind would voluntarily aspire to duke it out with a well of words each day when they struggles with processing phonics? Who? Me!

I have not "officially" been diagnosed with this learning disability but I am confident that I have it. I have always struggled with words as far back as I can recall. Reading, writing, and although you might not believe it, verbalizing. I remember being called on to read out loud in elementary school and being terrified. "Christine, could you read page 96?" It caused me major anxiety; I would freeze. It was embarrasing when I could not sound out a word. My mouth would say it but my brain would not process it. Lib-er-a-tion...? I would hear it but I could not spit it out. Or I would sound it out totally wrong. It has been a silent struggle in my life but I have come to grips with it.

In university, two things got to me to graduation: spell check and Steve. I am so thankful for both of them. On my own I would scan through my thesis papers and not see the mistakes. I would not hear the incorrect usage of sentences or misspelled words. It was a cure! It was a massive frustration! I am certain that if it were not for these two things assisting me in those four years, I may have failed school.

Even now, as a well educated adult I still get my words all turned around. I will be thinking about what I will say next while I am still writing in the now. I will often go back to what I wrote and go "WTH?" What was I trying to say here? It makes no sense. I read diaries from my high school days and am convinced that if an outsider got a hold of them, they would think I was a crackhead. Seriously!

So I write this as an encouragement to anyone out there who might be struggling with the same obstacle. You can walk with it. Don't let it bring you down. One tip I have embraced that has helped me so much is to SLOW DOWN! When you read... when you write... when you talk (I am still working on the talking). If you adopt this I promise you can accomplish anything!

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Dyslecix (that was a joke) Librarian,

Christine