The old view on learning difficulties For decades dyslexia and other learning difficulties have been something that people “suffer from”.
Until the American dyslexic Ron Davis published his book
The Gift of Dyslexia in 1982, people with learning difficulties were generally considered slow, dim, lazy or downright stupid.
It has taken decades for education establishments and the general public to take on board Ron’s discoveries; that very often dyslexia and other learning difficulties go hand in hand with giftedness.
The learning disabled themselves often find this very difficult to take on board.
They have been living with an experience of not being able to do “simple” tasks that almost everyone else seems to do with ease.
Even those among learning disabled that have a sense of being fairly intelligent, find it hard to make sense of their inability to successfully write, spell, calculate, read, or manage their own life.
The only logical explanation they tend to come up with is “there is something wrong with me”. Obviously, this contributes to one of the most common side-effects of learning difficulties, low self esteem.
A new view on learning difficulties This negative perception of learning difficulties is now slowly giving way to a more positive one. Books, magazines, television and newspapers have begun discovering a link between learning difficulties and gifts in various areas.
In April 2002, Fortune magazine’s main feature was an article called Overcoming Dyslexia, where an inspiring number of business leaders and artists backed the opinion that their success is not so much despite their learning difficulties, but actually caused by them.
As part of a preparation for a programme called Mind of a Millionaire, the BBC commissioned in 2003 the largest study ever made, looking at what is needed to become a successful businessman.
One aspect of the findings stunned the researchers and sparked the following headline on the front page of The Sunday Times: “
The secret of the super successful – Dyslexia”.
What the survey found is that over 40% of the 300 self-made millionaires interviewed in relation with the programme were dyslexic.
This is about four times the national average, and some of the millionaires were quite clear that their success was thanks to their learning difficulties, including Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin business empire.
Sir Richard ranked number 6 on the 2004 UK Sunday Times “Rich List” with a personal fortune of £2.6 billion.
