Sara Leggett is one of two young adults who, as part of our October 24 program in San Francisco, will participate in a panel discussion on the challenges and rewards of growing up with dyslexia. Sara, who works in marketing and sales, shares her perspective on dyslexia's role in her past and her future.

A Wish for My Children
by Sara Leggett

I am dyslexic, my husband is dyslexic, and someday I hope we will have dyslexic children. Many parents and teachers reading this may find that hard to believe. Why would I want my children to suffer with a learning disability?

It's not because elementary school was easy, or because I enjoyed the tear-filled nights desperately attempting to memorize words for a spelling test. I didn't enjoy spelling, reading or writing. My mother didn't enjoy the extra hours it took to help me compensate. No, I don't want dyslexic children because I think it will be easy, although there have been major breakthroughs in teaching reading and writing to dyslexic children since my husband and I were in school. Instead, I want dyslexic children because I think it will be fun.

I look forward to raising a child with the many gifts associated with dyslexia—gifts that, in my experience, compensate for its challenges. My British-born husband, a custom furniture builder, is an excellent example of dyslexia's gifts. As a young adult he realized his passion for creating things and worked as a furniture builder while studying to earn a masters degree in furniture design from the London Metropolitan University. Now he creates functional works of art, sees every piece from all angles, and with that visual perspective, is able to solve structural problems before the job is finished. He is outstanding at what he does because of dyslexia, not in spite of it.

In elementary school in Seattle, I was diagnosed as dyslexic and gifted. I struggled though school, unable to read and spell as fast as my mind could comprehend. I was a sophomore at the University of Puget Sound when I read the November 22, 1999 issue of Newsweek, entitled "Dyslexia: New Hope for Kids Who Can't Read." I learned that there were lots of kids like me—quick, smart kids who just couldn't spell. From then on I believed that I did not have a learning disability, but a gift.

Dyslexia didn't limit my educational goals. It has not hindered my career in marketing and sales. When I tell people I am dyslexic, the next thing out of their mouth is, "Wow, I would have never guessed."

There are, in my experience, no "rules" limiting what dyslexic people can do. I, for example, have a talent for foreign languages. Despite my challenges with English, I started studying Spanish in 9th grade, and excelled at it. For me the structure, spelling, and grammar of Spanish made more sense. (In fact, scientific consensus is that Spanish is the easiest language for dyslexic students to learn.) After earning my BA in international business (with a semester's study in Spain), I accepted a job teaching English in Japan. Every day wasn't easy, but because of my struggles with dyslexia, I had patience and useful techniques to help my students learn English. My dyslexia even helped me learn Japanese. In English, I memorized spelling as a picture, not a word. With that visual perspective on language, I was able to learn enough Kanji to read menus and signs.

As my husband I and discuss starting a family, we both remember the difficulties we faced growing up with a learning disability. But after the struggles and tears, we found we were capable of anything we wanted to do. Dyslexia gave us skills to reach higher and achieve more.

I look forward to the challenges of raising a dyslexic child. We know it won't be easy, but there is a world of possibilities open to you when you focus on the gifts of being dyslexic.