Disabilities: My Story

This is the 2nd installment in a series on disabilities. It has taken much longer to write this than I intended. I guess because it is my story and personal. One of the reason’s I write about disabilities is because I have several learning disabilities.

One of the most frustrating things about learning disabilities is that they are a hidden. Outwardly there is often no indication that someone has a learning disability. My primary learning disability is dysgraphia. It is a form of dyslexia that effects my motor skills. As a result I have extremely messy handwriting and serious coordination issues. My handwriting is a constant source of embarrassment and discomfort for me. In school I had several teachers attempt to cure my messy handwriting or lack of care by making me re-write any paper that was less than perfect. Of course this only made me hate school and writing even more. As an adult I deal with almost constant joking/ribbing about my messy handwriting. I try to make light of the situation but at times it really bothers me. Also, I’ve been ridiculed and publicly derided by more than one clerk when I tried to write a check. More than once this has included enduring a clerk calling me stupid. Of course, I have learned to loudly ask for the person who handles ADA complaints.

So you may be wondering why I write about something that bothers me so much. I hope by writing about my experiences I will help others. Maybe I can help enlighten someone who believes that learning disabilities are an excuse. Maybe I can help a parent of a child who is struggling with the same problems I did. Or just maybe I can inspire someone to dream big and achieve in spite of what others say you can’t do.

Hopefully it won’t take me as long to write the next installment in this series.