"Don't get frustrated with yourself. There are things that you're going to struggle with. Lean into the things that you do well, those strengths...and don't dwell on how people treat you. You're smart and probably smarter than a lot of other people. The world isn't...
Chat with College Coach Kara Matejka
"It is incredibly common for students to get to college and just question everything. That's when all the wheels fall off...What am I even doing here? " — Kara Matejka, College Coach When all the excitement of arriving at college for the first time, getting to know...
Getting into Film and TV with Isla Mcdade-Brown
"I think that dyslexia is hard. And I think that it's OK to admit that it's hard...and also admit that sometimes it does really suck...but I think that when you find your niche, and that can only really come from taking random opportunities...it really helps you find...
Question: Advice for Jobs Good for Dyslexic Creatives? [Premium]
Someone recently asked this question because his previous job came to an end and he wanted find a job that better matched his dyslexic strengths. It’s hard to answer that question specifically for any one person because a great deal of variation from person-to person can exist within the strengths associated with dyslexia. INTERESTS AND STRENGTHS That being said, it is a good idea to take stock of your interests and strengths and to ask people who know you well for their opinions. Sometimes it’s hard to identify your strengths yourself. Are there things you love doing, whether inside your career or out, that give you ‘ “flow” and great satisfaction? If there is more than one activity, can you think of any factors in […]
Chat with Tristan Morris: Audiobook Narrator for The Dyslexic Advantage
Our updated 2023 version of The Dyslexic Advantage is available in audiobook from places like Amazon / Audible, and Brock and I enjoyed hearing Tristan's narration, so we reached out to him for this interview. Brock listens to books at a high speed of playback and he...
Dyslexic Advantage Travels to England
In a whirlwind trip, Brock met up with Dr. Helen Taylor of the University of Strathclyde and Cambridge University (Dyslexia as an Evolutionary Advantage) to speak at GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) - the United Kingdom's Code and Cypher School, Imperial...
On Writing: A Guest Post
Recently, a bilingual teacher in my Dyslexia for Teachers class shared his experiences being a dyslexic writing in both English and Chinese. With his permission, I am sharing some of his reflections: "Under an educational system that attaches great importance to...
Not Over Hurdles, But Around Them
If you have moderate to severe dyslexia, chances are that you've encountered many obstacles on path to higher education and career. The farther one gets in education, the more one can recognize that much of education deals with writing about things rather than doing...
Accommodations at Work?
Question: "My work is increasingly requiring writing and I find myself getting in trouble because of mistakes. I have not formally been diagnosed, but am thinking that it might help me do even better at my job. What advice do you have?" Answer: Based on what...
From High School Drop-Out to VP of Engineering [Premium]
There are some people who are so insightful into their cognitive processes that talking to them is pure gold. Gary MacGregor is one of those people – he’s a VP of an electronic device company and recent PhD recipient from the University of Texas at Austin. He has a remarkable story and has been very generous in sharing what he has learned. Gary: “I’m a high school dropout. My parents were high school dropouts. I’m the first male in the family to go to college.” When Gary dropped out of school, he took a job working an oil refinery – a lucrative career for a person without a high school diploma. While he was working 12 hour shifts 84 hours a week, he would exercise […]
Better Living Through Technology with Auto-Text and Macros [Premium]
=Here’s how you can simplify writing and other work tasks using technology. AUTO-TEXT If you use Gmail or Outlook for your email, you may have already see examples of automatic text. As an example, if you are typing an email with Smart Compose turned on in Gmail, typing “how” will generate a prompt for “how are you” in lighter text, so that you you hit the tab key and have the rest of the phrase written. The settings are under the Gear settings at top right. This can be very convenient, a time saver, and hack that is likely to reduce the chance of typos or other mistakes, but there is a privacy dilemma that Google may be accessing what you write (see more […]
A Career of Compassion: Behavioral Health Nurse Toni Howell
I first came across Toni from an article that I read in Minority Nurse. Toni had been writing about the successes and challenges of dyslexia and the nursing profession. I was impressed by the tenacity Toni showed when on her circuitous path through an accelerated...