"Schultz, founder and director of The Writers Studio, chronicles the challenges he faced as a poet, fiction writer, and teacher that led him to see the aesthetic and psychological value of creating a writing persona. He has long confronted a pervasive inner critic...
![Dyslexia and Farming: Matt Baker [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Matt-Baker-Dyslexic-Advantage.jpg)
“If somebody asked me if I could live my life again without dyslexia, I would say no, because you recognise things and you do things differently to the way everybody else does, and that gets you to the front of the queue. You see things which are very obvious to you. I’m very practical and visual – that’s what I’m drawn to. And you find ways around challenges and it gives you a different perspective on life.” — Matt Baker of Our Farm in the Dales In the United Kingdom, research has suggested that one in ten people are dyslexic, but besides being over-represented in schools of engineering and art design, dyslexia is also found more commonly in agricultural students (one in five). […]
![Rogue Hero: Mastermind of the Special Air Service, David Stirling [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/David-Stirling-400x250.jpg)
“The boy Stirling is quite mad, quite, quite mad. However, in a war there is often a place for mad people.” — General Bernard Montgomery A recent documentary on the founding of the British Special Air Service mentioned that the unconventional mastermind was, in fact, dyslexic. David Stirling has a very non-linear and unpredictable start to his adult life. He started at Cambridge, but was thrown out in his first year because of a variety of poor performances and vices including gambling. He tried to make his way as an architect, then artist, then became interested in the possibility of becoming a mountaineer and reservist in the Scots Guards. David was in America working as a cowboy when the World War II began. He […]
![The Voice Inside Your Head [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Voice-Inside-Your-Head-400x250.png)
“When I was eight years old, a school psychologist gave me a bit of advice about my brain. He said I may have a form of brain damage, and he wanted to send me to a special class. I was a classic dyslexic: I wasn’t born with a good memory, and I couldn’t concentrate; reading and writing were always a challenge for me. Throughout my school career, I learned by having my mother and friends read the syllabus to me; I forced myself to memorize it and what I didn’t get, which was most of it, I just didn’t get. I had no future because I just couldn’t grasp what was being taught to me. In twelve years of school, I couldn’t read a book […]
![From High School Drop-Out to VP of Engineering [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/From-High-School-Dropout-April-2022-Premium-3-400x250.png)
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 […]
![Marlon Brando, Dyslexia, and Method Acting [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Marlon-Brando-Wikimedia-Screenshot-March-2022-Premium-400x250.png)
There’s a new book out this year on method acting, and it mentions Marlon Brando, his mercurial temperament, his dyslexia, and his method acting. Apparently he had ambivalent feelings about taking one of the leading roles in A Streetcar Named Desire, and he was told to show up at the playwright’s (Tennessee Williams’) house in order to clinch the deal. After hitchhiking to Provincetown, he found Williams and his friends in the dark, occasionally getting up to go to the bathroom in the woods. Apparently, a fuse had blown and a toilet was broken and neither Williams nor any of his artist friends knew how to fix either. Brando immediately made an impression, fixing both, then reading for the lead character, Stanley Kowalski. Needless to […]
Lord Rogers revolutionized architecture as well as the way people thought about city planning. At the peak of his success, he reconfigured his architecture firm as a charity. Rogers recently passed away at 88, but his legacy will live on. ...
![Connecting the Dots with John Chambers of CISCO [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Connecting-the-dots-400x250.jpg)
“A lot of leaders would say they’re curious. I can tell you from personal experience that most leaders are not. They don’t ask a lot of questions, rarely challenge conventional wisdom, stick with what they know, and often turn to sources that reinforce their existing point of view… my curiosity about things I don’t understand has been a critical factor in my success as a leader.” – John Chambers I recently came across a book review of Chambers’ book by Emma Wallace, a fellow dyslexic who works in a very different industry, fashion. Despite these differences, Chambers’ description of strengths resonated. “Not only has dyslexia meant that for John (and myself) it forced him to learn important skills early on: persistence, finding your […]
"Jershika dedicated her song to the fourth and fifth grade teachers who helped Maple discover she had dyslexia, and it was filled with emotion and power..." — Taste of Country Jershika Maple described the alienation she felt as a 4th grader in Louisiana being...
Social entrepreneur Kate Griggs from the UK has a new book called "This is Dyslexia." Recently, Fernette had the chance to catch up with Kate Griggs, founder of the global charity Made by Dyslexia. It's mission is to "help the world to understand, value and...
![George Church: Genomics Pioneer [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Genomics-Pioneer-400x250.jpg)
“Your genetics is not your destiny.” – George Church Harvard Professor George Church was shaking things up 3 decades ago when he fathered the human genome project and put himself first in line to have his genome sequenced. The world knows a lot about him, including his dyslexia, narcolepsy, blood type, and even colonoscopy. He argued that the benefits of sharing personal information outweighed privacy concerns. “It’s all too easy to dismiss the future. People confuse what’s impossible today with what’s impossible in the future.” – George Church George Church has done a lot of controversial things in his life and he’s continuing to do them, but what is not in doubt now is that he is at the center of some […]
Congratulations to Steven Erickson and his brother Mark for winning the title of Lego Masters! We previously interviewed Steven in our June 2021 issue where he talked about his dyslexia and how making things always came easy to him although reading and spelling...
