All through grade school, I got extra help with schoolwork. If I got a D, I was very happy. If I got a C-minus (C-), I had achieved greatness. A's and B's were a kingdom I could never enter.
Once my teacher, Miss Mills, had given me a list of ten spelling words. My mother and I went over the list until I knew those words. I felt great. I thought, "Wow! This time, I'm going to pass". The next day, I went into the classroom and began to write down the words. The first word was carper. I wrote that one down: c-a-r-p-e-t. I was feeling pretty confident. Then came neighbor-I wrote down the letter n. Then rhythm-I knew there was an r. Suburban-I wrote s-u-b. My confidence failed me. I had gone from 100 percent to maybe a D-minus. Where did the words go?
Some people talk about informationsliding offyour brain. That was my life. I was an underachiever (未能充分发挥学习潜力者).
Now I know I have dyslexia(诵读困难症). A person with dyslexia might see the as teh, and bird as brid. My brain learns differently. A learning disability can really change the way you feel about yourself. Now I know that even if I learn differently, I can still be filled with greatness.
Today when I visit schools as an actor, director, and co-author of children's books, I tell children that everyone has something special inside. It's our job to find out what that is and get it out, and give it to the world as a gift.
