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I have dyslexia. Um, I've had it my entire life.
I think I was diagnosed with it
when I was... young.
I was diagnosed with it when I was in third grade.
It was very serious. I- I felt very stupid and dumb
and wishing that I could just disappear.
Really what we need is just more
education on the subject of dyslexia.
Dyslexia is, you know, a broad term
for more of a language-based disability in reading.
Your eyes, basically, take
pictures in a manner that either sets
words or letters backwards, or you
misplace words when you read.
Just, the way they think and act is a lot different.
I can write, but it's slow.
So co-workers can sit there and whip out
reports, and I'm still working on it.
So they assume that since you can't read a
paragraph correctly that you are... stupid
or you're incapable of thinking.
It's just the way that their brain was
designed, and... there's nothing wrong with
that. You know, if you saw someone who
physically couldn't walk up the stairs,
society wouldn't say "What's your problem,"
or "You need to learn to do it on your own."
When they do set up the programs,
they're set up by people a lot of times
that don't have... dyslexia. Therefore,
they're set up wrong from the beginning.
I've had everything from teachers
telling me that my second grader isn't
trying hard. To teachers saying, you know,
I'm not going to help your son unless he
comes and asks for help.
They'll give you more time.
That's one of the answers in school for dyslexic people.
And it cracks me up, because it's just more time to
stare at the book. Well they read slower
so they ne- need more time. Well they
can't read at all.
Uh, my full name is Aaron Austin. And the stuff that I do
with Mrs. Jen helps me read.
When I started working, actually working with him one-on-one
he was in fifth grade, and he was still
reading at a kindergarten level.
It was very... um... he needed that one-on-one attention.
Well, I think she sees a lot of herself in Aaron.
That was me. And I took Aaron under my wing because...
...no child should be left that way. Ever.
I like Mrs. Jen, because she is nice to me
and she understands me.
Society makes you feel very isolated
when you have it, because you don't learn
the same way as other people.
I know that Bill was... segregated from the rest of
the class and put into special ed classes.
I would be sent out to a separate trailer
and that's why I didn't really have the
English classes and the Math classes
because to stick a 12 year old kid in
with highly, highly mentally handicapped
people for the majority of his education
when he's younger, and he has no... mental
issues... uh... affects a kid.
They gave us a proficiency exam, which was supposed to
tell you what your goals and dreams were going to be in the future.
Teacher took me in a room and I said "So how did I do
on the test"? And he said I could be a
trash collector, or I could work in the
military and those were my two options in life.
Uh... In fifth grade, a fifth grade
teacher got frustrated with me, and he
held me after class. Told me that I would
never make it... in... junior high, and that
they were going to beat me up, and that, uh...
I was going to learn my lesson eventually.
I think 12 or 13 years old, I started
breaking into a liquor cabinet, and I would
mark the bottles, and then
fill them back with water after I got drunk...
...uh, to kill the pain, you know?
They don't understand the agony... of...
I want something, so bad. But it's just not for me.
Aaron was a totally different story because he has
severe dyslexia. He came home one day
and... he was really upset. And they- I said why
and they said because they gave him a
proficiency exam and they told him he
could be a trash collector, or he could
be in the military.
He was often times, just passed to the next grade level
um... because... whelp, its the next teachers problem
you know? I'm not going to deal with it right now.
Now I realize that the
teachers don't know how to teach against it.
And so, when we first started, it was
everyday for two hours. And most of that
time was a lot of dealing with his
frustrations of... feeling... uh, inferior
in-inside and on the outside.
And he said to me...
..."I think I annoy my teachers by asking
them so many questions, and so I just
spend my whole day, my whole school day
trying to disappear." He would ask,
"What was the word?" and she said she didn't
have time to teach each kid
individually. Is the goal here for him to
read like you, because that's never going
to happen, or is the goal for him to gain
knowledge and learn?
You know, we decided to pull Aaron out of school
because... because no mom likes to, um...
see their kids be hurt, and... or broken.
When I first met him, he didn't care because it too-
it hurt too much.
I was dropping Aaron off at school one time, and he said
that the teachers were mad at him, and I
said, "Why?" And he said, "Because when I read
I hold my book upside down, and they tell me
that I'm goofing off. But Dad, I need
to hold my book upside down so I can read."
And I said, "I know, son."
I was worried that if Aaron continued on the path that
he was on... that he was going to hurt himself.
Aaron and I have spent many times crying together...
and, uh... just letting him know it's going to be okay.
you know? I will never let you go.
Ever. I'm gonna hold your hand the whole way.
And then the funny thing is... uh, is that they
uh, told us they were going to put together
this special program they never lost a
kid like Aaron again and then I should
give them a chance. And then, I believe
that they discontinued Mrs. Jen's
program six months later and got rid of
her, and ended the entire thing that they
were going to set up for Aaron so every
kid that's lost in that school is right
back at Ground Zero. So I just don't
think it's changed. I mean, that was 35
years ago that that happened to me, and
Aaron... got pulled out of public school
because he couldn't read on the overhead
projector... one year ago.
I like to go snowboarding... basketball... baseball.
Life isn't just about dyslexia.
I mean, it doesn't go away. You just learn to work around it.
I have Aaron listen to his
books on tape, now. Fourth grade year
he read, uh, two million words or he listened
to two million words. In a year's time he
went from reading kindergarten level, to
5th grade. Anybody who reads 2 million
words and has a 98-percent
comprehensions in school... tested... is not stupid.
My favorite book I have ever read
is "American Sniper."
My goal is to give him the skills so that he can
eventually go to higher education, and then on
into the workforce. And... I want to be there
when he graduates and just say,
"You did it, kiddo."