AM I DEVELOPING DYSLEXIA?

"AM I DEVELOPING DYS-LEXIA?”

Yesterday I met a gentleman who, on hearing of my interest in dys-lexia, commented that he thought that with his advancing age – he was 70 ish – that he might be developing dys-lexia..

He explained that he finds himself reversing numbers, saying things back to front, and  forgetting names or words – things that he, and other members of the public often see as being indicators of dys-lexia.

I explained to him that dyslexia is not deterioration of the brain, nor a disease that a person picks up or develops, and indeed that there is nothing ‘wrong’ with the dys-lexic’s brain.  I briefly outlined my belief that it is most commonly related to some traces of left handedness (or at least left-sidedness) in the person’s family, and that it is actually genetic and normal.   He immediately acknowledged left- handedness in his father’s family, so I went on to explain that he was probably just slightly into the dys-lexic mode, that he would always have been of this style, but in his younger years would have gone to quite considerable lengths to hide it, and overcome it.  This would have been helped by fact that his degree of dys-lexia was probably minor, and the added fact that he was obviously a very intelligent guy.

It strikes me that human beings are social animals and are generally highly motivated to be accepted by others.  In our great need to be acceptable, and therefore ‘normal’, we tend to try to minimize any negative points of difference.  We do this both consciously and unconsciously – especially when we are young and vulnerable, and when peer pressure is greatest – seldom noticing just how much effort and energy it takes to do so. 

In this way some of us are quite successful at hiding our dys-lexic tendencies from other people, and indeed from ourselves.  (I have met some distinctly diesel people who become quite agitated, defensive and angry when some insensitive intruder suggests that they might be 'dyslexic' – their anger observably being based in their presumption that there is something ‘wrong’ with the dys-lexic person.)  For others of us who are significantly dys-lexic, our style may be quite overt and beyond our control, and we couldn’t hide it if we tried.  In reality most members of the public are not at all concerned if some particular person is dys-lexic or not.

As we get older most of us get a little more comfortable with ourselves, and a little less hung-up on what other people may, or may not think of us.  Being more comfortable with who we are, and how we are, we also figure that it is perhaps not all that important to cover up some of our personal foibles, and so they start to show through.  It is also the case that the older we are the less energy we have, and as with the gentleman I met, the evidence of his dys-lexic style was starting to come through.

No, we don’t suddenly (or even slowly) develop dys-lexia in our later years.  We are born with a  brain-wiring style, and we have the ability to exercise some control over our own presentation of this.  With advancing age, and retreating energy our priorities change and we let things slip through because we know that they simply do not matter.

Laughton King

June 2012