| Dyslexia is a superpower?
I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. As a lover of the Marvel world! As an utter geek, nerd and dork – I feel I now need a cape/hammer! Or the ability to do a superhero landing. It seems to be all the craze at the moment and there is a fair bit of a storm around it. As much as I like it; it also does not sit right with me either. I realise dyslexia is a bit of a beast! I realise it has had its moments in the shadows and that now, we are trying to give people the courage, the pride and vision that has been sorely lacking. But does saying that dyslexia is a superpower fully do the journey justice? I mean, as any geek worth their nerd credentials knows, all good superheroes need their back story. All good superheroes need their struggle and their strife. It is what inspires us! Makes us root for them. When we see them ‘get back up’ we cheer because we see how far they had fallen and still managed to get back up again. To keep fighting. For me, dyslexia has both a light side and a dark side. It is a lifetime apprenticeship! We can view it as a superpower but we also need to acknowledge the downsides. Those days where dyslexia kicked our arse and left us crying (don’t lie, we have all had them) or those days where people just can’t quite get what is coming to you so easily. We have to be taught to wield and use this ‘superpower’ just as those that go to Hogwarts or the Jedi Temple do. It comes with its light side and dark side – and both are strong within it. Equally, as the saying goes ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. Dyslexia does give the person great powers. Or gifts, or skills or talents or, in some people’s minds, curses. Not all who have this ‘power’ of dyslexia want it. Many want rid of it. Many feel alone and broken by it. I was certainly one of those for a while. Maybe it is the acknowledgement of the light and the dark that is most needed to wield dyslexia well. That knowledge that because someone else did; you can too! Not just saying that it is a ‘superpower’ but that there needs to be a place where we can be taught how to wield this power? So, maybe, it is for those of us who feel confident with this ‘power’ that is dyslexia to wield it with a sense of responsibility. To share both the light side and the dark side of it. After all, not all superheros wear capes. A superhero can just as well be called a role model. (How many geeky references can you spot?) |
