Today I watched a wonderful trailer for a movie about being Dyslexic at The Big Picture Movie. This trailer pierced my heart because it is exactly what my oldest son needs to hear. He’s not dyslexic, but he is learning disabled, and the message is still spot on: owning your disability allows you to take control of it.
I don’t believe there is anything more important for a learning disabled person to hear, except, perhaps, that you are not alone. We are not alone. We walk among each other without even realizing our connections, but they exist. When we take ownership of our disabilities and are not afraid to admit to them, we begin to see each other, learn from each other, and triumph together.
My son has not learned to take ownership of his disability, but it is the mission of his parents and his school that this be the year in which he makes that leap. It is a leap of faith, a leap that requires belief in not only himself but in those of us who have promised to be there for him. There are a lot of reasons why he has not had this faith. The system let him down in so many ways that it would take a full length book to explain them all. Now he is getting the help he needs and slowly learning to trust again. And I know that when he finally is able to make that leap, there will be no one more proud of him than I am.