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  • *City and Typewriter Sounds*

  • *Music Fades In*

  • 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."

*City and Typewriter Sounds*

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