Dyslexia is not a disability – it’s a gift. It means that I, and many other dyslexic thinkers can portray the world through images because we think in images. I can build worlds, freeze the frame, walk around and touch. I can read people’s faces, drawings, buildings, landscapes and all things in the visual world more quickly than many of my non-dyslexic friends. I paint with words; they are my colours.
~ Sally Gardner (Davis Dyslexia Association International)
Growing up, I had no idea why I had such a hard time reading and comprehending what I read. In my day, elementary school classes would divide the classes readers into three or four groups in the early grades: good, so-so, and poor. I always wanted to be in a good reader’s group but always found myself in the poor group with a good reader (a classmate) as our tutor. I never knew why I was having such a horrible time reading things I wanted to read.
It was not until I joined the USAF found that I was dyslexic. Reading is still a struggle, but I, too, believe as Sally Gardner believes. Those of us who have dyslexia have the opportunity to see the world differently. Personally, I think that dyslexia contributed to my ability to express myself through art and other endeavors that required creativity while solving problems.
I included Sally Gardner’s poem, Disobeys Me, with my suite of images in the gallery named Words that I Cannot Spell, which I believe strikes a cord that many with dyslexia identify.
I want to thank Hunt and Gather Antiques for allowing me to photograph the incredible collection of letters in their backlot.
