for people with dyslexia? You might think that it's a lie but dyslexia really shapes a worldview, and shifts a person's cognitive bias toward environmental exploration, holistic system thinking, and non-textual navigation. Just because a dyslexic brain processes written language with a 'word reading bottleneck', it naturally compensates by hardwiring itself to evaluate macro-level patterns, physical spaces, and human dynamics. This fundamentally alters how an individual perceives problems, communicates with others, and senses surroundings.
A summary of how this so-called 'neurodevelopmental' difference changes a worldview includes the following core areas:
Where a linear brain is content to exploit and sequence known rules, a dyslexic worldview is inherently experimental. This drives an ongoing search for invention, discovery, and macro-level connections in both physical spaces and abstract thought. Because text-heavy formats don't act as the primary filter for reality, individuals with dyslexia view their surroundings through an innate spatial-visual lens. That's a natural, hardwired ability to perceive, process, and understand the world through shapes, patterns, images, and spatial relationship. Instead of thinking primarily in words or structured logic (like a checklist), someone with this 'lens' automatically visualizes concepts, maps out physical or abstract spaces in their mind, and recognizes visual patterns instantly.
Navigating a world built almost exclusively for linear, phonics-based thinkers requires constant mental overhead. From avoiding captchas to parsing complex transportation signs, modern day's daily life presents invisible friction points. Overcoming early academic struggles forces dyslexics to build creative coping strategies and alternative paths to goals. While this can cause elevated anxiety if left unsupported, it frequently fosters an adult worldview deeply rooted in entrepreneurial thinking, resilience, and a lack of fear regarding unconventional paths. I do hope that you can see where my weird sort of character originates. It's been a long life with lots of coping, anxiety, resilience, clumsiness, fearlessness and aparant awkwardness
As someone who is studying the brain and doing research, I can feel your sentiments.
Thank you for sharing this so openly. I think what struck me most is the way you’ve learned to turn what may have once felt like obstacles into different ways of seeing, navigating, and understanding the world. What you describe as coping, anxiety, clumsiness, awkwardness, and taking unconventional paths also sounds like a life spent constantly adapting, finding your own routes when the obvious one wasn’t designed with you in mind. There’s something incredibly human and beautiful in that.
Perhaps the most interesting part isn’t simply seeing the world differently, but having spent so much of your life learning how to translate that different way of seeing into a world that often expects everyone to think, read, communicate, and move in the same way.
And honestly, I don’t think weird is necessarily the right word for your character. Different, perhaps. Layered, certainly. And shaped by a remarkable amount of resilience.
Thank you for letting us see a little more of the person behind the apparent awkwardness. ❤
And please remember, you’re not alone. I have my own emotional struggles and coping mechanisms, and I can trace some of their roots back several decades. I’ve tried many times to work through them, and I haven’t always succeeded. There have been plenty of moments when it felt exhausting and discouraging.
But I’ve learned that falling short doesn’t mean we stop trying. Sometimes progress is simply finding the strength to begin again.
So keep trying, even when it’s exhausting. Be gentle with yourself along the way, and never lose hope. We’re all works in progress. :)
@val70 You’re very welcome. And I’m sorry you had to go through so much bullying and had opportunities taken away from you because of it. Not getting into university at eighteen must have been particularly painful, especially when you were already having to navigate so many challenges. But I really admire what you said: “I won’t give up either.” Perhaps that is what matters most. And I don’t believe there is such a thing as being too late to do something.
I completed my PhD at 45. When I finished my engineering degree at 21, my priority was to stand on my own feet, so I didn’t continue with my studies at that time. After working for neatly 15 years, I was laid off, and fortunately, that unexpected change gave me an opportunity to return to education. I completed my master’s and then went on to do my PhD.
Interestingly, when I was growing up, some people hurt me by telling me I was “dumb” and “brainless.” Life has a funny way of healing those old wounds. 😊 I was eventually given the opportunity to study and explore the brain, which makes me smile and reminds me that life can be very kind. Sometimes, it gives us another chance when we least expect it. I still struggle with focus and emotional issues, but I am hopeful that I will get over it before I die :)
So no, I don’t think it’s ever too late. Sometimes our paths simply take longer, twist in unexpected directions, or lead us somewhere we never originally imagined. Perhaps there are still some wonderful chapters waiting for you too. ❤
@val70 Haha, now that is a serious dilemma! 😂 Another body or another brain… perhaps the safest answer is to give yourself a little time before deciding which one to take on next! ❤
All our brains are different and it is difficult sometimes to comprehend how others see the world. I learned to read when very young and find it difficult comprehend how anyone can find it difficult. On the other hand I can’t sing in tune, am an uncoordinated idiot at sport and can’t draw or make anything with my hands. I can’t understand how other people can do those things!
