Dyslexia, Great Musicians, & Empty Toilet Paper Rolls

I'm the dyslexic one in the family, so things I have problems with are frequently frustrating, sometimes embarrassing.  I turn several shades of vermillion when I watch the "normal" members of my family whiz through sight-reading piano scores, reading (and understanding) literary award-winning novels, and enjoying all those complicated forms of the written language that leave me scratching my head.  But there seems to be one thing I'm really good at that no one else in the family can do.

I can change out empty toilet paper rolls.

I read the article on Andrae Crouch recently.  At the very bottom of the article the writer went into some detail about Crouch's dyslexia:

His success came despite a lifelong struggle with dyslexia. To create, he would make drawings that allowed him to grasp the concept. For the Jackson song, he drew a mirror with an image in it.

"I memorized everything through sight, the shape of the word," Crouch told The Associated Press in 2011. "Some things that I write, you'll see a page with cartoon pictures or a drawing of a car -- like a Ford -- or a flag. I still do it on an occasion when a word is strange to me."

"So when I finish a song, I thank God for bringing me through," he continued. "You have to press on and know your calling. That's what I've been doing for all my life. I just went forward."

Crouch said his dyslexia contributed to his success.

"If I was sharp in every area, I might be too big-headed or something," he said.

----By Robert Jablin, 01/09/2015, 2:23am EST. LOS ANGELES
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/01/08/us/ap-us-obit-andrae-crouch.html?_r=0

 

After reading the article, I sat for a long time wondering why in the world the educational field considers dyslexia a learning disability?  I mean, its pure genius, the way Mr. Crouch worked around his dyslexic issues.  And look at the results.  That sure doesn't seem like a disability to me.  It sounds more like thinking outside the box and brilliance that defies definition.

Behavioral issues aside, there are so many ways to learn besides the ONE WAY all those educational experts tell us how we should be learning. Could it be that the educational definition of "normal learning" is actually a disability? After all, their single approach to learning means their brains only think on one level. Maybe those of us who think outside the box are the real geniuses.

To emphasize my point, take empty toilet paper rolls.  Members of my family, whom those high-ranking, highly educated, degree-saturated professor-type gurus consider "normal learners", can't seem to change an empty toilet paper roll.  But here I am, a dyslexic, and I change out empty toilet paper rolls.  All the time.  It appears to me the difficulty may be in their thinking.  That is to say, they think inside the roll.  I think outside the roll.  I see the whole picture: the empty toilet paper roll, the full toilet paper roll, and the toilet paper roll holder.

One-dimensional thinking versus multi-dimensional thinking.  Sounds like a no-brainer, at least to me.  I'll take the multi-dimensional thinking.  Unfortunately, that takes (more) work and the necessity of seeing students as individuals with their own unique strengths.  In the educational field, multi-dimensional thinking means that teachers must think outside the box.  Or outside the roll.  And that means changing.

In the meantime, I'm still trying to figure out how to teach the "normal learners" in my family how to change a frickin' empty toilet paper roll.