In my Internet meanderings, I come across a wide variety of content. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, some of it is brilliant. It is to this latter category that I place the following post, called “It’s not a disability. It’s a superpower.”
Emme Rogers is dyslexic, a condition that some might call disabling. However, Ms. Rogers has learned over the years that it’s all in how you look at things. “A lot of people are told they have ‘disabilities’ that make them incapable or less capable,” she writes. “That’s hogwash and if you believe them, then you are giving yourself a disability.” The secret, she maintains, is that in learning how to work with her issues, she has trained herself to approach life in different ways, and that has proven to be of benefit. (Not to mention that she uses the word “hogwash”, which is one of my all-time favorite terms.)
Rogers has discovered one of the secrets of the universe: if you see yourself one way, then you are that way. Those who think of themselves as cursed tend to view everything as disastrous; those who view their lives as blessed welcome every opportunity to prove themselves. Rogers further writes “I’m lucky, because I have two of the most amazing parents that never treated me as if I had a disability (because its not a disability, it’s a superpower — remember) and they had the same expectations of me as of my siblings (and in fact emphasized that my sister and I had identical IQs).”
As parents, we have more control over how our children think of themselves than we sometimes realize. They are watching us all the time, and listening to what we say, especially about them. If they think of themselves as somehow inferior to others, they will carry that around for a long time. Kids who might otherwise go on to develop strong skills might be set back years because of their own lack of belief in themselves as being intelligent, creative, persistent, or even just “not as good” as another student.
Follow Emme’s parents’ example, and insist to your child that they are as capable as any other kid out there — and if you are, in fact, dealing with developmental issues, you can teach your child something valuable by letting them know that being different is actually a gift. And who knows? They might discover a better way to approach life that could have a profound impact on us all.
