As a writer, I've always been so impressed with Merphy's ability to analyze so many aspects of books, not just the plots or characters. She's a very attentive reader.
Dyslexic people can analyze and see the big picture a lot more easily than most people. It’s a benefit and comes very handy in most hard English and art classes. It’s just one elevated skill to help make up for the missing skills.
I had no idea you are dyslexic. Mad respect. Rando on the internet: 'But you're a BookTuber! You can't be dyslexic.' I hate such comments. The other person might seem so successful and able doesn't mean that they aren't struggling. Everyone has struggles of their own. Edit: typo.
i'm Script/Screen writer and in a process in writingmy first book and i'm both Dyslexic and ADHD. yea. i write standing. pen on exam sheets. hey... what ever works right!?
I hear you with the hate comments. On Sasha Alsberg's channel, abookutopia, she told her story about her dyslexia and a rude user, don't remember his name, said, there is no such thing as dyslexia learn to read you bleeping idiot. Not his actual words, but I am not writing the nasty thing he said. I also hate how dyslexia has become nothing more than we just reverse letters, or we can't read at all. It's so much more than that, depending on the person who has it. With my dyslexia, my brain skips words like, is, as, of, and small words like that and always had a nasty teacher correct me loudly; I also have trouble with adjectives. I have to stop reading to look up what they mean and how to pronounce them.
I didn't find out that I was dyslexic until about 3 weeks before graduation. It's not especially bad. Then 3.5 years later I was diagnosed with ADHD. I was told that put together it's no wonder why I've struggled with reading my whole life. School system where I grew up was comparably awful. They pretty much just thought I was stupid. Funny thing with the typing however, I was such a fast typer with so few mistakes the computer teacher wanted to sign me up for some advanced thing. I declined because I had better things to do than school. Like work on writing my books. Now I'm a published author.
My daughter is 9 and dyslexic.... it's super tough to watch as a parent. I want to be able to help her so badly but I can't. It's so encouraging to see success stories like yours. I think she would LOVE reading, but it's very difficult at this age.
First of all, I'm not a professional, but I have picked up a few things and find researching things like this fascinating because I want to homeschool my kids and need to be prepared for whatever brains they have. A couple of my siblings also he dyslexia, so what I know so far came from my mom. Try the Open Dyslexic font. It is free to download, I found it on dafont.com. I know she said it didn't work for her, but I tutored a 2nd grader for a little while and it was the only way I got her to even try to read anything. It also works well for my family members with dyslexia. Another thing is that apparently a lot of people with dyslexia read better on paper that isn't white. The specific color is different for everyone, so you will need to experiment and see or have her tested (one of my sibling was told by a professional what color they read better on). What you could do then it have a piece of clear plastic in the color to place over pages so she can read it better. It also helps if there is a line on it she can put under the line she is read or that the plastic is more like a window in something that blocks the rest of the page so she can only see a couple lines. Also, like she said that the typing program her parents had her do helped a lot there are a bunch of activities to help train the dyslexic brain. Especially since a lot more research has been done the kids growing up now are really blessed by having so many resources to be taught the way their brain needs. I'm sure you could easily either talk to a professional about activities to do with her or research activities and just try different things till you find something that works.
You sound like a great parent that will be patient with her and that's amazing. In sure she has so many other strengths and I'm sure she will do great in life!! Good luck to you and your daughter!
As someone who have dyslexic and only start reading by myself (in my native language) in fith grade . What help me my parents read to me but sometimes they make me read it . Also they is book plushing\ font that can help dyslexic people that might her , plus maybe reading physical copy but also lasing to a book might help. But a book I think you and your daughter maybe like called Out My Mind, it made reazie that I'm not alone by the fact you smart but have disabilities . She will be fine
my 7 year old daughter ie being tested this year. We, along with her school, believe she is dyslexic. She has been getting extra help and practice at school already and is doing well, but yes it is so hard as a parent because we just want to make it all better.
Ana Bencomo thanks for the encouragement. For laughs 💀 I just wanna let you know that I thought you said: to all of Murphy’s diagnosed subscribers (and Murphy herself, of course): you guys are amazing!!! Keep flying
I love this, I need "Dyslexics, we are not a monolith" on a shirt The word thing, I totally relate to, and actually I want to share a bit of my story I was diagnosed when I was 6, and I couldn't read or write at all. But I had a lot of support from teachers and my grandma. I would read out loud to the principal. I would read short books ALL THE TIME. And I would also write a bunch of short stories. I never did it because I loved it, it was always to "cure myself of dyslexia" In fifth grade, I realised that I won't be cured, this is a part of me. And then I realized that I actually liked reading and writing, and I looked at all the books I've been reading. All of them were written by people, they didn't just manifest. So... if they could write a book, why couldn't I? Dyslexia helped me discover my passion and love Also a quick reading comprehension tip, on days when my dyslexia is bad, after a reading a paragraph I ask myself "what did this say?" If can't answer it, I try again, until I can understand. If I can't do paragraph then I do a sentence. I break down the text
I love this! I relate a lot! I was diagnosed at 8 with adhd and dyslexia and couldn’t read or write. When I was 12 I managed to read my first book and I just read it 10 times bc I was so excited about it. Unfortunately my later high-school always had obligatory reading and I never managed to finish a book in time which made it horribly frustrating. But after I graduated I started reading for fun! It took me a long time but I’m so grateful for it! Thanks for the tip!
I almost never comment but I have to this time! I am 32, I have dyslexia, and I have a PhD in English literature. It was incredibly hard, but I did it because I love reading and writing. SO much of what you said in this video resonated with me. I actually think I didn't get diagnosed early in part BECAUSE I loved reading. Teachers were like "well it can't be that then!" despite the fact that I was failing EVERY SINGLE spelling test and struggling HARD in most other subjects as well. At one point they told my mom I had to read more or I was going to fail third grade and my mom was like "that is physically impossible" and so they brought a reading expert in who found I read (very slowly) at a 10th-grade level. They just couldn't fathom that I read constantly but could not spell even though the answer was SO OBVIOUS! I didn't get diagnosed until I was in university and figured it out myself and went and made an appointment at the learning centre. At that point, they were basically like "Well you have done an amazing job in adapting to your situation so we can't do much to help you unless you want ADHD medication." Then the first teacher I told about my dyslexia literally told me to drop out of my master's degree! She told me to drop out and find a job where I "never had to read and write" and then she paused and said, "actually, I'm not sure that exists." It was one of the worst moments of my life as someone who loved reading and wanted to be a writer! Now I have a PhD and am a published author, and I see how 50% of my struggle was the disability and 50% was just other ppl. People refusing to accommodate me, people mocking me, people making me feel ashamed, people labelling me as stupid, etc. If people were just kind so much struggling could be avoided! Thank you for making this video I think it will help a lot of people.
I am both dyslexic and adhd, I find reading hard for the same reason you mentioned as my brain skips around words. I can take away a total different meaning from text because my brain can’t “follow the bouncing ball” as I put it😂 I find it hard to read out loud and even mispronounce words I know how to say just my brain says “nope” at that moment. I miss spell words all the time which KILLS me, and I am super insecure about it especially now in college. But, I’m going to graduate school soon with these “learning disabilities”. I just now understand it’s apart of who I am and I can still accomplish my dreams with them. I can totally relate, thank you for this video🥺.
For dyslexic words are like faces Some time We mistake some for other like reading Sirius instead of severus Sometimes we look at a familiar word but not known what it is or how to pronounce it Just like looking at a familiar but not knowing who he/she is Forgetting the most basic spelling Like which, witch? 🤔 And what's most funny, the spelling of Dislexa dixlexyea dislexyia ?
Mistaking sirius and Severus is so relatable to me 😂😂😂 when I first read Harry Potter I just kept getting SO confused between these two in book 3, I literally kept thinking Severus used to be Jame's friend and then he bullied him or something and I felt like nothing was making sense for a big chunk of the book 🤣🤣 And if I'm being honest the whole story didn't get clear and right for me until I listened to the whole series second time in audiobook format lol
@@ayushsrivastava767 I realized I probably read something wrong but I couldn't figure out what and just continued with the story, I guess that was why I just kept confusing the characters over and over again 😂😂 About a year later when I listened to all the audiobooks I just had that 'OOOHH' moment where suddenly all the pieces fit together
I didn’t physically read a Harry Potter book till book 5. All the names I couldn’t pronounce made me so frustrated that I put it down. Thankfully my school had the audiobooks and my mom and I would listen to it on the way to school in the morning. By the time I read number 5 I was more comfortable because I at least knew how to pronounce the names of the characters. I still took me a year to finish it though.
yh i think the sirius and severus thing is a pretty general mistake, i'm not dyslexic but i do it all the time, starts with the same letter and ends with the same letters, i reckon it's pretty easy to confuse them when you're reading fast
I have dyscalculia, but I still related to what you were saying on a spiritual level. Instead of skipping over words, I skip over + and - signs which did a lot of good for me in math classes X__X
I am actually writting a character with dyscalculia! Her name is Pam. If there is anything you would like to add about the characters and what could be her relashionship with dyscalculia, just let me know!
As someone who didn’t know I had a form of dyslexia (numbers specifically numbers) until I was much older, I appreciate this video so much! I struggle with reading numbers daily, and have problems with letters when I’m tired. I’m a professional writer now, and man is it tiring at times! I feel you Merphy, and this video is so refreshing!
@@atharvadeshpande4749 it could be dysgraphia or dyscacula but neither are well known so saying dyslexia but with numbers is often the go to explanation for people with those two math learning disabilities.
Atharva Deshpande yes, Nat is correct, it’s dyscalculia. It’s unknown by many and commonly referred to as “number or math dyslexia”, so it’s just easier to say that. Especially when I struggle with letters on occasion.
Just curious here: do you find all numbers hard, no matter what they pertain to, or can you handle dates and years and it's other forms of numbers in writing that get you? You would love my first language teachers, who made it a rule that you should always prefer writing down cardinal and ordinal numbers, and never just the number (i.e. nineteen seventy two instead of 1972). This went on for the early years of schooling, so as to make sure we could write properly before being allowed the use of the "abreviations".
@@pipitameruje I have dyscacula as well and for me any arabic numeral and any font that makes letters look like numerals screw me up. I also can't comprehend math unless it has context. So trigonometry was a nightmare but doing the same thing in physics where the numbers represented something solid was easier. I can read analog clocks but only after a lot of practice which was the same with money. Money was slightly easier because the amount was connected to a physical object though when I'm tired I struggle. Working close at a retail store was always hard and I got really embarrassed when I kept messing up and had to call someone else to finish my cash count. I still don't have an official diagnosis but I scored highly on the initial tests, part of which had me read numbers and dots on dice. I got so many wrong because my brain read 2 as 5, or7 as 9, and just deleted or added dots to the dice. I've had problems forever but it was only after breaking down in the math tutoring center at university that anyone suggested that I had a problem. Until then teachers just assumed I wasn't putting the work in. When it comes to math concepts it's like describing what something is without you ever seeing the object and you're being taught in a alien language.
I can read bold print, but I can't read cursive or that really colorful picture that you showed in the video. My dyslexia was very very evident when I was little. My mom homeschooled us, and she would get so frustrated because I would be able to read my sight words one day, in the next day I would have no clue what they were. It was really frustrating and confusing for everybody. When we finally figured out that dyslexia was my struggle, she backed off quite a bit and let me learn at my own pace, while having me do exercises that trained my right and left brain to work together. I loved books, I wanted to be a newspaper editor, and at the time I didn't see dyslexia is being something that would mess with that. things were easier at home, but I was required to read at church sometimes, and that was a very humiliating experience. High school was hard. I think the thing that resonated with me the most was that you said something to the effect of "you are not dumb". I always have felt less intelligent, not as smart, not as quick as other people. More than anything, dyslexia tanked my self-esteem. I am now a stay-at-home mom of two little girls, and I'm homeschooling them right now. My 6-year-old is a fantastic reader and she loves books. I have honestly shed tears over the fact that reading has not been a struggle for her the way it was for me. I do my best to read to them every day, and I'm thankful that they are simpler books with simpler sentence structure. But I still trip over my words constantly, and my young girls are very gracious. I don't know if it's the dyslexia, but the biggest hindrance to my reading is the fact that I have to have absolute quiet. If my kids are playing in the background, or if the TV is going, I can't read anything. I listen to a lot of audiobooks for this reason.
I have the same problem when I'm reading in my native language and there's TV on (I live in Poland) but if I read in English and there's Polish in the background it doesn't bother me as much! I think it's very interesting 😂
I'm not dyslexic but I do have epilepsy. Much of what you said really resonated with me. I find my eyes flicker and skip lines altogether, or return to the beginning of the same line so I read the same one over again. Some days it's so bad the lines merge into each other and I can't focus at all. Thank you for being so forthright about your dyslexia and sharing your experience with us :)
Fellow epileptic! Thank you for talking about your reading difficulties as I sometimes experience similar things and haven't heard about others experiencing epilepsy in this way.
Not personally dyslexic, but I love hearing about others with various disabilities. I get migraines & am autistic, which both affect my ability to read. I have not read a print or Kindle book in years, partially bc the eye strain can trigger migraines... and even when I'm not actually bed bound, it's still painful and makes it hard to think. I have audio processing issues from the autism, which sounds...a lot like your experience with dyslexia tbh, if less severe, and with interpreting sound rather than print. So some days I just... don't listen, instead playing dumb phone games etc that are like mental potato chips. Satisfying in the moment, but worthless and not even all that good. Anyway yeah this was good to listen to, thanks for sharing 👍
Thank you, now I know how to explain audio processing issues to people. xD :) I've never connected that, it's actually a perfect description. Some days processing audio is harder and some it's easier, but words turn to mush. (I'm also autistic)
It always amazes me that you and Daniel are such avid, voracious readers, considering you would both classify yourselves in the moderate to severe range in this disability. It's so interesting how your strategies for overcoming dyslexia diverge from Daniel's in several ways. This was enlightening. Thank you for the video!
I do not suffer from dyslexia (luckily) so i couldn't related but I totally understand how difficult it is for you to deal with it ! And for you to talk about it and help others it's so nice and also important ! Cz if you can read this much while bearing with dyslexia,, that's motivating (inspiring too) 🌻🌻
I'm not dyslexic either. I was taught to read and write at five, and I still find myself skipping entire words every now and then, particularly when it's something I've written. I know what I wanted to write, so my brain kind of assumes I did it, even if the verb is missing on a sentence. I usually proofread twice, on different days, because of it. I do find it fascinating that so many dyslexics love reading. It's harder for them, but they still go at it. Specially once they know what's "wrong" with their reading, I guess it feels like a game. Beating a sentence is like beating a level. One of my cousins is dyslexic and that's how he describes it.
Drishti Bharath I am dyslexic and I thought it be fun to do a little experiment and type out what I read when I read this comment. For science! Super nice, by the way thank you. I am not a suffer from dyslexia (luckily) so I couldn’t relate but I totally understand how difficult it is for you to deal with it ! And for you to talk about it and help others it’s so nice and also important ! Cz if you can read this much while barely with dyslexia,, that’s motivating (inspiring too) Not too bad only got a few things mixed up
After watching this video, and having never known you were dyslexic, I find it a strange coincidence that you and Daniel Greene are the two BookTubers I actively follow on RU-vid.
Nice that you are talking about this, I didn't think it was nice in the past when people would joke if you made a little spelling mistake in the video title.
As a speech therapist, I have been waiting for you to do this video for months, since I heard in one of your videos that you have it. Thank you for sharing your story with us!
As someone who has the fun double whammy of disgraphia and dyslexia handwriting is my biggest bane I cant read it other people cant read it fun times all around. To answer your question bold text does mess me up but underlined words get me more.
.... I had no idea that disgraphia is a thing, but I think I might have that. I'd write letters backwards a lot when I was a kid, and I needed a therapy(?) to help me figure out b, d, p, and q. Even though I could read words with those letters fine. My normal handwriting is still pretty big as an adult. I might have to look into this more. Thanks!
I know it's not the same but as someone who has severe ADHD and that does make reading difficult, it's nice to see another book lover share the struggle because it's HARD and insanely frustrating to struggle at something that you love to do and sometimes it's really invalidating so thank you for sharing this with us.
Oh my goodness, I feel so bad that I didn't know about the bold thing! I feel like every time I sent audiobook notes, I tried to be helpful by putting the changes in bold, and now I know that it had the opposite effect!! :( So sorry! But I'm still very proud of your hard work, especially knowing how much time you invested in it. Thank you!
I’m not dyslexic (as far as I know), but even though I’ve always loved languages and reading, I’ve always been a slooooooooow reader and writer. My friends were always so much faster than me, and I’ve always felt bad about it. Now I have a degree in translation and spellcheck, and even though it still takes me way longer than any of my peers to work in this area, I can say I like doing my job. It’s harder to find employers that accept that I take longer than others to do my job, but at least I’m doing what I love. Sorry if it’s not pertinent to the topic, I just wanted to share that you can do anything you want in this world, don’t feel discouraged. I’m with you, my loves! Also, writing has always been my number one love in the world, but it takes me way too long to finish a story (queue to one of the reasons it took me a year longer to finish college, along with mental health struggles). But I still have faith I’ll be able to someday publish a book. Merphy is my inspiration. Thank you, Merphy.
When I saw you talking about not reading/liking Illuminae files because of dyslexia, I was thinking of whether you've talked about your dyslexia and today when I open my youtube, I see this. You're awesome.
I've never been tested for dyslexia, but I've suspected I have it for a while because of a lot of things similar to what you mentioned. Granted, I'm hesitant to self diagnose. All that said, I am a very slow reader. I love reading out loud but I do make a lot of mistakes. I very often switch the first letters of words or miss words like "not" like you mentioned. Other times I'll read words as different words. I read almost exclusively by audiobook because it is so much easier for me. I can read more and significantly faster (like 2x). When things aren't on audio, I almost always use my Kindle so that I can use text to speech to help me focus and get through faster.
I’m a homeschooling mom and my oldest is dyslexic and ADHD. I picked up on it far earlier than the school did when she was in public school, but they refused to test her and offered no assistance. Eventually we began homeschooling, got her tested to confirm what I already knew and then I went back to school myself to get certified and learn to teach the Orton-Gillingham method of learning to read. It is the most widely used and best method for teaching dyslexics how to decipher the world of reading and become better readers, build skills and have success. My daughter loves reading and even though it is a struggle and always will be, with the right intervention and stepping away from the school she is thriving. But it’s always great to let her see others like yourself talking about it, admitting to the struggle, but still being successful with reading because you love it. Thank you for sharing for girls like her.
I just wanted this vedio, I was reasearching about dyslexia becouse in the book I am writing my main character is dyslexic and I was just searching about the reading part that this vedio popped up. I was like YESSSSS!!!YESSSS
I love this. I had two dyslexic friends in high school and a friend in college that was so ADD he couldn't finish a sentence without getting distracted, but they could all listen. This is why I am building a studio in my home and about to start narrating audiobooks. 🥰
Comic books were the best for my dyslexia. I couldn’t read anything past a 2nd grade level till 10th grade. So comics were the first adult thing I could read that I didn’t feel like I was being talked down to. Plus when you can’t read all the words the pictures always will fill in the story.
there is this book called "fish in a tree" which is about a girl struggling with dyslexia and I found it really amazing. maybe you would like to give it a go and read it!
holy shit a booktuber with dyslexia! I cannot tell you how much it means to me to know that there are booktubers like you with dyslexia. i've always loved reading, but i'm so slow at it (but getting faster now that i've found those dyslexic friendly fonts on e-readers), and i'm just so thankful that you made this video, and this whole channel. thank you
As a 52 y/o dyslexic, this video had my fighting back the tears. Thankyou. this made me feel validated. I haven't come across many dyslexics throughout my days here on earth, so it's lovely to feel I'm not the only on. I was unable to sit and read "adult books" novels until I discovered audible a few years ago. Now I read the book along side the audible narration, and it's been a game changer.
When you said you would divide the video in two parts, I immediately completed in my mind "no spoilers, and with spoilers". Haha love your channel, Merph 😊👏
I loved this. Thank you! My dad is dyslexic so I’m keeping an eye out for it in my own kids and it always makes me so happy to be reminded that you can still love reading so much, despite the frustrations. Your channel is the best.
What an amazing story. Thank you so much for sharing your journey. I don't have dyslexia; I have always struggled to focus on reading, though, even though I loved it. School could be nightmarish at times bc I read so slowly. I recently discovered that reading along with an audiobook is "the answer" for me :) "Read whatever way works for you" is THE BEST advice!
Only made it to the story about the word "not" and wow. That just blew my mind. growing up (not doing any research) I just pictured dyslexia as your brain rearranging letters, not simply making words vanish. That is a surprising revelation.
My god did this video hit home. I can not tell you how hard it was for me and still is to deal with this. For a good part of my life I actually thought i was stupid and I genuinely believed I didn't know how to read which sucks because i love reading with all my heart. I really can't thank my French teacher form high school for helping me cope with this. She is the one that saw me and realised i probably had dyslexia, she would have us read out loud in class to help us with our pronunciation and every time she got to me she would not have me read a full sentence because i physically couldn't the page would say something and i would either stop reading because even though i saw the word I for dome reason couldn't pronounce it at all cause it did not look like an actual word when I tried to say it out loud just a big mess made out of random letters that i didn't understand why were put together, or i would see another word altogether that had nothing to do with what was on the page or sounded remotely similar but not really. So at some point she started telling me specifically what part of the text i was supposed to be reading, usually the middle or last one, so i had enough time to readi it a few times until it was my turn and that actually worked, it helped with my reading out loud situation. I am forever grateful for what she did for me. Regarding the reading bold or different fonts, I completely get you. Most of the time i have my boyfriend reading me memes because it physically pains me to try an make sense out of it. I also deal a lot with this in university. I am vice-president of one of the marketing department in my student association and that means that I have to make or supervise the making of posters, stickers and so on and so forth. The amount of time i had to re-do a project because my dyslexic head would literally not see the mistakes in the writing it's ridiculous, that mostly happens when the font needs to be bold or cursive or have some type of other fancy looking way. I struggle with this wile studying too, mostly this semester where everything was online and all of the materials and books were in electronic format. For one exam in particular I had a very hard rime studying because there were 600 pages that I basically had to remember word to word in within a week and at some point i just gave up, I couldn't make sense of anything the last 100 pages i couldn't even read, there was no one willing to read them to me and even if there were someone i can't remember an entire text, especially if that text is a law or law commentary, if i don't see it myself, i couldn't find explained anywhere in audio format, it was a mess, let's just say i has lucky that part wasn't really important and we didn't cross paths at the exam. Thanl you so much for making this video, it helps knowing you are not alone. You are amazing and one of my favourite youtubers, you made me discover some of my favourite authors(*cough* Brandon Sanderson *cough*) and books. Stay awesome and thank you for existing! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Wow! I have dyspraxia, a learning disability closely related to dyslexia. I'm working my way through college right now. Boy is it good to hear others talk about their experiences of their learning disabilities. It is so easy to see those around me plowing through various things, and to start thinking maybe my learning disability is just a figment of my imagination, that maybe I'm just not committed enough, that maybe I'm not working hard enough, that maybe I'm just making excuses for myself. Hearing from others about their similar experiences to mine really helps me overcome this self-doubt and remember that my challenges are real. I particularly connected with how you experience more severe difficulties some days as opposed to others. My learning disability affects coordination more than how information is processed, and some days I simply read and write slowly, other days, sometimes varying within a given day, I will have to specifically consider each pen stroke for various letters and struggle to follow a line of text on an uncrowded page. Hearing third parties talk about these things is one thing; hearing from someone else that they experience similar challenges really helps me legitimize my own experiences to myself. So thank you; thank you for sharing, and for having the courage to do so.
You're the first person that has talked about having good and bad days. Some days I read my 2 year old his books without any problems, other days I can barely string 3 words together. I thought it was just me. Thank you for this video.
As someone with Dyslexia, it is nice to hear it talked about. I can't tell you how many times as a kid I heard "well, he's just not that good at school". Lots of people struggle with reading and more awareness of possible causes is great as well as the understanding that it can be compensated for. I was a lawyer, I now teach and I love to read even though it is still sometimes difficult. There are people and programs that can help.
I wanted to comment when you posted the video, but my daughter and I watched through the Switch, so I couldn't. This video came out about a week after I reached out on Twitter and practically begged you to do a video just like this as my daughter has been struggling to get help from the 3rd largest school district in California, Fresno Unified School District FOR YEARS. While I'm sure this means you'd already recorded it, still... THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
It's interesting listening to someone else's experiance with dyslexia, as mine is completely different. I think I'm the other side of the coin. Stuff goes in easily, but it tends to bottleneck when going out. I will either, in spoken or written language, simply miss out sentences, ideas or reasoning... and I will have no idea things are actually missing. An easy one: Why did the chicken, to get to the other side. I will write that down, or even say it in a normal day to day life; to my mind I've said, or written it down perfectly. What has helped me; is I wrote a lot of bad fan fiction years ago... it forced me to read things back as if I was reading it aloud in my head. I'm not perfect; but I'm better than I was... As long as I think about what I am going to say or do before I do it - i can generally hide it. Get me stressed or tired and unless you know how my brain or speach patterns work you'll have no idea what I'm talking about in about 5min and it becomes meaningless nonsense.
Such an inspiring video! My little sister isn’t dyslexic, but she has pretty severe ADHD and really struggles to focus when reading physical books. Thank goodness for audiobooks! ♥️
Thank you so much for talking about this! As another dyslexic, I'm happy to see someone stating how it can effect us all differently. It's not talked about enough. I don't have an issue with bold print, but the font can make reading harder. Cursive might as well be a foreign language.
Thank you so much for bringing awareness to dyslexia! Im 23 with dyslexia and ADHD. I also had a hard time growing up as I wasn't diagnosed until I was 18. I always thought I was just incapable of learning. Most people think dyslexia is not being able to read and write which frustrates me. It is so much more than this for me and many others which is why i wasnt diagnosed for so long. I have a hard time with working memory which makes it more difficult to process words on a page, but it also makes it difficult to understand verbal information. Most classes are taught verbally, so i had a really tough time at school thinking I just couldn't learn... when really i just learn amazingly well visually. I also felt alienated from conversations growing up (and still now) which really hurt my confidence at such a young age. I also have a hard time with certain fonts and read ebooks for a while... but nothing feels as good as holding a real book. Despite all these difficulties, I still came out with reasonable grades at school because I taught myself my own way at home. It may take me longer to process words and finish books, but I try to stick to my own goals. I know i have worked hard to excel in life, which has given me the perseverance that maybe some other people dont have. When I fail im like 'oh well' and try again. The media and society tell us we cant achieve... but since I was diagnosed at 18, Ive worked hard to understand my differences and have since recieved a first class degree with honours. I got the highest grade in my year and won an award for writing the best dissertation. Think about that the next time you believe you are stupid for having dyslexia.
It’s very interesting to me to hear your experiences! It’s fantastic to see people being open about struggles, disabilities and such things. Thank you!
Murphy, thank you for posting this video! Videos like this help people to understand they are not alone. For the majority of my life, I figured I was the dumb kid that just couldn't read well. I was diagnosed in 3rd grade, but my parents didn't believe in "learning disabilities". They didn't understand what my diagnosis meant. Eventually when I was in middle school they took me to a "learning center" because I was 5 years behind grade level reading. That lasted 3 months. In highschool they tried a computer speed reading program. That didn't help, my ACT score moved by 1 on the reading comprehension and grammar. As soon as you said bold print is omitted, I was like yes, totally yes. That was always one of my biggest problems in school when that had the which one is not it. With the not in bold. For me, stress and anxiety increase my issues with dyslexia. When I get a bigger following on my platform, I plan on doing something like this. Thank you again!
This was such a good video. Sometimes I feel isolated at work or life with my dyslexia. I was given help when I was younger so I usually mask it well but this almost makes it harder for others to understand. I'm always getting the oh your not a real dyslexic because you like to read or write or the subtle jokes about why I dont understand an email have made embarrassing spelling mistakes or just take longer to do things or comprehend. So it great to see someone else and gace that reassurance I'm not alone
Me too! Mine is minor. I was never diagnosed. So much of what you said resonates with my experience. Thank you for sharing. I had several epiphanies listening to this.
I think it is very inspiring that you grew to overcome this hurdle instead of letting it bog you down. It really sounds like an ongoing battle but you’ve learned to adapt as well as you can.
Thank you so much! I loved to listen to you. I am 39 years old now, and started to realize how much my dyslexia affected my life. I almost never write any comments in social media, because I am just embarrassed of my spelling. I live in Spain and studied in Spain (my mom is from the states and my father is Basque) and my teachers were aware of my dyslexia from 2nd to 5th grade. But I just had to keep up with every ones speed my studying years, until I finished my studies in Graphic designing at 21 years. And had a pretty bad experience working as a graphic designer and not being understood by my workmates when it came to send e-mails or interact in “written words”. They did know I was dyslexic, but even I really didn’t understand how much this affected my writing (and not just my spelling or reading). Here spelling or grammatical errors are just not acceptable, no matter what, for a grate majority of people that I have encountered in this circle. Anithing I did had to be checked and rechecked ever time I touched it. Once in one of my last English exams ever, throw I spelled all the “the”-s as “de” in a written test, my teacher was shocked but scored my exam with a B. That in the past in this country for me, would of been a F just for that. And more than 3 spelling errors in a Spanish or basque test were also a F, right away... I am so happy to know that now some things are a little bit easier for students with dyslexia! ^_^
Thank you so much for your video. It felt great to hear some of the things you reaffirmed to me, as a dyslexic. Especially the similarities in difficulties within the education system and the fact that I was taught that "reading a book" was something that was done in paper form, therefore audiobooks are not really reading, it is great to hear someone else to reinform my convictions, that audiobooks are still reading.
As a speech therapist (the professional who helps dyslexics read) it was great hearing your experiences and what is hard for you. I work with kids early diagnosed who aren't able to explain what they experience, and, even though dyslexics aren't a monolith, it has given me ideas of aspects to work into my practice (like bold and mixed fonts).
Wow, I just turned 50, as a dyslexic my only reading has been children's books to the class I work in as a teaching assistant. I have pretty much never read for myself for fun until I recently discovered reading the physical copy of the book along side the audiobook. It has changed my life. Recently I read it, by Stephen king. It took me 4 months, but I loved every second of it. The size of it intimidated me so much, but I dug in and managed to enjoy it. Now I read as a hobby and I love it. Your dyslexia story and others bring me comfort. Thankyou so much x
Holy shit I have been watching you for so long and never knew but I’m so glad this video came up after getting my diagnosis and searching up the title.
I'm so glad you made this video. I have dyslexia too and I love reading and writing, but some days I just can't get through a book. Here in Belgium we have a website where you can get audio books for free when you sign up as a person with a learning disability, which I am very grateful for, seeing as how I'm now studying literature. I can read weird fonds or bold writing but it is difficult and I also have difficulties reading out loud. Another thing I strugled with for a long time was my handwriting. Before I was diagnosed, I had this one teacher that was always mad at me because my handwriting wasn't pretty enough according to her. I also have so many difficulties with spelling. There are some words that I still to this day can't spell right and when I'm writing a paper, or even an email, there always are a few words that I have to look up how to spell correctly. To other people with dyslexia: don't be discouraged and don't listen to others who try to tell you you aren't trying hard enough or something. Your learning disability is not your fault and doesn't mean you are not as smart or talented as other people.
I wasn't diagnosed until my last year of undergraduate study of university. I cant do puzzles (part of the test) skip words and hate reading out loud. Reading helps, writing helps and not getting too frustrated with yourself helps. It is no measure of your intellect and we all find coping mechanism. Thank you Murphy for your honesty about your dyslexia. It's so strange how every dyslexic persons dyslexia is so different.
Thank you for sharing with us. I just found out my son has dyslexia after being over looked by the school system for YEARS. I find this video so helpful. ❤
Thank you for making this video. It’s always nice to find a fellow dyslexic. I officially got diagnosed last year at the age of 31 when I started University. I’ve always felt that something was different about me but didn’t know what it was. Now that I know im learning to be ok with it. It’s really hard at times, and it’s frustrating to know how much harder I have to work on my degree than those without a disability... especially because it all happens behind closed doors. When you mentioned misinterpreting emails etc, I find that I miss out, add or completely change words because I read what I think that person is going to write 🤦🏼♀️ it’s so frustrating, but I tend to realise when I get a weird response back or what the person has wrote makes zero sense. I then reread it and realise that it was just my dyslexia. With reading faster I find trying is a waste of time for me because I can’t process what I’ve “read” so have to go back and reread anyway. Dyslexia also affects my speech at times too and I jumble up words in a sentence, or say what I see rather than what I’m trying to say 🤣 I’ve learned to roll with it, but it’s not always easy.
"For some reason started watching my channel" - it's almost like you're relatable and entertaining and (insert 20 more compliments here). Seriously tho, the way you present your content is genuinely engaging, at least in my opinion. I didn't know book tube existed a month ago and really didn't care to, tbh, but then I got sucked into the merphy whirlwind by chance and now my recs are littered with your book tube videos and I honestly couldn't be happier.
I love this video. I am also dyslexic and was taught to be ashamed of it as a child. I believe that I am on the mild side of the spectrum. I was diagnosed early but grew up in a place with no resources so it really didn’t matter. I did not read fluently until 4th grade. I think my love for storytelling is the only reason why I have pushed through the limits of dyslexia and have been successful. Being read to was also helpful to me in gaining reading comprehension. I am still a super slow reader, especially if I have to read aloud, and often insert or omit words in sentences. This gets worse if I am tired or attempt to rush through reading or writing. Comprehension of what I read while tired is minimal. Typing and flash cards for spelling helped me a lot when I was younger. I am not certain why, but it’s probably mostly the repetitious nature of it and because I am good at memorization. I have trouble reading books with long chapters. They feel overwhelming and taxing to my brain. I do better with books broken into small chapters or ones that have section breaks within chapters. Recently I have discovered a love for audiobooks (this took me a long time because I felt a stigma got attached to it). I finished the first wheel of time book via audiobook in two weeks. This book would have taken me months to physically read, if I even ever succeeded. Sometimes I get overwhelmed even flipping through books and seeing how vast the chapters are, and don’t even try. My daughter is also moderately dyslexic (hello genetics and mom guilt). We have been homeschooling the past two years and using dyslexia friendly curriculum. I am hopeful that she will have a more positive journey with dyslexia than I did. I wish I had more resources for her.
Thank you. This was such a relief to hear spoken aloud. I have never heard anyone describe my daily reality as closely as you did in those first 10 minutes. Sincerely, thank you.
I don’t have dyslexia, but it is really cool seeing people talk about their experiences with it. Your encouragement and advice is solid for those of us without dyslexia too. I used to compare myself to others because they could read so much faster than I can, but I eventually realized that reading slow isn’t a bad thing, and that I actually retain and comprehend far more than most other people. Great video Merphy. -T
Thank you so much for making this video!!! One of my very best friends (and fellow booknerd) has dyslexia and grew up in a country that... Didn't really know that existed. I'm sure she'll love this!
Just love listening and learning from you. Reading is a challenge for me yet I love when I conquer a page, a chapter or a book. - however long it takes me. Thanks for sharing.
I really felt something when you started talking about reading aloud. I loathed it so much that would get sent to the principal's office on the regular for simply refusing to do it, and to this day I teeter on the edge of a minor panic attack any time I need to do it. I find that font size effects my ability to read words, too big or too small and my brain just can't process the text. When it comes to style and colors it doesn't seem to make too much difference unless the style and color isn't uniform. The less uniform, the more difficult it tends to be. I've also found that all uppercase is often super easy for my brain to decipher correctly. Stress and amount and quality of sleep also tend to be a HUGE factor in much both my dyslexia and dyscalculia effect me day to day. Something that has helped me immensely when it comes to online reading and communication was installing a text to speak reader extension. Not only will it read web-pages, e-mail, social media comments, etc to me (particularly helpful when I'm having a bad dyslexia or dyscalculia day and simply cannot make sense of text), but it will read everything that I type as well, and catch all those times where everything I've typed is technically correct yet still doesn't make sense. It's something that I highly recommend for any fellow dyslexics who spend a lot of time on ye ol' net in places where they'd like to be better/more easily understood or more easily understand.
Also, also, also! I hope your adoption is going well! My aforementioned sister was adopted from China when I was two. We’re in high school now, and she’s always been my best friend.
Yay! I really appreciate you making this video. As someone with severe dyslexia, it really helps with self esteem to hear stories from others. 💖💖💖 Audio books help me a lot since they usually separate voices. I realize as I've been reading more that I can never fill voices myself when they are described, but hearing someone put a voice to that character helps me break information down easier.
Probably won't read this cause I'm pretty late but I have dyslexia too and you and Daniel's channel's have inspired me to get back into reading. I love this video and his on dyslexia. I was never diagnosed but I've studied a ton about dyslexia and it's the only explanation I've ever found for my quirks. My dad was always really hard on me for not being able to spell and this diagnosis really gave me so much peace that it wasn't just me but I actually had a learning disability. Thank you so much for sharing!
First thank you so much for making this video. I have dyslexia it has been such a struggle for me and it's just amazing to hear someone else talk openly about their experiences with the same challenges I have. My parents also homeschooled me from 2nd through 8th grade. They made that decision after my teachers demanded that I be put on Ritalin. In first grade I managed to hide the fact that I wasn't learning to read from my teachers by memorizing what they would read to us and then reciting back to them. It was only later in the school year that my parents realized I was faking it. When my parents started Homeschooling me and we started to really work on reading I remember becoming physically exhausted from the effort. There are times still to this day that I'll look at a page of text and it's like it just doesn't register with my brain. Like I won't be able to recognize any of the letters on the page I'll know that it's text I'll know that I'm supposed to be able to read it but just becomes meaningless.
As a therapist, also dyslexic, I'd like to point out that Dyslexia is NOT considered a "mental disorder," at least not anymore. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) lumps it over atypical brains, and not with other mental illnesses. It's a different type of brain that is better at understanding concepts and big picture ideas, but struggles with symbol recognition and linearity (following symbols, words, or ideas in a specific order). Never say your brain is broken, it isn't. It's just different; though, I agree, it can be frustrating sometimes. The same things that make you ignore bold worlds or confuse letters, also make you faster at understanding character development or could even make you more creative. Yes, dyslexia is still technically a 'learning disability,' but only because most school programs are not designed with atypical brains in mind. In a program designed around the strengths and weaknesses of a dyslexic brain, dyslexic kids tend to do equal (and sometimes better) than their peers. PS: also, dyslexia has a genetic component. I recommend getting your kid evaluated early on just in case.
Thank you Merphy! I loved this video and as a fellow dyslexic it made me feel less alone and more understood. I was diagnosed as a kid, but it wasn't explained to me and I didnt know it had a name. I was homeschooled through highschool which had benefits and disadvantages. Unfortunately to get accommodations in college I had to have a recent diagnosis/evaluation and financially I could afford that. I had the time and enough stages that I was able to work through it without the help, but if I had help my stress levels would have been so much lower. My senior year for my history thesis I had had read cursive and handwritten sources and I had so much trouble. I would spend all day just trying to read a few pages and while my professor tried to work with me there was only so much she could do especially without a offical accommodation. I'm still a huge reader, but there are some days like you that I can't read physically. I'm at the point that my dyslexia may change the exact kind of career I can do within my field. Thanks for being so transparent about your dyslexia it really means a lot!
Hi Merphy. As a fellow dyslexic. I want to say thank you for making this video. It is so much proof and validation. That dyslexics can be successful in what ever we put are minds to. And I'm sorry that your dyslexia was caught so late in life. I was lucky to have a mom that caught on and forced the school to have me and my twin tested. Which was funny finding out that we had dyslexia so bad. That we could of gotten disability because of it. But she made sure that we could move on with life and now we both can read some what fine. Even if I have to turn things upside down to read it.
Its always amazing to me to hear the experiences of other people with dyslexia, because for one thing even though I was diagnosed with severe dyslexia as a very young child and so have known that I have for all my life, I haven't actually met a lot of people with dyslexia. Certainly not when I was a school, but as an adult i have, but again, only about two. So for a long while I felt very on my own, and in someways I still do, because even hearing about experiences of other people with dyslexia, they don't necessarily match up with my own, but I am still working on drumming it into my head that having dyslexia really is different for everyone who has it, and that it doesn't fit into a box like it was described many times during my schooling life. I am learning that while there are obvious similarities that we with dyslexia share, there are very vast differences as well because obviously no one person is the same. For example, you mention having an issue with bolded words. I don't have that issue, I actually my brain will actually attach itself to the bolded word and then totally won't let go of it, so the rest of the sentence will sometimes become unreadable. So, I guess i have opposite issue. But yes, totally agree on cursive (and the other fonts you mention and also the dyslexia font doesn't work for me either) being awful and can not read for the life of me. I can not read aloud, at all. I start stuttering and fumbling over words and its basically a horrible experience for myself and anyone having to listen to me. I also have very hard time pronouncing words in normal, every day conversation and I sometimes use my hand to clap the word out or I just give up and thankfully people i talk with usually get what I'm trying to say. Anyway, before this becomes an even more rambling mess than it already is, this video was amazing and I thank you so much for it, because as I said above, I really love hearing about the experiences of other Dyslexics. I only found your channel today, your video of 'A Ballard of Songbirds and Snakes' was recommended to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
One of the things that my school did sounds like it would be a nightmare for you. It was called ReadingPlus and honestly, it was a nightmare for everyone. It was trying to force you to read really fast (the goal was to make you read 500 wpm and most people eventually got there.) It bolded whatever you were supposed to be reading and it moved really fast across the page and at the end you had to answer questions about whatever you were reading. For anyone with dyslexia or anyone that had a hard time reading, it was a complete nightmare because it refused to slow down past a certain point. In English class, we had to spend half an hour every day on it. It also changed how I read. It taught you how to skim and after having to spend so long doing that whenever I read ebooks or physical books I end up skimming and not taking in much of the story. Luckily I love audiobooks and almost exculsibly use those.
I had something like ReadingPlus in Junior High. It was so frustrating for me. My brain just couldn't put the letters together fast enough. Thankfully, I was good at reading and comprehension when I wasn't under pressure.
We had that kind of torture too 😰 And even if you're not having dyslexia it's a big stress and not add a lot of love to reading process. I was happy it was just episodic sessions and later we didn't experience this again.
Thank you so much for this video. I am also dyslexic. I read everyday to help me with my studies. I discovered your channel a while ago, and finding out that such a prominent booktuber is dyslexic really changed my perspective on my own dyslexia. Thank you so much, videos like this mean a lot.
I'm not dyslexic, but I think it's awesome that you continued to read despite having a hard time understanding what's on the page sometimes. Having a disability doesn't mean you can't do things, it means the way you do things might be different.
I'm not dyslexic, but I'm glad I watched this video. It was super informative from your personal perspective, and there were a lot of words of wisdom applicable to everyone in all situations. :)
I'm so glad you talk about this. I was diagnosed with dyslexia at only five years old. My kinder garden teacher actually just made me feel dump which led my parents to take me to the doctors and eventually when I got to elementary school, I got a tutor to help me read. I also add and lose words in sentences and I even have issues when it comes to writing as well as reading. Dyslexia is a huge part of my life since I'm a writer, a reader and an economics student. It just freaks me out but thankfully, people are very mature and helpful about it now. In school that was different.
It’s so cool to see a dyslexic on book tube. My twin and I are both dyslexic, once I made the jump and started reading which was so painfully slow I fell in love with it. My twin not so much, only until last year when I introduce her to audio books (she is affected way more in reading then I am) she got through so many books. For us the dyslexia font does wonder and it’s so crazy how much of a difference it makes. It was so liberating for me to accept that I am never gonna be good at spelling and never the fastest reader. And when I was to write I would actually get my ideas down then fretting over spelling.