Posted on 12/08/2007 7:08:55 PM PST by neverdem
It has long been known that dyslexics are drawn to running their own businesses, where they can get around their weaknesses in reading and writing and play on their strengths. But a new study of entrepreneurs in the United States suggests that dyslexia is much more common among small-business owners than even the experts had thought.
The report, compiled by Julie Logan, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Cass Business School in London, found that more than a third of the entrepreneurs she had surveyed — 35 percent — identified themselves as dyslexic. The study also concluded that dyslexics were more likely than nondyslexics to delegate authority, to excel in oral communication and problem solving and were twice as likely to own two or more businesses.
“We found that dyslexics who succeed had overcome an awful lot in their lives by developing compensatory skills,” Professor Logan said in an interview. “If you tell your friends and acquaintances that you plan to start a business, you’ll hear over and over, ‘It won’t work. It can’t be done.’ But dyslexics are extraordinarily creative about maneuvering their way around problems.”
The study was based on a survey of 139 business owners in a wide range of fields across the United States. Professor Logan called the number who said they were dyslexic “staggering,” and said it was significantly higher than the 20 percent of British entrepreneurs who said they were dyslexic in a poll she conducted in 2001.
She attributed the greater share in the United States to earlier and more effective intervention by American schools to help dyslexic students deal with their learning problems. Approximately 10 percent of Americans are believed to have dyslexia, experts say...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
My daughter is dyslexic. She was diagnosed early in life because I had worked for a man who is dyslexic (owned his own very successful business). When she began to display some of the “symptoms” of dyslexia, I had her tested. She has always had excellent grades, but numbers are her downfall. She will not own an analog clock or wristwatch as she cannot reliably tell time by those devices. I believe her father was also dyslexic, but never diagnosed.
I was fortunate in that they mainstreamed her at school and she didn’t realize she was “different” until she was in the 6th grade. By then she had been so successful in adapting that it was incidental to her.
She can multitask much better than her brother, who has a very high IQ. She works in IT - as you might guess IP addresses give her problems :-)
As many of said, it is amazing how adaptive people can be and what they can overcome if they have the will.
George Patton was also dyslexic and it didn't keep him from success in VMA and West Point, or heroic in the US Army.
It's all a matter of determination, although I'm sure that thanks to "spell checker" I have it a little easier than George did.
“On another silly note.... I can handwrite impeccably backwards....faster than I can write forwards. Held up to a mirror...my backwards writing is neater than when I attempt to write forwards.”
Now that is bizarre. Here’s one just as strange, I knew a woman who thought of numbers as colors. Years later, I learned there is a name for this ‘disorder’, so there’s another Go Figure for you.
That man is a bad example. A loser.
I would bet that their are more Left handed, dyslexic conservatives, than we know about...and I think it is because we had to work so hard to overcome so much...we appreciate work more than those it comes easy for?
I pray that you can overcome the memory loss...God bless you!
My special needs daughter is a much better test taker than her “gifted” brother and sister.
I’ll watch her do a test. She’ll zip through the things that she knows and does those things first. Then she’ll start working on things that are harder for her. For essays, she’s learned how to write something down and get partial credit. On multiple choice questions, she’ll narrow down the answers and make an educated guess. She is an awesome test taker. She does much better on tests than regular school work. She gets herself psyched up for them.
Her “gifted” brother and sister get stuck on questions that are difficult, and then they won’t finish a test. I’ve had to coach them on how to take tests.
Unfortunately, my daughter knows she’s different because she also has speech problems. She also just started having seizures which is really causing more problems. I’m hoping she’ll be able to overcome the siezures. The anti-seizure medication is just evil, but it’s less evil than seizures.
However, in the midst of trying to deal with seizues she has an amazing attitude. She’s 11 and she’s having to memorize states and capitals. Her teacher told me that my daughter didn’t have to know how to spell all of the states and capitals correctly. I told my daughter this, and she just got mad. She asked if the other kids had to spell them correctly, and I said they did. She told me to remember that she is the kid that likes challenges, and she would learn how to spell them correctly. That’s a great attitude.
My daughter can remember numbers backwards better than forwards.
If you ask her to repeat a number (or letters) like 12345, she has a hard time with 12345. But she can repeat it 54321. Strange.
I am exactly in the same place. Profoundly dyslexic but as a kid forced myself to overcome my reading difficulties and worked hard to develop writing skills.
Math was a nightmare from my first day in first grade until the I completed grad school.
Now I can work my way though the math needed for my job often times trading off math work with coworkers and taking their writing assignments.
I have hairy palms. What’s that all about?
I agree with this analysis.
So some say - but do dyslexics actually get into contests with their subordinates (Karl Rove) over who reads the most for pleasure?
I believe that would have stopped him from entering the jet fighter pilot training program.
I don’t think he has it.
John
I am Dylexci but I lvoe to read.
John
You say, parenthetically: "and in a range of ways you apparently aren’t familiar with"
That's a deuce statement, jake. But you may call the mystery guest and swear him under oath then.
And, btw, it ain't "his nation" and never has been. It's OUR nation, damn the elitists.
bmflr
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Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts
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