*Music Fades In*

I have dyslexia. Um, I've had it my entire life.

I think I was diagnosed with it

when I was... young.

I was diagnosed with it when I was in third grade.

It was very serious. I- I felt very stupid and dumb

and wishing that I could just disappear.

Really what we need is just more

education on the subject of dyslexia.

Dyslexia is, you know, a broad term

for more of a language-based disability in reading.

Your eyes, basically, take

pictures in a manner that either sets

words or letters backwards, or you

misplace words when you read.

Just, the way they think and act is a lot different.

I can write, but it's slow.

So co-workers can sit there and whip out

reports, and I'm still working on it.

So they assume that since you can't read a

paragraph correctly that you are... stupid

or you're incapable of thinking.

It's just the way that their brain was

designed, and... there's nothing wrong with

that. You know, if you saw someone who

physically couldn't walk up the stairs,

society wouldn't say "What's your problem,"

or "You need to learn to do it on your own."

When they do set up the programs,

they're set up by people a lot of times

that don't have... dyslexia. Therefore,

they're set up wrong from the beginning.

I've had everything from teachers

telling me that my second grader isn't

trying hard. To teachers saying, you know,

I'm not going to help your son unless he

comes and asks for help.

They'll give you more time.

That's one of the answers in school for dyslexic people.

And it cracks me up, because it's just more time to

stare at the book. Well they read slower

so they ne- need more time. Well they

can't read at all.

Uh, my full name is Aaron Austin. And the stuff that I do

with Mrs. Jen helps me read.

When I started working, actually working with him one-on-one

he was in fifth grade, and he was still

reading at a kindergarten level.

It was very... um... he needed that one-on-one attention.

Well, I think she sees a lot of herself in Aaron.

That was me. And I took Aaron under my wing because...

...no child should be left that way. Ever.

I like Mrs. Jen, because she is nice to me

and she understands me.

Society makes you feel very isolated

when you have it, because you don't learn

the same way as other people.

I know that Bill was... segregated from the rest of

the class and put into special ed classes.

I would be sent out to a separate trailer

and that's why I didn't really have the

English classes and the Math classes

because to stick a 12 year old kid in

with highly, highly mentally handicapped

people for the majority of his education

when he's younger, and he has no... mental

issues... uh... affects a kid.

They gave us a proficiency exam, which was supposed to

tell you what your goals and dreams were going to be in the future.

Teacher took me in a room and I said "So how did I do

on the test"? And he said I could be a

trash collector, or I could work in the

military and those were my two options in life.

Uh... In fifth grade, a fifth grade

teacher got frustrated with me, and he

held me after class. Told me that I would

never make it... in... junior high, and that

they were going to beat me up, and that, uh...

I was going to learn my lesson eventually.

I think 12 or 13 years old, I started

breaking into a liquor cabinet, and I would

mark the bottles, and then

fill them back with water after I got drunk...

...uh, to kill the pain, you know?

They don't understand the agony... of...

I want something, so bad. But it's just not for me.

Aaron was a totally different story because he has

severe dyslexia. He came home one day

and... he was really upset. And they- I said why

and they said because they gave him a

proficiency exam and they told him he

could be a trash collector, or he could

be in the military.

He was often times, just passed to the next grade level

um... because... whelp, its the next teachers problem

you know? I'm not going to deal with it right now.

Now I realize that the

teachers don't know how to teach against it.

And so, when we first started, it was

everyday for two hours. And most of that

time was a lot of dealing with his

frustrations of... feeling... uh, inferior

in-inside and on the outside.

And he said to me...

..."I think I annoy my teachers by asking

them so many questions, and so I just

spend my whole day, my whole school day

trying to disappear." He would ask,

"What was the word?" and she said she didn't

have time to teach each kid

individually. Is the goal here for him to

read like you, because that's never going

to happen, or is the goal for him to gain

knowledge and learn?

You know, we decided to pull Aaron out of school

because... because no mom likes to, um...

see their kids be hurt, and... or broken.

When I first met him, he didn't care because it too-

it hurt too much.

I was dropping Aaron off at school one time, and he said

that the teachers were mad at him, and I

said, "Why?" And he said, "Because when I read

I hold my book upside down, and they tell me

that I'm goofing off. But Dad, I need

to hold my book upside down so I can read."

And I said, "I know, son."

I was worried that if Aaron continued on the path that

he was on... that he was going to hurt himself.

Aaron and I have spent many times crying together...

and, uh... just letting him know it's going to be okay.

you know? I will never let you go.

Ever. I'm gonna hold your hand the whole way.

And then the funny thing is... uh, is that they

uh, told us they were going to put together

this special program they never lost a

kid like Aaron again and then I should

give them a chance. And then, I believe

that they discontinued Mrs. Jen's

program six months later and got rid of

her, and ended the entire thing that they

were going to set up for Aaron so every

kid that's lost in that school is right

back at Ground Zero. So I just don't

think it's changed. I mean, that was 35

years ago that that happened to me, and

Aaron... got pulled out of public school

because he couldn't read on the overhead

projector... one year ago.

I like to go snowboarding... basketball... baseball.

Life isn't just about dyslexia.

I mean, it doesn't go away. You just learn to work around it.

I have Aaron listen to his

books on tape, now. Fourth grade year

he read, uh, two million words or he listened

to two million words. In a year's time he

went from reading kindergarten level, to

5th grade. Anybody who reads 2 million

words and has a 98-percent

comprehensions in school... tested... is not stupid.

My favorite book I have ever read

is "American Sniper."

My goal is to give him the skills so that he can

eventually go to higher education, and then on

into the workforce. And... I want to be there

when he graduates and just say,

"You did it, kiddo."