Learning Disabilities

by Daymeann Tate-Austin

My name is Daymeann Tate-Austin, and I have a learning disability. A learning disability is when a person’s brain does not have the correct connections in the brain. There are many different types of learning disabilities, and no two people are the same.

Many people think that people who have a learning disability cannot learn anything or that life is just handed to them. People think life is a breeze for people with learning disabilities, but it is the complete opposite. People with learning disabilities have it very hard.

As a person with a learning disability, I struggle every day. Some things I struggle with include reading, writing, and comprehending what I read. I also struggle with my memory and organization. The more structured and predictable things are, the better I am able to cope and handle life. Further, it is hard for me to talk about the things that I struggle with, but hopefully hearing my story will encourage others to ask for help they need.

There was a time that I would never ask for help because I did not want to be thought of as dumb or lazy, and I heard the things people would say about people like me. For most of my high school years, I kept my learning disability to myself and tried to “play normal”. I just wanted to be normal.

I was lucky to have a mom who advocated for me through my school years and helped me to understand that the only difference between me and my peers was the fact that I learned differently. Understanding this empowered me to try harder and ask for help when I needed it. I had to work harder than most students to understand the material in school. In high school, I was pulled out of class by my teacher to go into another room to do my test. My peers thought I had gotten into trouble.

Having a disability also affects my personal life. It’s hard to meet new people because there is always the thought that I cannot hang out with them because they will think I am stupid. It’s also hard to go out and have a social life because when I go out to the bar, I feel like everyone is judging me.

Having a learning disability has interfered with my love life as well. When I want to ask someone out, I am always second guessing myself, I think, “Why would any girl want to date someone like me?”

However, I am taking time to see the great things about me: I am fun, willing to learn and a very hard worker.  I am also able to remember things if I envision them as pictures in my head because the pictures are more concrete than written words.

The way I look at it, my learning disability is both a gift and a curse, a love-hate relationship. I am able to receive the support I need in school, and I will always have to work harder than others to get what I want out of life.