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Can dyslexia actually be a superpower?

27 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In this personal reflection, the speaker references the book "The Dyslexic Advantage" which outlines two possible trajectories for dyslexic individuals: surrendering to frustration or channeling that frustration into overachievement. He shares his own experience of receiving an F in 7th‑grade math due to missing foundational schooling from 3rd to 5th grade, receiving a dyslexia diagnosis, and then, with his mother's support and tutoring, never scoring below a 90 in math again. He expresses gratitude for the challenge, describing how it forged a mental "muscle" that drives him to tackle hard tasks, framing dyslexia as a potential superpower that cultivates resilience and a growth mindset.

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There's this book called "The Dyslexic Advantage," and you're right, there's unbelievable amount of people that are wildly successful and they're dyslexic. And the book talks about you have one of these two paths to go through. You don't fit in any of the boxes. There's no box that fits the dyslexic mind. And so you have one path that's like, "I give up and I just don't want to try anymore." Then you have this other path where they're so frustrated with not getting what they wanted, they become overachievers. And I think one of the proudest achievements of my life is I got an F in 7th grade. In math. And when they diagnosed why, it's because I basically didn't go to school from 3rd to 5th grade. None of those skills I learned. And so after football every day, my mom would take me to a tutor, and I never got below like a 90 ever again on any math course for the rest of my life. And I was so thankful. I hated it at the time, but I was so thankful for being challenged to grow. And it just created this muscle that it's like, well, let's try, let's do the hard thing.