Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeanne G
Are there really advantages, big ones even? Please do tell me more.
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Four basic cognitive advantages associated with dyslexic processing include:
* Material thinking--dealing with the physical world, spacial reasoning, scaling things up or down while maintaining ratios, being able to mentally walk through or flip 2D representations as if they were 3D, etc. (Often this translates into artistic abilities. Also, a lot of physicists are dyslexic.)
* Interconnective strengths--quickly seeing "the big picture" and being able to integrate disparate pieces of information into a broader understanding; also the ability to identify gaps, such as needs that are not being met (a huge advantage for entrepreneurs, who are in the business of developing products and services that did not previously exist in the market).
* Narrative strengths--spotting large-scale patterns and relationships between concepts, and connecting those dots to make stories. (Which explains why so many successful authors, poets, and comedians are dyslexic; clearly, storytelling and proofreading are two different skill sets.)
* Dynamic reasoning--recombining information in new and interesting ways; using episodic simulation to predict future events from past ones; generally thinking outside the box. Obviously, these qualities are associated with innovation and creativity in every field.
These talents are not necessarily all found in the same person, but dyslexics tend to have at least one of them.
"This ability to turn things inside out and see them from shifting perspectives is probably something that allows me to write the poetry I write."
--Philip Schultz, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, in
this video.