Throughout my life, it has been a constant battle of people telling me that I cannot do something and me proving them wrong. To get where I need to be, I need to work harder at things than normal people.
My dad always said to my teachers, “You do not see all the work she puts in to excel in school.” I am fighter and when told that I am not able to do something, it gives me more motivation to prove them wrong. But why do I need to try so hard?
In first grade, I found out I had a learning disability. I remember them testing me for hours in the nurse’s room, making me say sentences of shapes that meant words. Yeah, I said that right: sentences of shapes. Please tell me you weren’t the only one confused too. After that moment, I spent year after year in special classes that would help with my learning disability.
My learning disability is hard to explain, but as a child, I wrote in mirror images and I had a difficult time with basic subjects in school. Things didn’t click as easily for me as any other kids and it took me twice the time as long as my classmates to complete assignments. At first, teachers did not understand it. They discovered new teaching techniques that would help me learn just as fast as the other students. Teachers added visual and hands-on activities to their lessons to help me.
High school was what my parents feared the most. Everyone thought I was going to fail, but I didn’t want to be that kid. I wanted to be more and I wasn’t going to have people tell me what I was capable of.
I managed to achieve great grades and do better than anyone expected. I did so well that the school kept testing me to see if I still had a learning disability, but the result clearly showed I still had one.
School never came easy to me, but the reason I did well was because I pushed myself beyond what was expected. I spent hours in my room re-teaching myself the things that were taught in that day’s lesson. I learned methods that worked for me and managed my time around sports and a job. I also learned that it is okay not to understand things and admit I need help.
With a new chapter in my life, I hope to be accepted into to a college that will help me discover who I am and to continue to prove people wrong. With my determination, I can do anything. I will never let my learning disability hold me back.
