From One Extreme To Another (And Everything In Between)

Over the past two weeks or so I was presented with three volunteer opportunities in which I would be using my Human Resources skills. The first was for a local literacy council, the second, a teen pregnancy organization and the third, a theater that promotes awareness. By the time I had been presented with the third opportunity, I had already been speaking with the first two. I usually believe that having three options is ideal when trying to make a decision, however, in this case it was flat-out confusing. So, I immediately declined the third invitation.

After I had narrowed the options down to the first two, my initial filter to decide what project I would work on was based on its scope. However, the scopes of both projects were interesting to me. One of them I knew for sure I could do. Actually, I could do it with my eyes closed. That said, the roles I could play on the team were diverse and that was appealing. The other opportunity was something I knew I could do, but would also be building upon my knowledge base. (Yes, I was starting to lean onto one side of the fence.) Although, that is not what totally helped me set my decision. The true deciding factor was the cause itself. Of the two, there was one cause that stood out to me and was a little closer to my heart than the other. Thankfully, it was the same project that would also be a learning opportunity for me.

In the end I decided to join the project for the local literacy council.

The issue of literacy is one that has come up a lot over the past few weeks in my world. My friend's son is in a gifted reading program and up until last week it was in jeopardy of being axed next year from his school due to budget cuts. Ironically, this happened to be taking place just as the individual leading this project contacted me. (It's true what they say about timing.)

When I was contemplating volunteering for this organization I started thinking about my friend's son and how lucky he is to be so bright. How lucky he is to have a school program that fosters his gift. Then I thought about the other extreme. Those who can't read things most of us take for granted - like street signs or simple text we encounter on a daily basis. And then, there is the world I live in. Neither extreme situation is applicable to me; I'm not super gifted in the realm of literacy, but I can read well beyond simple street signs and text. However, that doesn't mean literacy isn't something I struggle with daily.

In 1983, my parents took my brother and I out of a private Jewish day school located in Chicago and transplanted us into a tiny public school located in the north suburbs of Chicago. The move was mainly made for financial purposes as the cost of private school was getting to be to high. However, the decision had a greater impact on my life than the cost of tuition would ever have on their pocketbooks.

Soon after I started this new school, they would put me through a battery of testing which ultimately determined I had learning disabilities. Amongst them, trouble with reading comprehension. From that day forth and until the end of my first year of high school I would have some sort of special education classes/instruction/assistance.

During this time I went through many different patterns of behavior when it came to how I reacted to these disabilities. At times I would use them as an excuse for not learning something. Other times it would drive me to persevere and prove I wasn't about to let them get the best of me. It just depended on how beaten down I was from the teasing and stigma that came along with this designation.


(Ok, I've gone a bit off track here. . . I really want to focus on my reading comprehension disability - not having learning disabilities as a whole. )


Reading even to this day is a struggle for me. It's not something I do to relax like others. (G-d I wish it was!) For me it's mostly something done out of necessity. Again, it's not like I don't understand simple day-to-day things like letters, blog entries, news articles etc. It's that when given massive amounts of information it take me longer than most to truly process and learn from what I've read. This is especially frustrating because I love to learn and take in new ideas. Honestly, I thrive on it, but the process of learning is a struggle for me. This is one of the reasons I hesitate about going to law school - the massive amounts of reading that is required. It would truly be a huge undertaking for me that I'm not sure I could handle.

Reading isn't the only part of my life that my disability effects. It also affects my writing. Blogging for me is a challenge. I have all these ideas I want to share, but can't sometimes because I can't always put them together in a clear, concise manner. However, one of the reason I blog so religiously has to do with the fact that it is a goal of mine to become a better writer and continuously learn how to better put my thoughts together. Furthermore, I recognize that when I am re-reading something I have written I won't see where words are missing. Even though I re-read things many times before I submit them for their intended "publication" I don't always catch my errors and cringe because I know it will reflect negatively on me. Simply put, I feel it makes me look stupid when I know I'm not.

Up until recently, a handful of my friends did not know about any of my learning disabilities. It has only come up in conversation because of the volunteer opportunity with my local literacy council. As I speak of what I will be doing I share this factoid about myself with them so they can better understand why the cause means so much to me.

As for why I am sharing it with you . . . Mel @ Me!!! asked us to write this week about something not many people know about us and this is my "unknown fact." (Yes, more perfect timing.)

Now that you’ve read about something not many know about me, I invite you to read what my fellow bloggers have to say about themselves:


Jenn @ Charmingly Random

Shara @ Desperate Madness



Until later . . .