Article Summary I didn’t have many friends in school my first year because I was so intimidated by everyone around me. I continued to doubt myself so much that anxiety and depression began to consume me. I self medicated by smoking pot. Marijuana began to affect my schooling, lab work, self esteem and friendships. I began to hate myself for …Read or listen to the rest
Learning Disability
PhD me…. Please? Part 1
Article Summary I began graduate school 3 months early so I could work in a research lab without worrying about graduate school homework. I was very anxious about disclosing my learning disabilities to the school because of the social stigmas attached to them. I thought I had to sacrifice fun by studying and working a lot! I was NOT balanced. …Read or listen to the rest
Schooling the imperfect perfectionist
Article Summary School has and continues to be VERY difficult for me I always worked really hard and got decent grades despite my disabilities I did well not only because I worked hard but because I also received appropriate accommodations (extended time on tests, a decreased distraction test environment, NO Scan-trons!, spelling and grammar were not always counted against me) …Read or listen to the rest
My brain: the ‘slow’ parts. Part 3. My memory stinks!
Article Summary: I have a terrible short-term (and long-term) memory I forget what show on TV I am watching during commercial breaks I have a really hard time remembering people’s names and faces I need a “hook” to remember facts about certain topics. A hook is something that is said or seen that sparks my memory and allows me to …Read or listen to the rest
My brain: the ‘slow’ parts. Part 2. Processing problems!
Article Summary My processing speed is in the bottom 14th percentile of the population. This slow processing speed affects my life everyday. I have trouble reading menus in time, telling time on analog watches, sometimes I process objects and people very slowly/incorrectly and it takes me along time to talk about science at work My boss and I have a …Read or listen to the rest
My brain: the ‘slow’ parts. Part 1. I don’t read right.
Article Summary: I am a terrible, horrible, no-good, stinky reader (I rank in the bottom 15th percentile)! In this post I provide examples of how I perceive words and sentences. The objective of this post is to give my readers without LD an idea of how difficult reading can be for those of us with LD and also demonstrate to …Read or listen to the rest
I am me
Article Summary I was diagnosed with a reading disorder and a learning disorder when I was in 3rd grade. I am currently a 5th year graduate student in a biomedical research program. When I graduate I will receive my PhD in microbiology and molecular virology. I first received accommodations when I was in elementary school. I still use the same …Read or listen to the rest