Famous People With Dyslexia Who Strived To Overcome Their Weakness

There are famous personalities in almost all fields, who have suffered from dyslexia and have strived to make their mark in the respective fields. Be it sports, entertainment, politics and academia. These are some of the most brilliant thinkers and artists with extraordinary will and determination.Dyslexia is a form of learning disability that weakens person’s ability to comprehend accurately and speak fluently when reading and communicating.  It poses difficulty in phonological decoding, phonological awareness, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory and rapid naming. It is believed that dyslexia affects almost 5 to 10 percent of population. There are three subtypes of dyslexia: auditory, visual and attention related. The most common form of dyslexia is reading disability. One needs to understand that just because a student is diagnosed with learning disability doesn't mean that he or she can't succeed in the world.

Some of the famous people who belong to this league are - Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Tom Cruise, Mozart and Robin Williams; enlisted as being famous in the field of art. Tom Cruise, very popular Hollywood actor, struggled with his disability. He admits that he has grown up with reading disability, where he faced problem with written words appearing to be omitted, distorted and modified.

Napoleon Bonaparte is also known to be afflicted with dyslexia. Another great personality was Winston Churchill, who led Great Britain during World War II. He suffered from speech impediment from the childhood. He could not learn alphabet until the age of nine and was unable to read till the age of twelve.

One of the geniuses and greatest mathematician - Albert Einstein also suffered from this disability. He was a 'below average' student at school. He could not speak until he was three and was very weak in Math.  Other known geniuses are - Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. Edison found difficulty in reading until he was twelve and in writing, even after that. Some of the famous business Entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, David Neeleman and Charles Schwab were also dyslexics. The list is endless but all have one thing in common their determination to excel fighting all odds.

Some of the common symptoms in dyslexics are - feelings of shame, fear, depression and loneliness.  Recent bollywood movie - "Taarein Zameen Par", highlighted learning disabilities and helped in creating awareness about it.However, this disorder can be treated by the use of proper teaching methods and therapy. By simply providing early assistance in studies, like helping a dyslexic child to solve small math problem or word associated problems.