Dyslexia Design Thinking: When Neurodivergence and Creativity Meet
- REEL Team
- Feb 3, 2023
- 58 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Read the transcript here
as I said I just want to thank everyone who rsvp'd and has come to our event tonight or we'll be watching it on the recording we're grateful that you've taken time to be part of our real Community my name is Cali Turk and I am one of the co-founders of real I'm joined here tonight by Yael valak who is my fellow co-founder and Abby Kerrigan who is our real partner and we just couldn't be happier that you're here we're going to go through just a few slides on real and then we're going to jump into our main speaker I want to next yeah 703.
I'm gonna have more people coming in we'll make sure everybody gets in so in case you're here and you've never been to any of our past events or you're not familiar with real we just wanted to share our mission and vision uh we are a non-profit based in Silicon Valley and we really are focused on helping twice exceptional students thrive in school and we're doing that by really working with parents and Educators to raise their awareness about these very unique Learners and understand some practical research-based strategies to help them with their needs we're really working to build Bridges between Educators and parents through resources and workshops and programs and tools and speakers just like this tonight probably most of you are familiar with
what we mean by twice exceptional but just in case this is a term that is new to you twice exceptional students are students who have very distinguishing strengths they have high abilities or potential in one or more areas it could be an academic area an intellectual area creativity or leadership and they also have complex challenges so they might have a specific learning disability like dyslexia which we'll be talking about tonight or ADHD or general anxiety or Autism and it's really that combination of that high ability and that challenge area that makes them what we call a green learner where they are always that combination and we want to help them thrive in all kinds of situations
we have a lot of resources on our website and invite you all to go there if you have any additional questions this is an example from our website and you can see that our 2E topic tool is a place where you can navigate our resources based on a topic that you might be interested in
we have a lot of events coming up you're here tonight for our February 1st event and this is our kickoff of our 2023 event series on February 13th we're going to have a lunchtime chat about living and loving2e just in time for Valentine's Day how do you manage relationships in your neurodivergent family on March 12th we're going to kick off neurodiversity celebration week by featuring the awesome duo from autism level up talking about how we can support our neurodivergent children in what would they like to call useful reality uh then on April 24th we will host another lunchtime chat on being Mindful and tools to understand and manage your own anxiety so that you can self-regulate and show up for your kids and then on May 9th we're going to be talking with Dr Tasha Oswald of open doors therapy about how we can think about how do we really celebrate our 2E child when there are a lot of things that are really hard about parenting so we're going to be talking about that dual reality and uh then we always host our bi-monthly support groups with parents helping parents so our next one of those is March 2nd and then again May 4th
we have a lot of other resources and support we have a private Google group if you'd like to join a private Community to ask questions and get answers you can also follow us on Facebook Twitter and you can see all of our event recordings on YouTube and that's where we will be posting this event recording in the coming days I am we offer workshops I'm not going to go into this a great deal but you can learn more about this on our website if you think that things that we offer would be helpful for parents or Educators at your school whether it's introducing them to 2E understanding strength-based strategies talking about creativity and all kinds of things we just cover all kinds of topics and we'd love to come and speak with your community okay and last but not least we are still celebrating the fact that we became a non-profit in the middle of last year this was a long journey for us and it was super exciting and we really want to share that with our community and let you know that if it this is a program that you find useful if you appreciate that we are offering these kinds of programs for free and you would like them to continue to be offered for free so that everyone can we want everyone to be able to join them even those who wouldn't be able to afford if we were charging a fee we would really appreciate your support so that we can kind of keep the zoom lights on and keep keep our work going we'll put the link to our donation in the chat um there's no obligations to donate but if you feel so called to do please please consider consider that donation
so without further Ado I'd like to introduce tonight's speaker Gil gershoni hi Gil hi everybody great to be here gilgershoney is the founder and creative director of grishoni creative in San Francisco and Dallas
for more than 25 years Gil has worked with clients like Google Apple Spotify Deloitte Patron San Francisco art institute BBC and Nike foreign advocate for neurodiversity and regularly speaks on neurodiversity's influence on design thinking his mission is to educate people about dyslexia moving from more traditional views of Dyslexia as a debilitating mental imitation to what Gill calls a hyper ability Gill has presented a South by Southwest Whitney biennial and Sundance Film Festival engaged students from UC Berkeley engineering program California College of the Arts and Vancouver Institute of media arts on the topics of Dyslexia and neurodiversity executive produced dyslexic dictionary an exhibit which we went to which was amazing in San Francisco featuring dyslexic artists virtually reinterpreting words phrases or ideas through the lens of their dyslexia he has been profiled in the 2020 book the bigger picture with amazing dyslexics and the jobs they do he's written numerous medium posts on the benefits of Dyslexia and neurodiversity and he hosts salons with dyslexic thought leaders across Industries he is currently hosting the dyslexic design Thinking podcast which explores the intersection of Dyslexia and creativity with guests from a wide range of Industries he is producing the deer dyslexia postcard project which we will post in the chat which invites students from around the world to continue the work of dyslexic dictionary by visually redefining dyslexia using their personal experience as a guide
he is also producing dyslexia Beautiful Minds part of the Inside Out public art project displaying portraits of 100 dyslexic in the heart of San Francisco we're so excited to have him here tonight bill would you like to take over the slides or should I keep going sure you can keep going uh let's go to the next one so hi everybody I'm so delighted to be here um I I was looking forward to all day to be and meeting you all and kind of getting into a good discussion about how do we change the narrative and the perceptions of Dyslexia I wanted to start by kind of letting showing you a little bit of my the foundation so then we can jump off of it into sort of conversation and then question and answer for everybody you know most people that are not dyslexic and even dyslexic think the dyslexic dyslexia is a single mindset or a single perspective or a single learning disability and I think it's important to realize that when you think dyslexia you're actually talking about many different modalities and when you look at all the amazing dyslexic around the world that change our perceptions you start to ask yourself why is this a disability and why are we looking at what we can do versus what we can do
um so let's get to the next one um one of the things that most people think about dyslexia is that oh isn't that the kind of thing that you can read and you flip letters and most of you that are not dyslexic when you look at the word cat on the left of the screen the first thing that you can visualize in your head is the image of the cat on the right right it's very easy you barely even read it it just sort of jumps into your mind and there's a cat let's go to the next one you know what that's more or less what happens and I know a lot of people loves infographics so we rendered one for you guys just to kind of like see how that sort of cognitive observation from the subject and the object and interpret interpretation of it goes if you go to the next slides you know when I look at uh cat go to the next one
I see every letter from every perspective through and above you know I see the C I see the inside of the T I see the a I see it upside down I see it's in 3D all at the same time and no one no wonder no matter which way I spin it I never see a cat you know um and and most people say wow that's exactly what the learning disability is let's go to the next one
but you take the same disability and apply it into just about any other problem solving for example you take the same cat and you put it in the bag and in my mind I can in a blink of an eye I can spin the bag inside it out I can spin the cat and whatever which way I do it you know I can tell you it's a cat if you jump to the next one you know so so it's the same exact uh negotiation of linear subjects or linear objects that really allows you to think of the learning disability and move it into the high probability let's go to the next slide
so what is dyslexia really so I figured that you know if you look when you look at the dictionary definition of Dyslexia they're really telling you what you can't do you know there's not a lot of other definitions of other things in the world that actually talks about what it's not versus what it is forward to the next one so dyslexia's ability to see the world from multiple perspectives all at the same time and solve problems in unique ways okay let's go to the next slide
so that brought me to sort of start to think about if dyslexia is a gift of seeing through things above things below things all at the same time you know and as I am a designer and a thinker and a creative and an entrepreneur I really realized that dyslexia it's been one of my strength as I do my work around the world so I came up with the idea of Dyslexia design thinking let's forward it to the next one please
so we'll talk a lot about what is dyslexia design thinking today Less in the theoretical part but how do we apply it to Everyday uh um exercises practice some of the challenges we're having as adults as children and everybody in between but I wanted to put a little bit some of the the building blocks for you guys here so it's Divergent thinking non-linear ideation you know to generate unexpected ideas you know and let's go to the next one
it's root in my belief that dyslexia is a high probability that it's truly a gift that 99 of everything I do is dyslexic frankly everything I do is through the lens of Dyslexia but most of us tend to think about it as the learning disability that it is and not the other 99.9 of everything else we do that is still through the lens and Through The Gift of Dyslexia it helped me to think and create and relate to one another you know and as I learn how to regulate my dyslexia and I learn how to work with other non-dyslexic to actually solve problems bring ideas and and and collaborate I realize that actually there is a beautiful dance that can happen between dyslexic and the gift of it and non-dyslexic as we work together to change the world so I would love to invite you all today
and in the future to check out all the problems we have um you know some exhibitions podcasts you know uh dyslexia design thinking salons uh and and really share some of what you guys are doing and you know and follow us on Instagram and Linkedin and uh follow our medium article and let me know what you think and how that experiences uh um you know work for you and um let's jump into the conversation
right great so
so excited to have you here Gail so let's talk a little bit more about you know how how you developed all of this and you talked a little bit about it in that first introduction but when did you first start to notice that you saw the world differently like that you saw cat that different way than everybody else or people around you you know um
when you don't know you're different you don't know you see differently you know it's it's um you know that's the beautiful about being a child right until you told me that I couldn't do something I was a vibrant happy creative outside the box kid you know and I followed my my own you know my own interests and my own uh uh uh uh passions and as soon as I started going to school I realized that there is so much that I can do like others and no matter how much I tried to overcome it and change it and to be linear you know I couldn't you know uh it's not the kind of thing that you can try harder to do in order to overcome it you know um I always looked at the world you know from every perspective you know I remember when I was a little kid everybody in my family knew that if they lost a key a ball a bat they would just ask me because my photographic memory my dyslexic mind will be able to sort of spot it in the house say oh Mom your keys are underneath the couch and she was oh be like how do you you know you're six years old how did you know because I brushed against it visually and seeing everything at once I was able to sort of exactly know where it is you know um as I got older and I realized that it's very difficult for me to read and write I found that there's other ways that I expressed myself that was very different than my um classmates and my um colleagues at Carla in college and and Beyond when I you know got to be more in my professional world so uh for me
um it was really important and I think that was credited to my parents it was like to really sort of follow what gave me joy to fill my cup with things that um I really was I was really good at I really thrived at you know and I think that um even though I could read and write easily they knew how hard I tried and they they didn't they never for one minute says oh he's lazy he's stupid even though some of the teachers and some of the community kind of label me that way um but they always believed that you know I was immensely gifted I remember when I was like second grade or something like that my mom said you know you are the smartest you know you were so you know you're so creative and I says mom every mom says it to her child every mom says that you know and she's like well that's fair and I remember her and she tells the story these days she kind of teared up and sort of her heart sort of was died for it he's like you know what let's take you and get you tested and get your IQ tested and she explained to me what IQ testing was and she said I'm going to send you in by yourself a third party is going to sort of evaluate you and they're going to sort of let you know where you sort of fall on the Spectrum you know and I went and did that and afterwards the the the person called her back in and says you know he is below average in reading and writing but in every other cognitive sort of measurement is absolutely exceeds uh his age group and Beyond and I think that was a really pivotal moment at such a young age to know that my mom saw the potential and she gave me the the confidence earlier on to still work hard and overcome and and
and struggle with some of these linear thinking but also feed um feed my dyslexia you know help me you know uh um play and draw and and make things uh that really gave me a lot of strength you know it sounds like your mom was one of your you know major supporters throughout your life do you have other adults that you can credit for helping you along the way
um yes you know obviously my mom my family my dad uh um grandparents and things like that learn over time that you know it's not about trying harder it's just that I see the world differently um and they themselves learn over time that actually part of the challenge that a young person with dyslexia has is the way they they are observed by their near and Dear Community um and as I got older and went through sort of you know a high school I found other teachers that really understood what dyslexia was and really supported uh the gift of of my dyslexia and and and and celebrated it and and gave me other ways to communicate and um and and to express myself as I got older
and I went to University um I learned that actually my dyslexia was my superpower you know because I was able to communicate and and and create ideas and solve problems in ways that some of my colleagues couldn't do exactly the same way um and I learned that instead of trying to fix my dyslexia and not be dyslexic and try to fit like into a linear world I learned that I need to slow down my dyslexia in certain circumstances in order to be able to learn in more traditional ways but also I I fed my dyslexia so I was so curious always to sort of learn uh in different ways I used to sit in University in classes that I didn't even like I was belong to just because I wanted to hear lectures I wanted to so I just sort of got really immersed in sort of uh looking at the world from different perspectives and two questions found professors and others that sort of really um just just you know supported that you know um so so it sounds like it was in college when you really started to have a mind shift about dyslexia when you started to think of it as a gift like is that right or was it even earlier you know it's a it's like you know I think that every day I go through it I don't think that it's uh it's it's you know it's um the gift of it continued to evolve as I could devolve as a person so I think that it was a child you know I didn't know that there was some struggles and then I sort of faced them and then I was spend a lot of time through my parents to sort of feed my dyslexia and my talents so there was different places to sort of fill my cop um but as I got older you know different aspects of it unfolded and the more I got comfortable with what I can and can do and Expo spoke it to the uh to my community my professors my my teachers
um and I felt okay with it then they actually supported it um so I think that it's an ever-evolving process and it's a lifelong Pursuit but um I I did find that earlier on I kind of embraced it and um started to talk about it and um and and then as I got older you know and really sort of uh start to to think about it and and and find the different structures of what it is um you know I got more more people involved in it as well yeah yeah actually it sounds a lot like how Jamie Oliver talks about his just thinking about playing your cup and finding what you love and working on that
um so it's interesting you showed that slide with all of the different people who who are dyslexic and they all have different talents and strengths but if you could name a few I don't know overarching themes you might see for dyslexics what are some of those things that dyslexics are uniquely good at yeah um you know a lot of us look at the world through
the lens of again like I said there's different types of dyslexic and just just put it out there I'm not an expert in dyslexia I'm just dyslexic you know and I can only speak Through My Lens of Dyslexia and and my experiences so maybe your child your other you know if you're dyslexic and adult you see The World Slightly differently you know I've talked to a lot of dyslexic over the years from all different backgrounds all different countries and occupations and there is some commonalities one of them is we tend to think very fast you know and um and and we think very fast because we jump over things you know we look at things that are non-linear and we find connections you know and um so that's something I found often now when I didn't know I was doing it it's not only disorienting for me but also for my colleagues and my environment when I start to realize what I'm doing I was able to then start to uh name it paste it and regulate it and and sort of use it more as a tool
um visualization and many aspects of visualization is something that's very often very common with dyslexics I can see it in my mind's eye fully rendered you know so for me if I think of an idea or if I think of a problem I can actually visualize it which means I don't have to visualize I can see it in my mind's eyes so I think that's a very common trait for dyslexics um you know when it comes to language because reading was so challenging I found myself really honing in the meaning of language and over time really hone my communications you know so finding more specifically what I was trying to say and how I was trying to say it was almost I don't know if it's for all dyslexic but because I was over compensating that became a very strong aspect of uh part of my lens of dyslexia
um a lot of empathy because you know you know for me I was always interested in how other people feel how do I relate to them so I learned over time to really be sensitive to others feelings and emotions and behavior and be very sensitive to it you know um so I tend to bring a lot of that and some of that is what they say but often it's what they don't say So reading body language reading their um you know intentions became something as it became adult a great Tool uh through the lens of dyslexia and um you know it's I mean there's so many different other Gift of Dyslexia but I think these are few and I'm sure we'll get more into some of them as we keep talking today yeah yeah so let's talk a bit more about dyslexic dyslexic design thinking you mentioned it's Divergent thinking non-linear ideation and unexpected ideas so tell us more about that and tell us who can be a dyslexic design thinker so
um so I come from the world of design and design thinking which is a phase approach to problem solving and uh but the problem with that for dyslexic and other neurodiverse Minds is that dyslexic thrives in a non-linear so for me when I look at the idea of dyslexic design thing it's really based around the idea of Divergent thinking and non-linear ideation to help generate unexpected ideas that is something that anybody can do and it's really more embracing
um different types of modality incorporating all mindsets you know and bringing both the neurodivergent and the neurotypical minds to the conversation it's really
it's got to do with how do we look at problems how do we suspend trying to solve them as long as we can so we understand the environment and we understand what is going on for The Human Experience and how do we find the various moments of those experience in order to create a better solution and outcome together you know um often when I work with my team at the agency each one of us comes from very different mindset you know some of us are traditional researchers writers strategists uh project managers um designers
and we tend to suspend as long as we can to solve the problem and it's very hard to do when you first start do it because you here's the problem and you want to solve it so everybody throws Solutions but often I say is if you knew what the solution was or if you knew what the problem was then you would also most likely knew the solution so we start with the idea that we don't actually know what the problem is and we try to sort of look around and below and from every perspective to try to find is where is the Discord where is the where is the moment in the relationship of what we're trying to do that is not flowing and then we look at it from every perspective and as we get closer and closer to figure out where it is it becomes more apparent how do we actually address and solve those uh creative problems so to your question you know anybody can apply that methodology you know it's it's uh it's it's something that we've done internally I do it every day both in my personal life and my commercial life and it's an approach that really allows to find uh the truth and the Heart of the story no matter where we go you know I love that it's kind of um it's like
you're dyslexic design thinking is for everyone and what we're trying to do is help all these poor people who don't have the Gift of Dyslexia figure out how to do what those of us would dyslexia do naturally right beautifully said exactly that's wonderful
um let's see I think I'm going to move into some of the questions that people have submitted to us before the the talk so the first things that a bunch of people asked about were about classroom strategies so the first question was uh what are some ways that children can learn to embrace dyslexia both at home but also in the classroom um everybody's different so I'll give
some of my experiences and some what I've seen uh out there and and then we can you know as we go when we open it to the audience we can get more specific about it how do you embrace your dyslexia well I am dyslexia thrown through everything I do is dyslexic there's no part of me that's not dyslexic and part of me that is dyslexic I wake up dyslexic I eat dyslexic I see the world dyslexic I dense dyslexic I do everything Through My Lens of Dyslexia so the first thing to say is is that there's no separation between me as a person and me as a person thinking non-linearly and I think that's a really important distinction because if we say that everything you do is dyslexic then what do I do in the
classroom at home that gives me contentment that makes me feel whole you know some people loves to dance some people like to make things with their hands some people uh you know loves to draw or do a mathematical equation or so the first question is what do you like to do you know and that's for an adult and a child you know what do you like to do when nobody's watching that just makes you feel your whole self you know that's always a beautiful place to start because you know often you find them when you
pull on that string then you just you know then the whole gift of this Deli starts to become apparent you know and then how do you
um do more of that how do you regulate it so if you go to a classroom and you have to sort of comment down what do you do that makes you come oh I take deep breaths I feel myself through all of my senses I look in my classroom and maybe something in the room reminds me to just become present I practice those physical behaviors so it's not um you know it's it's become sick in nature you know you work on these tools from very early on that as you become as you grow and you develop him you just become more of a fully embodied uh um you know conscious person about how you experience the world now you have to be dyslexic to do that well no I mean
that's that's what we're talking about Consciousness that's when we're talking about being uh present that's when we're talking about buying being compassioned and uh so so that's kind of part of the fundamental things that I do every day with my son sadly he's not dyslexic but you know the other day he was given a performance and you're feeling a lot of anxiety about it and I just said take a deep breath man slow down
relax you know bring your shoulders back and I remember he was on stage and I can see him just becoming present with the space in the audience you know move from your head to your body and from your heart and when you practice that over time you kind of become addicted to it because you know whenever you take a deep breath into your whole body you just become here and now and everything becomes much easier you know um
this this stigmatizing dyslexia is something that I think is also very important as a tool in the classroom you know often when I was a child everything that was done for me was emphasizing what I couldn't
do that is terrible versus for a child to
always experience what they can do and then try to find ways to be cool with it
with with their peers you know so for me is working with teacher working with the students working with the parents to find ways to learn in diverse ways you know um if you loves to draw or if you love to do math if you like you can find so many ways to learn subjects through different modalities that makes you feel your strength first and then you over over you know you start working on your differences you know um if you like to make art make every letter out of clay or thing it or paint it or tell a story about it right
because it's all about how you know teaching each other how to learn um
so I don't know if I fully answer your question about tools in the classroom but I think these are kind of tools that I apply myself and I know that uh I can be very helpful um but we can talk more about scenarios around specific uh um issues that people may have okay no I think that's great and I one of the questions someone asked so for children who um think through problems differently so for instance maybe they're during a test they need to talk through each problem out loud that helps them get you know think through the problems what's the best way for parents to explain these things to teachers so that the teachers are willing to make accommodations if they can't meet you individually what would you tell them to tell
um their teachers well you know it's really again depends
on the class size and the teacher itself but I think that it's important that if that that I mean first and foremost I think is that a teacher is here to teach the children how to learn subject and content comes and goes so there's definitely things we have to learn and take take from every lesson in class but if you teach a child how to love to learn then they would learn anything so knowing that we all learn differently some of us dyslexic or not love to stand love to see it loves to dance or read or whatever which way we do it is to give the child the space to do so knowing that the end result is not to accommodate their their disability but to enhance their superpowers in order to become a better student you know so if I was to talk to a teacher and say I know my son or daughter loves to or needs some more time or wants to make it out of a different mediums or material is to sort of have a dialogue about it's you know this this is a way to bring the students to be uh to engage with the curriculum and the subject matter
um you know my mom back in Undead is before you know the funds as we know them today and before audible she used to record most of the subject it into a cassette tape and I used to listen to it you know these days uh were obviously there's so much more awareness and you have all these tools out there so I think just kind of educating the children to be a little bit more open to different learning uh Styles and um
you know it goes a long way that way yeah so yeah so busy in the classroom with the other kids but also with the teacher that's that's great well said um somebody asked do you have any favorite apps websites or technology that you'd recommend to for elementary or middle school students with dyslexia
I love taking in content uh through audio so I listen to and I've as I've learned it I've listened to um podcasts books uh anything I can I I every email everything that comes in I make it uh basically read it to me and I really learn to consume it that way and remember it so I think any kind of uh audio tool to sort of turn things from text to audio is a great tool to get the content I also love uh watching videos and and and you know uh um documentaries and things like that um I found that I really consume information really well that way and I just don't forget it you know when I read it I don't remember most of it I remember some of it and it's very patchy but so a lot of that so uh really is very very helpful
um You Know audio to text these days is as such an evolution um I you know always speak and it always types it up and my first thing is to say it's like it was you know a you know dictated and I apologize for being dyslexic so if you know if an issue with my grammar or what it says you work on it I communicate what I can and to you and then like and people usually find it you're funny or whatever they're very welcoming to it
um there's a lot of tools out there uh both linearly or more traditional tools as well as digital that allows it to sort of create visual mind maps uh and you know I still do it I still take Post-its and white boards and I try to kind of put things non-linearly and move them around because I love the physicality of it even at my at my studio with a lot of the designers and others that are not dyslexic we print everything out and we print it on the walls and we move it around and everybody finds like well but we can do it in a computer yeah but then you don't get to be in it you don't get to feel it so um try to solve a math problem you know on a table on the wall instead of just writing it down you know so so these are kind of I think common uh easy tools to apply to any learning differences that I think can really support different modalities we were working on the Schwab Learning Center with some dyslexic students both High School is worse Stanford and one of the students there had a really hard time sitting still in the class or even through Zoom during coven and whatnot and as we brought him to the center we talked about what he loves to do and he says I love to dance so he just was doing I said get up dance and start to do your work on the board and just by moving and doing his homework
the great change he loved the content he loved the subject so sometimes the tool are kind of more based on the individual person and then you just get think outside the box and you just find those tools and make them uh apply them to any assignment you know um so yeah
I love that I want to meet that kid who wants to dance while learning that's amazing
um okay I'm you know there were several questions that involved anxiety and dyslexia and um one parent wrote anxiety and a deficit Focus together are overshadowing what could be my child's superpowers how do I help them feel good about themselves and keep that light in their eyes so how do you help these students you know find their own powers and think of themselves in a positive light
foreign yeah I mean that's that's um
well a couple different approaches that I find helpful to that um
it's a practice okay so for me it's not a single gesture it's an ongoing uh approach to regulating you know um what anxiety can be and where it is in the body so having a relationship with that knowing where it is how does it feel not running away of trying to fix it at least make space for it you know talking about it and where uh and how and where does it come up it's always been very helpful as I said earlier having a practice in breathing is a really simple and um something that most of us were like
well what do you mean practice in breathing I breathe all day long yeah but we're not conscious doing it so I tend to do yoga and I tend to meditate and it's something over the years that I developed that really is helpful I got you know um my team at the agency to do some of that work and it's very simple you know just take deep breath you relax you embrace it uh and before you know it it's sort of starts to you know softens and become something that's much more manageable um and the more you practice the better you get at it so you're becoming having a relationship with it having the relationship with your dyslexia you're able to sort of know that certain things triggers it and certain things become too loud and then you just sort of find ways to start to regulate it you know um dyslexia is the way your mind and your body reacts with certain circumstances and your emotional guidance system is we're telling you that you know it doesn't feel good to be called out or to be labeled with a disability and and so you start to sort of figure out how do I go toward things that make me feel better and how do I um you know regulates my my feelings around
it um you know different ages different different techniques for it but you know you're really trying to sort of find a way to not try to get over it but just embrace
it you know um that's that's some stuff that really has been helpful to me over the years and uh I know it's uh with practice it just makes it a little easier over time yeah actually you mentioned in there something that was just leads up to the next question someone asked if there are different techniques for embracing and
feeling positive about your dyslexia that you would use with Elementary School Kids versus if you're approaching a child in high school who needs to work through these sorts of issues
you know doing the dyslexia dictionary um exhibit we had many schools come through and and hundreds of kids and um I can really sense their energy right like together as a group all of them were dyslexic so they would get super ramped up and everybody was getting on top of each other and wanted to sort of come to and touch the art and talk about and everybody had a question and
um and especially the little ones you know first grade which is so enthusiastic and as as the sort of guiding them through and working with them the first thing you know I would say to them is everybody look over here and everybody together take a deep breath as big as you can you know and to stretch your body and reach up and feel your your feet and then I'm through everybody go quiet you know and it's who doesn't want to do it I mean I mean it was just so much fun you know and you do two or three times with them
and all of a sudden everybody's sort of so much more relaxed you know and it's not a thing you know it's you just embrace the play of it and it just brings the energy down and
growls everybody and makes it very um easy to sort of regulate the amount of energy that flows through your body um frankly I would do the same thing with adults you know or high school there's no difference it's just how do you approach the different individuals so it doesn't become a chore and it doesn't become like let me fix you by doing it it's uh you just more move toward it and you sort of help kind of like relax the body and relax the mind and relax your nervous system you know
and um and like I said earlier on when you do it and you learn the benefits of it then you kind of tend to do it on your own you know and you can see like after we we went with the students throughout the different art pieces and talked a lot about it I was like everybody take a deep breath and they just remember just a few minutes ago
and they came back to themselves and we can continue again you know the other part of it is when you know all that happened is run it out you know let it just like you know that we we I just let everybody ride around like just exercise it out let it flow through you and then come back again and sort of re-regulate again um young kids do it naturally you don't have the time to do it you just need to sort of give them some space to do it when you try to bottle them out then it's when you know the energy and the mind and the dyslexia sort of gets really ramped up but adults tend to sort
of ballad up and sort of be a little bit more um a little bit more uptight about it you know and uh well I'm not gonna take any breath right now well why not you know I'm not gonna you know let me hide so nobody can tell that I'm completely absolutely stressed out you know well that's not really helpful everybody know you at least it's not helpful to you so just relax you know and the more relaxed The More Everything flows and uh yeah and it comes back to Center so
that was great thanks um okay I'm gonna shift gears a bit to a question about dyslexia and fine motor skills delays which often can be dysgraphia but could be other other unspecified motor skills when you have a child like that who's so creative but they struggle with those fine motor skills is there something you can do to help them still Express their creativity well it's as you said it's it's a really
big umbrella and every every child is different right so um what we tend to do when we design spaces like the Schwab Learning Center is to make sure they're being immensely sensitive to all the senses some individuals love stimulation so as you can see in my studio there's so much
visual stimulation because it helps me kind of regulate I'm actually not that comfortable in empty spaces they're just you know so much that my mind is running so when I in my space everything on the wall I can ride on the walls there's art there's ideas there's stimulation and helps me regulate other people like super quiet spaces you know some people are very sensitive to sound or to being you know uh looked at um some people are very sensitive now
right so I found that when we find the individuals sort of what stimulates them or what creates a lot of um uh um you know physical and mental and soundness non-stimulation is to sort of acknowledge it and embrace it you know so back to this question with the student you know if you know that the the child is needs to be more in a quiet space because that helps them regulate than finding those moments and those modalities that help them to support their differences
um you know when as I kind of work with my dyslexia and try to regulate it and try to figure out how to come to Center is I realize that you know instead of stopping it is I start to move with it I start to dance with it you know because that the contrast wasn't so strong and I'm able to sort of dance with it and if I dance with that I can regulate it in a lot more um intuitive way for myself you know
um so a few different ways but uh again I think everybody is different and talking about the individual child um and what is some of their challenges can be more specifically focused for their needs right right in ways that they enjoy expressing their creativity even if it's not with writing or drawing
or something yeah like you said um so several people asked questions about college and careers and moving into adulthood and so earlier we talked
a little bit about some of the things that you know dyslexics are uniquely good at
um a whole variety of them so are there how do those translate for you into potential Majors or kind of career opportunities that dyslexics should be thinking about
again I think that the question is uh rooted in dyslexia not in the person dyslexia is that's the way your mind works if you love to dance move toward dancing if you love to design or create spaces create spaces if you get your personal astonishment by you know thinking about engineering engineer you know and that's that's an indication of where your uh your mind drives right so
there isn't a specific major I would say that dyslexic are really good at most of us as as far as as I went through some of the educational for myself is that I start to find ways that I was very good I was very good at thinking outside the box you know whatever I try to get a job I realize that well the way they were trying to solve it I did that didn't work for me I can think outside of it but I was maybe just starting my career so I didn't have really the uh opportunity to to shape it so I decided to become an entrepreneur and guess what a lot of dyslexic end up finding their own um path in many Industries because they try they tend to do it differently so one of the thing is to embrace that but it all goes back to the person like what gives you Joy you know it's and and and if you follow that then you'll
realize that that is a good place to sort of find it in other places you know I would have never imagined that I would end up where I'm at today you know it wasn't my major to get here I first started in computers in the 80s
and then I was really interested in the idea of communication because I couldn't really really write this as as well as I can speak I was like okay how do I communicate in visuals how do I use that as a visual language
and then I realized that I can do certain things with that very well but I needed others to do other parts so I started to say okay my friend Dave is a great illustrator and my friend you know Susan is a great writer so I was like hey you know and I can definitely get clients to do projects so then we I brought everybody together and then I worked with them and before you know it you kind of dance with your skills
and 30 years later you really you know you're Reinventing breasts and Reinventing spaces and rebranding organizations but it's the same thing you know um you know I really just started sort of at what place and it led me through the uh entrepreneurial mindset and the Curiosity and the mindset of making you know
um I think this dyslexic are very good and and and making things when we figure out where we Thrive you know so what do you like to make you know and um either folks like to consume you know and that's where they get theirs to fulfillment but for me it's like I love to manifest and create things and because I can see them you know and I can see them before they come alive and then
um I can I kind of know where it needs to go I couldn't always explain it to you but I've learned that to trust my gut and my dyslexia to to move toward it and um and then to readjust and to re-navigate the rear Jaws so you know what career is good for dyslexics any career you know any career that gives you uh that interests you and pulls you target you know
um I would probably say what career is good for dyslexic there's anything that makes you feel great what career to stay away from is things that don't make you feel great that you work too hard to try to just be average because it's you know I mean we have to do some of it I mean I have ton of friends I became writers at dyslexics because they love to tell stories they have something to say not because they're uh caught in the mechanics of language or of writing writing is a tool to express an idea what idea do you have to express you know
um so really find what you love to express and then the rest would follow if you just go down river with it you know uh you'll be surprised how quickly it becomes clear
um and the other thing is don't try to arrive you know as parents we tell our children well how are you going to make a living I'm alive I mean you know making a living I'm already living you know it doesn't you know if you have you know a a joy in your heart and you follow your bliss the rest always follows it's only when you try to force something that's
not part of the inner you know inner spirits that that you find the the
Discord right what makes you less ease right disease like less ease it's not easy it doesn't flow it's not natural so you want to find a place where the where the flow of things become natural and becomes more right and when it becomes more than the universe and everything you do kind of
comes to it because who doesn't want to dance with that you know so
um find something you love to do and you know um you know one of the pieces in the art shows that we had and I designed with uh with a lot of intentions you know if it moves you dance with it move toward it and build a language for yourself toward
that and find a process and the relationship to do more of it you know and uh and you don't have to be dyslexic to do that that's that's you know part of the beauty of being a human at least for my lens you know yeah okay beautiful love all that I was
just all of us from the audience are like yes I love it um let's see I oh yeah I think that people were asking a little bit about how can we um prepare our teenagers for a world where not everyone is going to understand their differences and where not all their workplaces might be suited
for them and in many ways you might just say well you you keep trying until you find that place where you know it works for you but how do you in your own work try to
raise awareness with employers and with with adults in the in the world about
acceptance and the benefits of all of these things
it's a you know it's um it's really I mean there's no one way to answer your question there because I think that it's a life Pursuit you know my thing is I've learned that
um so when when I was a child
I was raised with a lot like a lot of dyslexic that dyslexia was I was lazy I was stupid I would never mind Mountain much uh I remember one of my early uh great teachers said all he needs is a pillow and he falls asleep what a sweet boy but um not that bright um and that's part of the dyslexia stigma is the shame
you know and um and when you have somebody like a parent a guardian a teacher somebody that sees di gift then you start to change in in a
narrative where we're trying to get to is a place that you have uh it's Dental you have confidence and dyslexic or not you can just approach the world with
that you know so I've learned over the years to tell people that I'm dyslexic and that's the gift of it
um yeah
you know I almost want you to re-ask me the question in a different way because I think it's so specific to answer it you know um I think I mean I I hear you I think that
um one of the things that's real that's related is if you could if you could speak directly to a child with dyslexia or ADHD or other differences twice exceptionality right now you know what would you most want to convey to them because I think that's the same message that you would want to convey to the whole world
yeah it's really simple you're part of a group of individuals that are super super have super powers these are superheroes they've changed pretty much every industry around the world as you know it you know um and maybe people without dyslexia you know
can walk can read linearly but us with dyslexia
we leap we fly so welcome to the club I mean like you know
um it may take a little bit to realize how How Are You Gonna Fly and how they're going to sort of spread your wings but you were born with the gift of seeing through things above things below things all at the same times you know and find things that are not related and find beautiful relationship between them so um you know congrats I mean like who
doesn't want to be dyslexic I mean really I mean think about it I mean half my staff is like God I wish it was dyslexic you know because the few things I can't do you overcoming in ways you know but the things I can do not everybody can do them you know um you're an amazing company of people that invented from the light bulb to the automobile to the iPhone to you know I mean on and on and on so uh I
I I I when you learn that then all of a sudden it's like you kind of realize like wow
that's that's a pretty pretty amazing thing you know um and as I said you know you learn how to dance with it you learn how to build your confidence you learn how to um know that reading and writing can sometimes be challenging but seeing the seeing the
you know mostly because I mean I read a story I right away dive past the sentence into the world into the under meaning into the emotional
content of what the author or the content is trying to say you know uh it's it's you're opening a door it's a whole universe the possibility that the sentence is just the key you know and it's just sort of the you know so so as a dyslexic I think that um
yeah I mean you know and lucky for the child's like what do you what do you what gives you that gosh he's like I just want to do more of it yeah then you feed it and you feed a dyslexia and then you you just reinvent it all you know so um and when you realize that it's a gift and you realize that you're in a company of these amazing individuals the story is different now you're never going to look about it the same you know then it's like then somebody tells you you can't realize it's like well okay whatever like you know like I invented iPhone what do you want from you know like uh you know it's like
um so yeah I mean um like I said ask me the question different ways because everybody has a different um place with it and where they're at and it's always been for me a lifelong Pursuit I've continued to become
open about it and find you know
find my gift of it and realize that as a dyslexic everything is negotiable so instead of trying to resist that when I read I see through everything because sometimes I'm like you know I can see through everything you know and then I choose the things I want to kind of see through because I negotiate it all you know
[Music] um yeah that was beautiful I love it
um okay I think we're gonna move right now to the night of audience questions Callie and y'all do you have any that you want to jump in with while I look them over quickly
sure um
I'm looking through all of them myself um how do you support bilingual children with dyslexia I've had teachers just putting one language on the back burner and focus on one but that's not really an option if he wants to be able to communicate with all of his grandparents but I don't want to overload him
so I was born in Israel um I'm dyslexic in Hebrew and in English
um you know so I think that languages are just another medium of communication to different groups right I when um you know a language it's it's you know
most people say oh you're also dyslexic and you know dyslexic in Hebrew it's hard for me to read in Hebrew it's hard for me to read in English you know I mean uh I I take the information you know the same way
um often it just needed to sort of explain often you know in my with my family different Generations uh they come with different sort of understanding of um learning uh modalities
um different age groups um so you know I remember with some of you know my grandparents have passed by the member uh before that um really explaining to them that I just see the world in a very different way my grandfather was an entrepreneur and uh you know and you could totally understand that you know as a dyslexic I can solve problems in different ways and that you will very much relate to it that I relate to people from a very different place than maybe my other uh siblings and relatives uh so often it's against to find the kind of gift of it
and express it so it's it's accepted you know um I'm not sure I'm answering your question on that uh yeah but um I I don't find differences between languages and dyslexia it's it's the same you know it's it's um um but different cultures have different tolerance to it right I remember you telling us about the new found language um something that's negotiable and I love that story I was asking more of if we should agree with teachers who say
put one of the languages that your child speaks or we're Israeli also
um if we should put one language on the back burner in favor of another one and
I don't know if I agree with that teaching approach I see where it comes from to kind of make his life a little simpler but in the long term I feel like that maybe would put him at a disadvantage yeah yeah and Gil I would just add I I think they're I know there are a few people on the call whose families are bilingual and they would love their children to be
bilingual but they do get this advice that that's part of what is keeping the child from either learning to speak or learning to read or you know and I just wonder yeah do you have any thoughts on that like how parents should
think about those choices I don't know if there's anything to do
with dyslexia and that's not my expertise but what I can tell you is that um depends on the age right I think that sometimes when the the child is quite young and you have multiple languages uh and you have obviously you're you're you know your prominent language and then you can learn a second language like ah and it can be very difficult
um over time it becomes easier and it flows better and that was then you have double gifts right
um so it really depends on the individual and how it's embraced I I don't know that trying to not have a second language if that's something part of the family structure or an individual that it's it's something I would avoid um I don't know that it's it's it's there's difference to me between the dyslexia mind and languages you know um
so I you know it's hard for me to be to say more about that besides that I you know I I'm dyslexic regardless of the language you know just the way my mind works and I would say it's up to the individual but I won't I personally but I'm not you know again not my expertise but I personally would not
hold the child back because it may be it's easier because I think that often that's what reinforces
that there's something wrong and there's nothing wrong you know so at least from my perspective right and I'm gonna put a link in the chat to something from understood.org which I think we have found in general has been
a good resource on these topics so I think we can throw that into the chat from the point organization dyslexia
um tutoring you know when you're working on the interventions that you might be doing especially when your child's very young to to help them learn to learn how to read like work on phonemic awareness I think it is important not to be mixing languages when you're doing that that will um slow the process down so it
might depend what stage your child is in they may be if you've moved on past that you're no longer you know worried about or working on reading intervention
strategies and you're looking more at accommodations and you know you're thinking about all your strengths and you're older then I think that should be a time when you could easily then start to look at incorporating another language just
just my two cents on that yeah um I I love this question here I think this is that they'll be a challenging one so some neurodivergent people don't like the term superpower because they don't want to take away from some of the real challenges that they may face in a neuronormative culture so what are your thoughts on that um
so it doesn't mean that you don't have challenges it just means that you're not your challenges and I think that there's a difference for me about that um dyslexia didn't happen to me I was born with it I'm not trying to overcome
it uh I'm trying to have a relationship with it as I get to know myself uh and I can understand maybe superpowers that's very respectful you know it's all about inclusiveness and making sure that you meet the person where they're at and what suits them to feel their strengths so for me it's it's it's more around the idea when we talk about superpower it's not that I'm a superpower superhero I'm like it's that I'm not only focusing about what I can't do and you know label it as you wish
frankly maybe don't label it at all but make sure that the dialogue and the
behavior and the unspoken gesture toward that individual are
full of all of it you know and it's not always about the the challenges and the struggles you know that there's more of a balance at school at home uh and and everywhere in between that the person can feel their full strength their full gift uh and their challenges you know you don't have to be dyslexic to have issues you know frankly I think people uh with every modality has a lot of different challenges uh but we don't walk around saying well he can't play basketball he's you know like it's it's really how we see the individual and how we support them I love the idea that we try to find
what makes where's your strength and spend more time about your strength than about
your weaknesses because if you come from that place that you look at the strength then it's a lot easier to overcome your differences you know because you know where your power is and you know what tools you have to do and how to
um how to feel your best self and then it's a lot easier to deal with things that are more challenging when you have that confidence and you bring that to the table and you can use them to overcome some of the differences so
you know but everybody's different like I said and I'm only dyslexic and this is only my experience and everybody goes about it differently so if superpower turns you off then stay away from it um find a different word or a different way to embrace the whole person
how do we deal with that that's great okay
um what do you recommend to do with a kid in public school who's in seventh grade
who keeps getting the mess hit the message from his peers and maybe his community that
um dyslexia is bad did that happen to you in school and how did you handle that
um it happened to me at school um and and maybe a little bit because of my age and because at the time of education and and the lack of awareness about what dyslexia or learning differences were um it was very challenging you know it was
very challenging and um now as an adult I wouldn't have changed a thing
because it taught me to learn to work hard uh it taught me to find things that I was good at and I think that's part of what my parents and some of the better teachers that were able to see the gifts brought to the table um and celebrate that
um you know it's it's people are going to tell you all sorts of different things in life and you can that you can't you know it's it's you can't change what they're going to say you can only change how you're going to interpret that and how you're going to sit with it so um you know it's a I think it's a good opportunity
at least from my perspective to have a conversations about your personal strength and and
um know that sometimes people are mean and sometimes people are you know they don't understand and they come at you in ways that are hurtful and um and how do you deal with that you know and that gives you the tools later on in life to make those choices or to stay away from those individuals but
um you know um but if you at least at the same time maybe you can do something that's uh that they say but they can see you doing other things at school that have that gives you you know your talent
um that can help change the conversation you know I always found that having an ally or finding a student that I was really close to over the years really gave me sort of community uh and the teachers I didn't feel uh Alone um that was also very helpful to me and being part of a group or I was involved in sports or in the art program or in the theater program that there was other places in school that I didn't have uh other support and other you know others communities uh or program outside of school that sort of gave me some um some sense of empowerment and Community you know
and you touched on this a little bit just then but somebody specifically said they have a 16 year old who doesn't know anyone else who's dyslexic or twice exceptional and they recently left public school to homeschool and you know how how do we help this these people find their Community how do they find
other dyslexics and you know how can they do that
foreign go to my podcast and listen to stories
of people around the world talking about dyslexia um you know you mentioned Jamie Oliver and so many others check out their their program there check out their stories you know check out their podcast check out their uh you know documentaries get involved or have your child get involved in realizing that so many people out there are dyslexians you know Community doesn't have to be in my neighborhood although there's ton of community of dyslexics and uh uh um you know neurodiverse people that are doing amazing things you know so I think it's really you know eye to eye is a great organization I mean there is so much out there these days that when we were children were not available I would say let them know that they're not alone and um finding those stories participating come to these great uh talks we're having um and and really realize that uh the world is greater than the moment they're living today and when they hear these stories of others allows them to find ways to realize that all of us have struggled so they're not struggling and they're
only one in isolation and if some stories and tools about how to uh embrace it and um and when you realize that you were as I said earlier in a company of amazing people and some students tell you oh you're dyslexia can Mountain much you can tell them that you know the the tell them you know the phone they're using to text you was designed by dyslexic what are you gonna do about
that or that the athlete that you love and there are you know top of their game are dyslexic so you know I mean like it's it's I think that
um when those stories come out and you realize that it's hard for people then when somebody tells me you're dyslexic and you can't read okay you know it doesn't it doesn't
necessarily goes as it is as it used to because I've learned and understood so much it doesn't go that deep anymore you know because it's just like it doesn't not really it's when young it really matters but as you grow a little bit you get to your teens and you hear about these stories and you understand that you are uh uh the gift of it and um it gives you a tool to cope with it and uh to deal with others
um misunderstandings of what really is going on you know so there's so much out there these days that uh um it's just awesome so
any other any other thoughts any other questions well I was just going to say on that one
I I put in the chat like I was just so touched by what you said about like where do you get your personal astonishment and I thought for a 16 year old
that's a great way to think about it is is where where is that child finding that joy and that astonishment or that excitement and then lean into those activities as a way to make connections if they're homeschooled so I I'm putting that one in paints like on my wall Now personal astonishment
yeah it's part of what gives you Joy you know and uh and then when you find it just just just embrace it you know um homeschool or not uh
you know it's it's when you find it is it the child is an adult it's like you just want to do more of it it just feels good and that's isn't that enough you know if you love to put your fingers in the soil and plant a seed and water it and see it grow and it gives you the joy of life I mean what else are we what else do we want you know and you know of course making a living is so important but then you realize that you become an amazing beautiful you paint with plants you you become a you know a gardener I mean whatever you know it's like all these different things that are just like you know um makes it so much so much more um colorful to to find those things and then to to go toward them you know
you had mentioned family um and family in different Generations feeling differently about dyslexia there were a couple questions right after that about um someone says that her sister acts like talking about it as a taboo she will often say my daughter isn't dyslexic and she will be fine she thinks it's an extremely negative label and she won't talk about her own children possibly having it and other people say their partner is not understanding the strengths and challenges of Dyslexia I
don't know if you had any thoughts on that yeah I have a lot of thoughts about that to be honest with you because I think that that is um part of the problem you know when you
look at your child and you tell them no you don't have it it's not about having it it's just the way we are right um it's like you know telling if you are blinds and try harder to see uh you know um and and that child even if you don't say that child feels and sees that embarrassment and shame and uh in the parents and you know the label and that is what I think a lot of folks with dyslexia and other learning differences then they have to overcome that you know and all they want to do is to have their you know parent family teachers see them
in in with the gift that they have you know um and I think it's unfortunate because you know it's you are who you are and um if you get older you realize that I don't need them to uh approve who I am you know it's uh often it's in
the eyes of that person that the issue lies you know why is that person embarrassed on dyslexic or why is that person trying to deny the fact that I don't label me dyslexic or not it's the way my mind works but why is that person going to say you know you're not that and you can get over that and
unfortunate you know um and I've talked to many parents and some
you know some see this where's the car because they're all mouth too much you know I don't know I would say go fetch you know it's just like really is that where we are I mean uh
so to me it's just like you know it's uh it's it's unfortunate then it's the educational and that person you know goes back to to that individual to sort of look at it and say well I wish it was different don't we all you know but it's not and the world is the way it is and you're born with the gifts you have and either you embrace them or you try to fight them and how is it working for you if you're finding them are you thriving are you content are you uh
you know are you bright everywhere you can be and if dancer is you know no then you're dealing with what it's not and when you're dealing with what it's not you're making more what it's not and then the conversation about how empty is it versus how full it is you know so it's just a perception
um and you know you have to meet the individuals where they are right it's it's uh I always trying to find uh you know the the Silver Lining and work through it you know but um directly to what you said I find that to be a very challenging thing when uh my parents does not
um see the individual with all the potential you know so
well I mentioned in the chat that this is such a common experience that comes up in our group right parents not being on the same page or how do you manage relationship with your own parents or the grandparents or so that's why we are hosting that event on February 13th
because it's such a navigating relationships like this can be really really tricky so very tricky I want people to know they are not alone in that Journey oh no yeah absolutely
Gil I'm personally curious if you wouldn't mind sharing an example I love how you described um using dyslexic design thinking and how you come up with things that are you know a different perspective and way of solving problems I don't know if you have an example I'm really curious of how that thinking led to a different solution than what sort of linear thinking might have led to I don't know if it's in a project you worked on or
yeah usually you know um every project I work on I think has an aspect of that because um I try to and it's kind of like maybe a little jumping off the last question it's like I was trying to find is um what is the problem
because usually what you consider to be your weakness is your strength you just don't know it yet and you don't understand it quite yet but when you realize that I'm putting more effort to hide to deny The Gift of Dyslexia all that effort going into into making something
that's not so when I work with clients often we're trying to figure out where is the
Discord and what we're trying to do why is it not happening
um I remember earlier on
we worked very early on launching the Patron tequila brand and I remember talking to the team and they looked at the bottle and and nobody used to have a quirky kind of chunky if you guys know Patron tequila the bottle is very small on this and I went to the bar and I I brought a sample to talk to the bartender to do kind of like dyslexic design thinking figure out boots on the ground like what do you think about this and the first thing the bartender said oh my God this bottle is horrible I was like why well because it doesn't fit in the well but we'll have to put it on a back counter and I was like okay that's that's interesting and uh this is if it's a top shelf product and you put on top shelf it's so small you're not getting a lot of visibility and I said would you put out there and I took a picture and what I realized is that when you put a bottle on the back counter everybody asks you what is that bottle and when you put a small bottle compared to big bottles because the Shelf was so loud all of a sudden what is that Corky bottle there and then we went back to the team at Patron and we said instead of changing the bottle to be bigger I think we should embrace the ball as his and they're like why and I was like because you can't put it in the well you can hide it and and it's exactly you know they it's like when we went with the big business will become you know bigger and we'll get more market share we'll change our bottle and we realize that actually what they thought was their problem was actually what we needed to embrace
you know so often we kind of tend to look at where it's not working because you're
putting so much effort toward that and how do we change the energy toward
accept it and bring it on and all of a sudden things start to flow you know when students become um what they are you know so you know you're not dyslexic how is that working for you you know you are dyslexic oh my God what are we gonna do with it it's it's the
same thing it's the same stick it depends which side you hold it on you know so no we're talking about dyslexia no you're talking about what dyslexia is not and if you go to the other side this big dyslexia is it's the same conversation but it's either half empty or half full do you turn it into a problem or you turn into the solution and I think to your question that's something that anything you do you can look at it like what are you focusing on and if you just sort of lean a little bit to the other side of it all of a sudden it opens up and when it does then it becomes it almost starts to tell you what what it's supposed to be you know
you know with Patron we embraced it and then the audience embraced it and we
embraced the fact that it was handmade the balls were handmade the process was handmade the relationship with the farm and the plants and the the community in Jalisco Mexico was part of the value of the product so obviously I'm gonna say what a patron was somebody that loves their community that loves their Heritage that understand that it's not about um just turning a dollar it's really about a value system that is through and through everything you do and when you get clear about that of course you can put that bottle in the well it deserves to be on the counter it's deserved to be celebrated because it
comes from a place of appreciation of generation of Heritage and stories you know and all of a sudden you have so much to tell about it you know so I think that anything that you any any project we do Rob Learning Center exactly the same example it's not a learning you know it is a it's a facility to learn how to work with your dyslexia but it's about Innovation you know it's about ideation how do you how do you figure how to take your dyslexia and become make it a place that you are
learning how to um you know be in an innovation lab for dyslexic you know then everybody wants to go everybody wants to be a part of it you know um so it's really looking at uh at the brightness of that and sort of feeding feeding it you know so foreign I love that and I love the
parallel to how dyslexics should see themselves and how you solve these problems
um I love that perspective Abby do you wanna
right our last question one last question for you which is what is next for you in terms of art exhibitions creative projects that will continue to build understanding and appreciation for neurodivergence
yes um so we are we just closed a beautiful show the dyslexia dictionary which you actually can check it online all the artists recording videos off the work and of their intention every artist chose a word to redefine their dyslexia with a full description and to make sure it's exclusive they'll recorded conversations and dialogues about it as well as the art pieces and website that they do so uh please go check it out online you can find all of it in on our website uh we are uh continuing the dyslexia dear dyslexia postcard projects which we want to invite all of you and all your children's and
um and we extending it nationwide and around the world we're going to continue to post as those postcards continue to arrive we're going to continue to post it to the exhibition online so you'll see your work part of this
Global community of kids of all ages so you don't have to be um age is not defined as you know a child and there's people from different different ages that are participating in it and we're definitely looking to bring it to a physical space throughout the year um so we're super excited about that and um the Inside Out project and this likes a beautiful mind uh we were part
of a community that did that project in um London in the design Museum and we're
working right now with different uh individuals around the US and about and
abroad to bring it to San Francisco in uh later this year as well so uh definitely keep your eye on that project as well our podcasts are continuing uh we release one just about every month we have some great uh podcasts that already came out this this year and a lot more coming up so just amazing conversation with dyslexic from different backgrounds different interests uh um and um just
always super inspiring from me and hopefully for the audience as well uh so
um yeah we're we're as a good dyslexic there's plenty going on sometimes too much for everybody else but I just can't get enough of it so um yeah a lot is happening that's great thank you so much I actually posted the link to the postcard project in the chat I'm excited for my
kids to do those postcards and send them in to you so I hope everyone on the call does that as well it's really exciting project so thank you yeah I just wanted to read you absolutely that someone posted this is the first time I have listened to an adult with dyslexia till now it's been years of negative connotations you have transformed My Views and how I interact with my child thank you amazing amazing
beautiful see now you can go back you know that's the thing about it as soon as you sort
of like figure out that that's like reading and writing great amazing bright brilliant children uh and embracing it then it's only the beginning I mean I can't wait to see what all these amazing kids will do and uh it's so cool to have uh everybody here today so thank you very much I really appreciate it
thank you so much for sharing your amazing perspectives with everyone we're getting tons of things in the chat about you rock and this was amazing you changed my perspective so we really appreciate you taking the time to to speak with us
so good you're welcome I'm gonna say thanks to everyone for coming and I'm
going to stop recording now but what a pleasure and a delight and it's been so wonderful to focus on
what we can find Joyful in our children and not just the things that they struggle with
that so much of the world wants us to focus on so thank you