Many people take simple things like conversations for granted. However, conversations are a social obstacle course for someone with Non-Verbal Learning Disability. Relationships come and fade away without proper explanation. Loneliness is a massive part of NVLD. Growing up, I always knew there was something a bit wrong with my interactions with peers. Sometimes I would say something that would result in massive laughter, all the while I did not understand why. Read More
One of the biggest challenges of growing up with an NVLD can be understanding the need for speech therapy and the importance of developing a great relationship with your speech therapist. Regretfully, there continues to be a stigma about being in speech therapy especially for teenagers. Often your needs are much different than others so you feel out of place. Truthfully, your speech therapist is the one that helps you enjoy your school day better as communication and social skills are necessary to be able to effectively connect with others. Read More
It’s no secret that I am a tremendous supporter for inclusion in sports. Many of my life long friends are former teammates and my biggest supporter is my former coach. For this coming school year, I strongly believe it is extremely important that more individuals with an NVLD or similar disability get involved in sports especially in the fall season as it’s an everyday activity especially at the secondary level. Since the hybrid model that kids are following in schools has really limited opportunities for social interactions, being part of sports teams leads to great social growth. Read More
A majority of my life, I felt cursed. I wanted to desperately snap my fingers and rewire my brain to normal. I continuously dragged around my NVLD like baggage, knowing something was wrong with me. I despised being different and I struggled to fit in. I hopelessly prayed for a miracle; that my NVLD might magically vanish as I grew up. Read More
As discussed in the previous piece, during high school I tended to be too rude and stubborn toward others which made me a difficult person to be around at times. Eventually, it changed to being too sweet and kind which in itself brought the same amount of challenges as being too rude, and at times it was worse. Read More
Growing up with an NVLD brought a lot of difficulties but the one that seems to be hardest for me was expressing the appropriate emotion and making the right decision in the given situation. What I mean by this is that I may act either too rude or too sweet, which both can have a negative effect. In my experience, going through these situations can make it hard to maintain relationships as while many are understanding not everyone understands your different thinking process that NVLD can cause. Read More
One of my biggest frustrations while growing up with an NVLD was how it wasn’t encouraged to take the harder path and to connect with other students through athletics. Personally, when I looked back I can’t imagine my life without taking the harder path and being a runner. My opportunities would have been so limited. Going to college in the Boston area wouldn’t have been possible had I not done these things because my school’s LD programs focused more on a students determination and ability to overcome obstacles than their overall GPA. Now as I think about each challenge, whether it’s running or taking an extra math course, it made my options more open and I think it’s too bad more students don’t have access to experiences like mine. Read More
One of the many questions I have been asked about many times is how did you manage to be a long distance runner? Truthfully, I asked myself that question too. What comes to mind is how rivalry coaches came together to work as they saw my dedication to break barriers in both running and social settings. Since the beauty of inclusion is being able to accept and learn about individual differences and strengths my coach, Jim Adams, and the neighboring school’s coach, John Casserly, collaborated and were the first two adults to make this happen in the running circles. Read More
During my twenties, I found it funny when a relative or friend would silence me or ask me to get to the point. I couldn’t believe I went off topic or raised my voice again. Though, the more it happened, the more it became disheartening to hear them constantly rebuke me since speech and occupational therapists in my childhood helped me comprehend my symptoms but they did not cure my learning disability. Read More
Judy Heumann, a disability civil rights activist, shared this important lesson in her memoir Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist: “telling our stories helps strengthen our ability to continue to fight injustice. Sharing the stories about how we want our world to be – and then turning these dreams and visions into reality – is what we must all commit to doing.” Read More