In my previous piece, I discussed growing up blessed with an incredible support team as I faced a few more challenges compared to others with disabilities. One of the reasons for this was that NVLD is a very misunderstood disability, I was underestimated. Personally, my weaknesses were more noticeable, and my incredible strengths took more time to see and in some cases were more hidden. So in this piece, I will continue to discuss the ups and downs that can come with having an NVLD. In addition, I will include advice on how to develop a great support system that helps make everything easier.
One positive example that stands out to me as a real positive was taking American History. Mark Henry, my teacher, believed in me more than I did myself which led to me earning excellent grades in this class and passing the regents. In addition, he was an incredible support for my running career. Most of all he offered to do my recommendation for college. Yes, I was planning to ask him anyway but it was special to hear “Eileen I know right now your current goal is to go to Dean or Curry College as they have excellent support. If that doesn’t change know I would be honored to write a letter of recommendation for you as any place would be lucky to have you”.This happened after he told me how proud he was of my regent’s score. His tremendous confidence made me realize I was making all the right decisions.
Next was having Beth Bresett all through high school as my resource room teacher which was a true up-and-down experience. It started out great though by late October of my 9th grade year it took a turn for the worse. This happened when they switched our teacher’s assistant which ended up being awful to me. However, to Beth she appeared to be kind so unfortunately, she didn’t believe my complaints about her at first. This caused me to become incredibly tense and very stubborn which caused her to view me as a difficult person. The hard part was that during that time she missed seeing how incredibly hard I was working. It wasn’t until March that she noticed the truth after I had a complete meltdown during my resource room period. After this Beth was incredible to me through our remaining time together.
In addition, the support I received when it was time to apply to college wasn’t completely there. This just didn’t make sense as I was a very dedicated student and had done the right things to make going to college a reasonable goal unlike others with similar learning disabilities. What many didn’t realize was that I was only applying to colleges with comprehensive disability support where the support services provided are very similar to high school. So for a dedicated student like myself you have all the resources to succeed. Sure enough I ended up attending Dean College and their ARCH program and,as our family predicted, I experienced remarkable success. However, what was really special was that the doubters I had became very supportive of my whole college career once they learned of my success,
At Dean College I never experienced the negatives that often come with an NVLD and other learning disabilities .This is because I listened closely to the faculty and staff speak about how Dean College’s mission is to make sure their students achieve their true potential not only academically but socially and personally too.Through listening, right away I became very committed to becoming successful. This commitment led me to highly connect with my professors and the ARCH team along with having wonderful friends. It’s a reminder that having the right support can lead to many successful outcomes.
Overall as you go through your own ups and downs it’s important to not let the down periods bring you completely down as it prevents you from having a great support system: .As I can speak from experience, while this can be hard to go through afterwards the adults involved can become an incredible support to you. My experience with Beth is a great example of this. She learned how NVLD caused other difficulties for me such as coping with change and how easily I became overwhelmed. Through this experience I learned I needed to be better at expressing my feelings as no one can help until they understand what’s wrong. I do believe you will be able to understand that bad generally only happens because regrettably, NVLD is still being misunderstood as a learning disability. This being said, always remember the positives first and be thankful for the incredible support that you received.
Eileen
Eileen is a Project Social Ambassador and blogger for The NVLD Project. She loves helping others understand they can achieve their goals and dreams through hard work and dedication.
