Drumbeats into My Heart

Important Note on Dyslexia

I did as much research as I could since I am not dyslexic and don't have anyone in my life who is. This is also why I sought the input of a sensitivity reader who is dyslexic. This person wishes to remain anonymous, but I sincerely appreciate the effort they gave in offering me their insight, even though it means I need to do a few significant rewrites in some parts.

Until I can get to those rewrites, I wanted to share what they had to say, so you the reader can see where I may have made a few missteps in my portrayal of Jordi McKay. My primary objective for sharing is so I don't spread misinformation about life as a dyslexic person.

Here's what they had to say:

From what is described in the story, Jordi has severe dyslexia, so the most significant issue I noticed is that Seth is the one who pieces it together, instead of her teachers. For Jordi to have such a hard time in school, I feel this is something that would be noticed by teachers early on. Especially in present day when educators are more informed about learning disabilities.

My dyslexia isn't as severe as Jordi's, but I remember being placed in speech and special ed classes as early as first grade. Although I wasn't diagnosed with ADHD until eighth grade and dyslexia during my senior year, they still noticed something was wrong in elementary. Speaking with others who have learning disabilities, they too were put in special ed classes early on.

That being said, someone's learning disability can go unnoticed if they learn to adapt. For example, I believe my dyslexia went undiagnosed for so long because my speech classes helped me become a good reader. I even had a higher reading level than most of my peers, but I feel that with Jordi's being severe, her struggles would have been harder for a teacher not to notice.

Another issue I found was Jordi not wanting to text or email because she worries about misspellings and typos. It's a minor issue, but today many tools, such as spell check, make it easier to avoid. For example, I have the Grammarly keyboard on my phone, which catches my mistakes, and at work, when I send emails through Outlook or messages through Microsoft Teams, it has spell-check integrated into the system.

Also, from what I've noticed over the years through social media/apps, people have become lenient regarding typos in casual conversations. I've also seen through my niece and nephew that teens sometimes abbreviate words to shoot out quicker texts. So I feel like this shouldn't be something Jordi should worry about. Perhaps this is something Seth can help her with? Maybe he shows her spell-checking apps and encourages her to try one?

This brings me to the last issue, which is more of a personal one, lol. While reading the story, I struggled with how much Jordi puts herself down. She often calls herself dumb and doesn't feel worthy of the people she feels are more intelligent than her, like Seth and Winnie. While reading, I wanted to take her by the shoulders and tell her to snap out of it.

What made it hard to read is that, growing up, I never thought I was dumb. What frustrated me was when others thought I was dumb or teachers thinking I wasn't trying hard enough. However, their doubts helped me push myself because I wasn't going to let anyone tell me I couldn't achieve something. So, a selfish part of me wishes Jordi would have more confidence in herself.

Dyslexic people tend to be great at solving puzzles or thinking outside of the box, so I think it would be awesome if there were at least one school subject Jordi was good at. Maybe it could have something to do with music? I was always terrible at math, history, and science because of all the numbers, dates, and formulas, but surprisingly did well in English. I think it's because I enjoyed writing and reading.

Some additional information: something people might not realize is that, one of the biggest problems dyslexics face is getting our minds to connect with our bodies. Sometimes doing simple, day-to-day tasks require more concentration. For example, driving. If I'm giving my husband directions, I will often tell him to turn left, but I'm pointing right. So he starts turning left, and then I'm shouting at him, "No, left, leffffft. Oh crap! I meant right." Learning how to park was also a stumbling block because of needing to understand, that if you turn the wheel one way, the car will swing another way. Which can be confusing when your mind already mixes up left from right. Even though I've become great at parallel parking, every once a while, I have to sit there and focus because my brain seems to forget which way I need to turn the wheel.

Another example, for one of our anniversaries, my husband gave me a ukulele, which is an easy string instrument to learn for most people. But, I discovered that trying to get my mind to connect with my fingers on the strings, and strum the right notes, is difficult. I have to really concentrate just to get my fingers to move the way I need them to.

Another example where my mind and body struggle to sync is with exercising. Doing something simple like a Deadbug, where I have to stretch the opposite arm and leg, can be perplexing. So I often have to take a moment and really focus on the movements to do them correctly.

Perhaps adding little things like these examples could also help show Jordi's struggle? Overall, I think you've written an adorable story with lots of emotional layers, and I'm excited to see what happens with Seth and Jordi. (I wasn't done with the story yet at the time) Dyslexia is complicated, so I hope my feedback was helpful, and I'm more than happy to answer any questions.