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Living with Learning Disabilites - part 2

© Lise Hogan

In my last article I talked basically about my childhood. Now I'd like to tell you about events since 1989.

It was that year that I moved into this house, I turned 31 and had major life altering surgery. Let's just says there will be no more kids and leave it at that. My husband had a good job and here I was - no real education, 3 attempts at college - all MISERABLE failures, having to start over yet AGAIN! I knew what I had to look forward to. Some starting salary minimum wage boring job that would not make enough money to be worth it. I KNEW I could do more if I just found the right thing to do.

I then had this bright idea that maybe I could learn sign language and be an interpreter for the deaf. You don't have to READ to do that! I took a summer class that would teach me sign language basics. I was then told about sign classes at the local community college. I went out there to talk to the lady in charge of interpreters, and she put me in touch with the Texas Rehabilitation Commission. The guy I got in touch with was very intrigued at the thought of helping a learning-disabled person through college. After jumping through MANY MANY hoops (this was not at ALL easy) to prove that I really am LD, I got the help I needed to cry my way through school. IT WAS VERY HARD! If I had known it would take so much, I probobly would not have done it. On the other side of that coin, I have never regretted it.

One thing that all the testing Tx Rehab did was prove that most of my behaviors were not due to character flaws. I am NOT a bad person! I am not REALLY lazy! I am not STUPID! My brain is just wired up differently than most.

The rehab. commission got me tutors, the disabled students area offered help and support without DOING things for me. Sometimes it was a force of will - and the fear of going back to work at Target! The work was very hard for me. There was a lot of reading, writing, and studying which I am not very good at. I cried my way through a lot of it. The writing got easier, and sometimes I would get my daughter (she was in 8th grade) to read my books to me. I'd explain the words to her, and she'd just read to me. It was very slow going, but I think sometimes that made the information go in better.

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