Dyslexia Jake Horner Analysis

“The Extraordinary Characteristics of Dyslexia” by Jake Horner is a definition essay on what it means to be dyslexic. He incorporates his own life story to support his definition and his ideas in his essay. Dyslexia is looked upon as a disability that should be treated even though dyslexia has to do with the way your brain processes the information given to you. Horner includes two types of thinkers, spatial and linear. Spatial thinkers are the dyslexic people in the world, and linear thinkers are the non-dyslexic people in the world (Horner 493). As I read this essay, it made me reflect.
First of all, before I read this essay, I thought I was a linear thinker, but after I was done, I realized maybe I’m not. Horner’s definition of a spatial thinker is when someone takes the risk and thinks outside the box, in comparison to a linear thinker who is more in the box and straightforward (Horner 493). The reason why I’m in between is that in some subjects like math, English, and singing I like to step out of that box and try something new even when I know I’m taking the risk of it not working out. Now, in history or at work I am a linear thinker because I want to learn straightforward

about events or how to do something, so I get more of the correct information instead of turning it into my own.
On the other hand, Horner was very opinionated throughout his essay which made it difficult to find his purpose of the paper.

There are so many aspects of his essay where it was hard to find out if he was informing or persuading. Persuasion could be one of his purposes because he becomes opinionated toward the middle and end of the essay. Horner wrote, “We are the people who most often follow our dreams, who think differently, spatially, inquisitively (495).” This line from his essay made me sit back and reread this line. Every human can follow their dreams and succeed in life no matter how they think. I thought he was putting more cons on being a linear thinker than a spatial thinker, which made it bias. Since it was more bias, it was hard to understand his purpose of his

paper.
For the most part, Horner romanticizes being dyslexic when it’s not that amazing. Horner gives all the pros of being dyslexic and what it’s like to be dyslexic instead of balancing it out with some cons. Some cons that I thought about while reading this essay are mainly about public schooling. Dyslexia student’s think in a spatial way which is hard for them to go into an environment where they learn in a linear manner. A lot of classes in today’s schooling you are taught one way, and it’s usually straightforward which makes it harder for being who are more outside of the box to understand and grasp the concept of the lesson they are learning. Dyslexia ranges for every person and with him not adding some of the cons it makes it hard to know the truth about dyslexia and the challenges they face.
In conclusion, I enjoyed reading this essay and learning more about myself as a thinker in the process. Horner did a nice job at executing the definitions and supporting his definition by adding his own life story. I do agree still after reading this story that as humans we should look down on someone who is a spatial thinker and we should expand more options for spatial thinkers especially in school systems.