How Dyscalculia Changed My Life

Ever since I was young, I had a learning disability called dyscalculia, which is similar to dyslexia but in math. I have always had a harder time learning anything involving numbers or calculation. Being the baby of the family my parents couldn’t understand why I had a harder time than their other children. Initially, teachers would just tell my parents I was acting out or refused to learn; they, too, didn’t understand that it wasn’t intentional and merely thought I was being lazy. The result was my parents getting a tutor for me. This didn’t solve the problem, however. The teacher’s reports got more and more numerous, my mother finally decided there was something else going on.

My mother decided to take me on a trip to London for better facilities. We went to a specialist to see if there was really a problem. I had to go to different centers before my mother actually believed I had been diagnosed with

By the end of summer she told me that I would be going to boarding school in England, I was sad about it because I was just 14 but my mother explained it to me in a way that this is the best for me. As I started school I knew that I would be separated and I was fine with it. But then I made a really good friend and she ended up being my best friend. She used to ask me constantly why I was in a different class. “You’re smart, you don’t need to go for special classes,” she said constantly. She encouraged me by saying all I had to do was really put my effort into it and I could be one of the smartest kids in class. Hearing this gave me confidence and slowly diminished the concept of me not being good enough. My mother used to tell me, “You’re so brilliant, no one can tell you anything else.” But I felt my mum had to say that because she was my mum and that’s what parents are supposed to say. Hearing it from a peer really inspired