S3E8: Inside Our Heads - A raw conversation about living with dyslexia

If you're feeling frustrated and unheard in advocating for dyslexic individuals, then you are not alone! The lack of understanding and empathy from educators and caregivers can be disheartening, causing dyslexic individuals to feel isolated and marginalized. It's time to change the narrative and create a supportive environment for dyslexic individuals. Let's explore effective strategies to empower and uplift dyslexic individuals in their educational journey.

In this episode, you will be able to:

• Understand dyslexia and ADHD to better support individuals with learning differences.
• Boost self-esteem by exploring the impact of learning disabilities on individuals.
• Discover practical strategies for managing dyslexia in adults.
• Embrace self-reflection as a powerful tool in managing dyslexia.
• Gain insight into dyslexia awareness and its impact on educational reform.

Transcript:

00:00:02
Welcome back to Word Blindness. Dyslexia exposed. This is Juliet Hahn. I'm here with my co host, Brent Sobel. How are you with his.

00:00:12
With his toy? He's got his fidget stuff. I got my Fidget stuff. This is. Okay.

00:00:20
The last three that have gone out, people are gonna be like, God, are they still on this? What's wrong with them? Do they have dementia too? Well, I cleared. I got cte, I got dementia.

00:00:30
I got them all, so. Right. Well, yes, because we. We actually talk about it, which is hilarious. And the.

00:00:38
The two before. So I will spare everyone that's listening. Three. Three for a dollar.

00:00:48
Did you see? I had to pause for a second. Do that math, didn't you? I did. I did.

00:00:56
So today we want to talk about. And it's interesting because I want to preface. We've had a couple weeks that we've taken off and a lot of stuff has transpired, like always, which is great. Some good, some bad, some learning, some not fun learning that we've had to do. Some situations that will all come out, but we're not going to get into it now.

00:01:20
But one of the things that we did really want to focus on was that people say they understand, but they really, really don't. And not saying that they don't want to because it's not a lack of trying to understand in an in depth. There's a lot of surface. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But when you get to the root and really get to some of these learning disabilities and you're talking and then you realize, oh, my God, they have no clue.

00:01:50
And I thought they did. And sometimes it. It hurts. Sometimes it's like, okay. And you just don't know the depth of someone's understanding until you really get into deep conversation.

00:02:08
And not everyone wants to get into deep conversation now. It's.

00:02:15
We know at a very young age when were different.

00:02:22
Without even knowing, you know, I can look back and like hockey. I think I was the only pro hockey player to never take, you know, a pregame nap. People just thought I was a complete, you know, lunatic. And I didn't know why I was doing it until a couple years ago. Right.

00:02:44
So it stick me to. Till 10 years after I was done playing hockey and learning about dyslexia and all learning different disorders and what was going on and. And it took me that long to piece it together. So the more tired I was going through the rink, the less my dyslexia and ADHD worked. Well, it took me 45 years to figure that out.

00:03:12
So that was me doing things internally without even know why I'm doing them. Innately doing it, using that word. And we do the same thing with, you know, with learning differences, you know, dyslexia, you know, for example, how many times you go to write, you know, write a sentence as a kid, and I don't know how to spell this word, so you sit there and spend 15 minutes trying to reword it and not knowing, you know, had no clue what it was like, you know, I had no clue what I was doing, but it was me trying to find a way around not learning, not knowing how to spell that word or, you know, convincing somebody to do your homework or what. What was yours? You know, in your pencil you had the.

00:04:15
The red pen. They're the pencils where you pull it out. Yeah, I break it so I could cheat. And Latin. Right.

00:04:23
But it, you know, and this is what. These are the terminologies. And how many times have I pieced things together so far in advance? People had no idea. You know, I don't piece things together because I'm better or I have more understanding because it's me.

00:04:45
Right. It's an experience you went through. Right. So that's why I'm able to. Oh, somebody says something or, you know, let's talk about that reading program called the Reading League, you know, from upstate New York.

00:05:02
Can't stand them, hate them. Read, lean, go yourself. And why. Why do I say that is because as a dyslexic, we suck at reading. So we're not gonna go into our Reading League.

00:05:21
Just like, if I'm a terrible bowler, I'm not gonna go and join a bowling league. League. Or if I'm a terrible hockey player, I'm not gonna go join a hockey league.

00:05:35
Now, a non dyslexic would never piece that together. Because I remember when you and I first saw that, we were going. Going nuts. That's a terrible name. I was a.

00:05:52
Gave me anxiety. Yeah, anxiety from it. And the reference, you know, Elizabeth, what are you talking about? Like, calm down, stop. But then I have to break it down to none of us.

00:06:02
But that's just, you know, a small example of how a certain word you'd never catch if you didn't have that experience. And I want to bring it even deeper. Perfect.

00:06:24
So many people don't allow themselves to self reflect and dive in and really do the hard work internally because they don't have the capability. And I know you're gonna have thoughts in here, so just. I'm just. I this is just all coming as I'm speaking, so there's not thought. There's no thought behind it.

00:06:46
But as you were talking, I was like, I just had this conversation with a new trainer that I'm working out with, and we got into like a pretty. In, like, very deep conversation, very quick and. And personal. Like, very personal deep. And I said to her, because she's in her 40s, and I was like, do you know how amazing it is that you're doing this work now?

00:07:09
And she kind of looked at me and got weld in her eyes and she said, it's tiring and I don't want to do it. And I said, no, but it's. You're not going to ever heal and ever find someone. She just, She's. She's single that you're going to partner with and have it healthy until you go through all of this and it doesn't feel good.

00:07:30
Listen, I was like, we all have gone through different things and, and we all traumas. And we have talked about this on the podcast. There's different levels of trauma. It's funny, now that I'm older and I would think about things that I was like, no, it's not that big of a deal. I actually am like, it was actually a big deal to me.

00:07:48
And the way I was shaped as a human and some of the thought patterns that I gave myself, even though they weren't negative, like self talk, but it did shape me into the way I approach things and the way I did things. And even up until, like a couple weeks ago, I've had some epiphanies and I'm like, oh, all right, all right. I will work on that. And in relationships, in being a parent, in being a colleague, it is so important. Being a friend, being, you know, being a.

00:08:20
A sibling, and all of these things in this world, for us as a nation, as a world, whatever, to heal and get to a better place, we all really need to do this work whether we like it or not. And. And we are not going to. And I'm taking this out of just dyslexia because, I mean, this is like, it is so broad and it just keeps getting, like, it keeps getting thrown in my face how much I see how people are suffering. And I'm like, holy shit.

00:08:50
And sometimes it feels like, okay, I know I. I'm not here to fix people. That's not my thing. Like, I'm not. Even though that is something that I.

00:08:58
Sometimes because of my past, I'm like, oh, let me go Help and try to fix that. There's. There's not that situations. But because I've become so self. Aw.

00:09:07
And I've done a lot of internal work. It doesn't mean you have to go. And we talked about that. It doesn't. I don't talk to a therapist.

00:09:13
I talk to. I have like a couple friends. You know, we do this podcast. There's things that, that we can. You can do to do that self healing without having to go to a therapist.

00:09:25
And some people always think like that, self healing, you have to go. And I know you have a lot of things to say, but it is so crucial as us as human beings to do that hard self work or we are never going to get to that next level and we will never be able to bring the people around us to that next level until we face the hard things. Like, okay, yeah, I have been doing this X, Y and Z. And this is why I've been doing X, Y and Z and, and not beating ourselves up for some maybe activities that we're doing as we're getting there. Because that's the thing I think a lot of people do.

00:10:00
They're like, well, now I'm doing this. This isn't healthy. Like, this, this isn't good. But it's a healing thing and it's getting us to the next place to understand us as individuals more. Did I make any sense?

00:10:13
You know, there's a lot of things to, to unpack there. You know, it's. Nothing in life is easy. And you know, the one thing is that everybody's traumas are the worst traumas because it's theirs. So you can never look at somebody and say, oh, that's not that bad or that's okay.

00:10:42
Right? Because you don't know what's. What's led up to that. You know what else? What?

00:10:47
You know, what else is, you know, there to unpack and, and that's probably the biggest thing when it comes to learning, you know, that's not that bad. Or you just flip your B's and D's or you don't. It's not taking you down. Look at your job now. It really didn't do anything to you behind like before.

00:11:06
Yeah, it did. You know, people talk, you know, for my me. Oh, Brett, you made it. Hockey gave me 10. 392 million worse scars than positive.

00:11:24
No, no question was winning the sound. Yeah, it was great deal.

00:11:34
It's. It was great because it's given me this platform to talk and train and trying to change DYSLEXIC world.

00:11:47
But no way, you know, just because you, you've done this, you've done this, you know, hockey isn't that great to me. Don't care these, I care about changing these scars. And I can't tell cancer patient how to feel. I've never been there.

00:12:17
So you don't have dyslexia or dysgraphia or, you know, adhd. So how can you tell them how to feel or to learn or how to learn? And that's the biggest misconception what's going on in the world. And you know, I get fights and get angry with. Because you don't understand.

00:12:39
And all the people that are, you know, trying to say they're doing good things or they're trying to, you're not, you're going about it the wrong way and there's no partnering up. They all want to be the hero. You can't be the hero of something you don't understand.

00:13:06
You know, and you talked about is, you know, self reflecting and going back. And that's why most, most sober people are the best people. Why? Because if we don't self reflect, we don't stay sober. Right?

00:13:22
Yeah. Is it easy? No. Life's a, life's, life's not easy and it's getting, you know, you know, it's getting harder, harder and being a parent and life's not easy, but it's failed to sit back, take a look at it. And sometimes it's writing, writing things down to be able to start understanding them.

00:13:51
Like, look, you know, usually use the pregame now took me 45 years or whatever it was to understand why I did that. And that was my job. I was a pro athlete for 18 years and had no clue why I was doing it. Do you want to explain so people that haven't heard, you know, most, I guess probably 95% of hockey games, you know, as a pro hockey player are played at night. So we usually in the morning, if you're at home, you're at home.

00:14:26
You get up in the morning, have breakfast and then you go to the rink and you'd have a 10am skate. Yeah. Quick practice. The other team, the visiting team would be on at 11, 11, 15, something like that, for a quick, you know, half an hour. It was, it was called, you know, get a swag, you know, stretch, get moving, go home.

00:14:47
I would eat my pregame meal at noon and most guys would, pretty much every guy but me would go on, go lay down. Some guys would late, you know, go lay in Bed for an hour. Some guys would sleep for an hour or two hours or three hours or four hours. I never did. You know, people all thought it was weird then.

00:15:11
Game, you know, game was, you know, 7 or 7:30. I was always there three hours before.

00:15:20
I could never be rushed. I had to be in my routine. I had to know where things were. I didn't know what I was doing, where I was going. As soon as I'm off my call it routine, ritual, call whatever you want.

00:15:38
I was lost. Because then I start panicking. I don't have time to do this. I didn't do this. Right.

00:15:45
But that's all in your head. Like, I mean, not. Not in your head, meaning that you were in your head, but you were panicking in your head. Like no one else could actually see that you were panicking. But your thoughts and your mind, and that's what a lot of people will be like.

00:15:56
Well, I didn't know that because he looks normal. But in your mind, you're freaking the out. Oh, freaking out. Yo, even. Even today, like, my anxiety, obviously is.

00:16:05
Is real bad. Yo, I've got to be somewhere, you know, not five minutes early, 45 minutes early. Because if not, then I start panicking. Deal. And that panic is okay.

00:16:21
I need to know where I'm going. I need to know how I'm going there, because I'm afraid of going there and doing it wrong, taking a wrong turn, not taking the right step. Because now this goes all the way back to going to school. How many times you go to school, you're laughed at. You didn't do it right.

00:16:43
You know, teacher, kids, class. It all. It all stems, you know, from, you know, from those instances, from. From those years in school. And that's.

00:16:55
So that's how long it's carried with me. So you've got somebody who doesn't have, you know, dyslexia, but, oh, you need to do this. How do you know? You don't know. You got no clue what I need.

00:17:16
Like, people listen, you know, to me talking how I pick up things. I'm like, I pick it up because it's me.

00:17:27
You can't pick up things you don't know or understand. And that's the biggest portion. We all think we know, but you don't know. And a lot of people have good intentions. So I just want to bring.

00:17:44
Those are two different words. I don't mean to jump in. Knowing and intentions are two. Are two different. Yeah, like, I'm not.

00:17:53
Y'all talk to select me. I'M not saying they're bad people, right? I, I equate them as being bad people. Once they get to a certain point, like how many times we've had these conversations, people look at me like, you have no idea what you're talking about. You're an idiot.

00:18:15
Hundreds, you know, probably, you know, past two years in this conversation. Yeah, yeah, hundreds come down the road, find out. I mean, you know, I was 10. 10ft. Why?

00:18:28
Because it's not a broken bone where you can study it, you know, it's your brain. There's so much we don't know about the brain, even though there's studies. But so I do want to say. So when you were not taking the nap and it was what you came to the realization was, is the more tired your brain was, you knew physically you could do it. You didn't.

00:18:51
You knew your body could get you through it, but if your brain was shut off because it was so tired, it didn't overthink. And so you could just play. Yeah, you can. I could play hockey. Not think hockey.

00:19:01
Yes. Which I love when you say that because that is if someone can really actually stop and listen to that and think about that, because they might still not understand it. And if you really think about that, that is like you doing something internally because you realized, oh, wait, this works. And your body being like, okay, this feels good. This works, this works.

00:19:23
There's so many things that our bodies do that way. There's also so many things that our body does the opposite way because we've created path and we've created routines that are, you know, not healthy. But your body then craves it and it's like, oh, I need to do this. That was a good thing that you did. Even though someone might say, well, you need the sleep, sleep place over here.

00:19:42
Always like, you know, you need to sleep. But when you said that, I was like, ah, that's so interesting. You had all the confidence in your physical body. As you said, you can move a house, you could do all these things in your physical body. You had 100% confident.

00:19:55
You were very, very confident. And you know what you could do, but mentally you weren't confident. So if you could just shut that off. So stopped giving you the self talk and all of these different things and getting in your way. You were able to, to, to play.

00:20:09
You know how many people in the world don't make whatever they're trying to make. Vp, CEO, pro hockey, per golfer. Is it physically or is it mentally? Mentally, it's. It is mental.

00:20:23
And I like, we're all. There's levels that. I mean, I could go, really. I could get real spiritual. I'm real deep here.

00:20:33
And so I'm just gonna go. But there are so many things that people can do. But there's also ceilings, right? There's ceilings of what people's capacity is. But you always could get a little above it, even a lot above it.

00:20:46
If you really train your mind and to be like, okay, I'm going to. My kids. Hated me. Hated me. You're on the bike.

00:20:56
You know, we're riding up a. You know, a little hill. Their legs getting tired. No, I'm tired. Nope.

00:21:01
You know, what is it, Thomas? I think I can. I think I can, think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

00:21:07
Your. Your mind is the strongest part of your body. Yep. And did I. Did I ever send you that video of that?

00:21:16
Yeah. When you're moving. So. Yeah, go. You know, so it's.

00:21:22
You know, I do this. Do this all the time. You know, it's your mind, so. My kids used to. No, my legs are tired.

00:21:28
No, I wouldn't let him go off the bike. It's so mad. But it's so true, though. You know, you tell yourself you're tired when you wake up in the morning. You're tired.

00:21:40
Yeah. You know, so it's. It's mental, you know, it's that brain. And I think I heard somebody say that, you know, we only know, like, 10 of what the brain's capacity is. Okay.

00:21:52
So let's take that for, you know, use that number. I don't know if that's the right number or, you know, I've heard that. So dyslexia, you know, dysgraphia, dyspraxia, dyscalculate. Yeah. That's all our brain, right?

00:22:09
Adh. So you're going to tell me you understand everything about it, but we only know 10 of the brain. Now, how does that. How does that make a lot of sense? And that's where I get yo.

00:22:29
The people that want to go and do good for this. Like, great. I've got no. I've got no. Great.

00:22:37
That's what this is for. This is why we do this. This is why we have these conversations. But you don't know it all. You don't have it.

00:22:45
You. You know, so it's. It's. It's putting it in perspective how many conversations we had with doctors.

00:22:57
Don't get me started.

00:23:02
Because it's. I mean, learning out of a book. This and that and that I wanted to take it now, too, because I. There was three points that I was like, I'm going to touch on from your. What you were saying.

00:23:13
And one of them is so many people we also talked to. They're like, well, there's so much more awareness about dyslexia, like, and all the technology and all these things. It's so much better. Look at the numbers in schools and then tell me what you think there. Like, I will say that, okay, that's one way worse, way worse than it's ever been.

00:23:33
And it is. And now people will be like, because of COVID and whatever it is, it is. It is because we are not being taught the way we should. There's so many. There's so many players now playing, being like, this is what should happen.

00:23:47
This is what should happen. And it's this fight that's up here. And then there's all the little kids and all the people down here that need it. And now nothing is happening down here. I know there's people going to argue and say, yes, there is.

00:23:58
And there's certain states. And I'm not talking. I'm talking overall. This is such a shit show. It is beyond.

00:24:05
And it is. It is. So there's times I just want to scream in people's faces because I'm like, if you tell me one more time that Ida is doing a good job. And yes, I'm throwing them out there. That's the International Dyslexic Association.

00:24:19
I. Yes, I am, Brent, I'm doing you. Yes. The stuff that they are doing, they're. Everyone's like, well, look.

00:24:26
Look what they're doing. They do. And I've always said they do. Great teacher. You know, continuing ed and stuff.

00:24:32
And then when I really think about it, I'm like, how long have they been around? And then we look how long they've been around and things have not gotten better. So what the are you doing? What the are you doing? And it makes me so angry because of.

00:24:48
And I'm not going to go. I'm not going to get into any political stuff, but, like, it's. It's a scary time for education, but it's also needed because it's been a show. So, like, sometimes you need to scare things up to then change it. And I have no idea where it's going to go.

00:25:05
I. We do not know. But what we know is we know a lot and we know what the kids in the chair need and we are not going to stop. We're Going to keep yelling and screaming and arguing with people. Respectfully, we won't, we won't call people names.

00:25:22
Oh, I will. Well, I, I will. And I, and I'll continue to, you know, because they don't have it, you know, and this is yo. When I say this, people, like, what are you talking about? Dyslexia is the most corrupt business in the world.

00:25:43
So people, I want to say it's getting better. It's not getting better. It's gotten worse. There's too many people that think they know what. There's no headquarters for dyslexia in the world.

00:25:53
Sec. It's the second most common thing in the world. Second most common thing. So tell me, how did that make sense? It doesn't.

00:26:01
And I, and I'm, you know, the government aspect, you know, the funny thing is, when I was up in Washington lobbying and up in Congress and having conversations, I was actually having the exact opposite conversation of what people wanted. I wanted more government control in a dyslexic world. Like, why we know, we want each state. So now what this is is that they want each state to have control. And you know, actually, I've heard it even worse where they want to break it down into counties.

00:26:44
So Nassau County. So now you're going to have. I don't even what's a normal state have yo. 40 counties. 50 counties.

00:26:53
So, so many. So you want 50 counties? Just, we'll just use the 50. 50 counties to have 50 different rigging programs. Yeah.

00:27:04
Now you've just created a bigger business and bigger monopoly, you know, for the IDAs who don't do or so you know, I, I, I got something to say. Yes. Good girl, Juliet. Thank you for raising your hand. You can go now.

00:27:23
And I don't mean to interrupt you, but I also wanted to bring this because this is like, we have gotten this a million times, this documentary left behind. And we're going to go into a little bit more of this later. But one of the things I was like, well, no, listen, because there is, yes, there is something out there. If there are certain districts that don't have money, those kids are. We already talked about this.

00:27:42
50% of prison inmates. Like, there's so many things that are so wrong that people don't understand, nor do they want to understand, because it's like, how do I even help? And that's what it is, is like, how do I even help there? I don't even know what to do. There's so much wrong and stuff.

00:27:57
So there's this documentary that I was like, okay, this feels good. I like, I like what they're saying. And then we realized it had idea on it. And I was like. Immediately I got pissed because I was like, okay, again, we're going out there.

00:28:11
And yes, it's great that they're bringing awareness and it's great that these parents wrapped around. How many years ago was this? And things still getting worse, worse and worse and worse and worse. So what the are people doing? What are you doing?

00:28:23
You know, and you know, you know, and here's, you know, for an example here in. Last year in Illinois, they passed a bill where each school, if you come with a neuropsych test, they don't have to acknowledge it. They can give the. They gave their own tests and they give their own diagnosis.

00:28:50
So these big groups like this are allowing bullshit like this to happen. Because now and what this all comes down to, I've got the best reading program or I've got the best. It's. I was, Oh, I was just gonna say, yeah, I've got the best. This, It's a business to them.

00:29:09
They don't care. It's an ego fight. It's an ego fight. And I was going to use a different word, but I was like, okay, I won't say that it didn't go, you know. So here we are in Illinois, no outside tests.

00:29:23
Right. And I talked to a neuropsych, you know, just recently who. Yeah. You know, it's amazing how much pushback I'm getting. She didn't even know why she's getting pushback.

00:29:35
Why am I the dumb hockey player who knows more than you? Why do. So. So this is. It is not getting better.

00:29:52
It's getting more watered down. The. The information that's getting out there. Well, you know, and it doesn't matter if you come from. If you don't have money for food, you're not gonna, you know, you're not gonna survive.

00:30:05
So if you don't have money for anything, you're further behind someone who does. That's. That's real. We know that. But nobody has an understanding of dyslexia.

00:30:16
So it doesn't matter if you have money or you don't have money. It doesn't matter. Yeah, it's the people that are running it. No, there's another group here in Illinois.

00:30:31
You know, I gotta say, they reach out to me, kind of want to do a partnership. And I spoke to the individual and guys, like I said, so how many people on your board are dyslexic oh, he goes, you know what? Actually, I'm the only one. I just, you know, I'm new, just got here recently. I'm like, oh, so your whole group is almost dyslexia and dyslexics and getting them to read and do all this stuff, but none of you have it.

00:31:01
How does that makes sense? And that's. That, that's who's leading, leading the charge of, of, you know, all this. And it's. You don't have it.

00:31:18
Just, you know, just like I can't tell, you know, African American man how I'm not. I don't, I can't. I don't know. I'm not, I'm not being raised. I.

00:31:33
He can't tell me how you feel. How I feel. You know, when it comes to, to, to all that kind of stuff, I can't tell him exact same thing as anonymous ex cannot tell me how to feel and what I need. And I will. So this is why I.

00:31:53
Because again, we've talked about. I've done a lot of stuff, like small. Where I've like, helped support families and done stuff in like, in my little communities and stuff. And there's three things that you just said there that I want people to really think about and listen to is you knew about the laws in your state, doctors, heads of education at universities. We have come across so many different people that are like, well, wait a second.

00:32:24
A top university that wanted to. To do some stuff that we've talked to the head of their education department didn't know that certain IEPs in certain states couldn't use the word dyslexic that you. That diagnosis is a specific learning disability. Yeah, certain states can't use the word dyslexic. Dyslexia.

00:32:45
It can be in like the notes. But you have to fight if you're a parent and you have to know that to fight to get it in. But it's a specified learning disability. That's like saying. And I mean, it's so broad.

00:32:56
There's so many things that's like, whatever, we're not gonna even get into that on this episode. But the fact that you know as much as you know, and I knew that from when I first met you and was like, this is who I want to support in this. This is who I want to support in this. Because he is going to say it how it is. He is going to fight because he has the understanding and also the anger.

00:33:23
I mean, really, the anger and, and the feelings about it and this is what's important. And that's why I wanted to start doing this in every episode. Actually, Hahn was saying it and I was like, no, we actually don't. But the Sople foundation that you have is a 513C. So, like, you can.

00:33:38
People can. Did I say it backwards? Close. You're close. Oh, hello, dyslexia.

00:33:45
We'd say 501 C3. C3. I always put the 3 before the C3. That's what that is. It's.

00:33:52
It's a charity entity. Right. So this is on. This is all charity. It's tax deductible.

00:34:00
Yeah. And so we need to start talking about that more because we don't talk about it on word blindness. And people that are listening will. Will get. How can we support you?

00:34:09
Donations. I mean, really, it's donations and, and, and people's time. If you have that same vision that we have, there's time and that will come later. We're still not there where it's like, okay, we. We have all these.

00:34:19
Because. No, no, no. I know what you're gonna say. No. And, you know, it's.

00:34:25
And you're. You're right on that 501C3. You're right on, you know, on the charity funds. Funds you need to run a business ending. But everybody's like, what are you gonna do with it?

00:34:38
The biggest thing is everybody wants change, but we want to change the education system, we want to change medical. But let's go back to what we said. You can't, or we can't or whoever in this cannot change something they don't understand. So let's just use it. You know, if I walk into, you know, if I'm working in a business and I walk into my boss and say, I need X, Y and Z.

00:35:08
If your boss doesn't know what that is or what that means, they're gonna say no. So we can't change something that. Without educating them what that is. So everybody, like, wants change. There's nobody wants more change when it comes to the next world than us.

00:35:28
But they're not going to change something they don't understand. So we have to educate them what this means, what we are talking about, and not have them looking at, we got 10 heads, you know, so it's to build, to go out there and, you know, and have these conversations, you know, with people, with companies, with schools, with superintendents, you know, you can't change something you don't understand. So everybody's like, you're right. We all want to be at 10. And that's where I think it, you know, it's got to go 1, 2, 3.

00:36:07
You can't be at 10 and we're all at 10. We got to go back to 1 to educate yo what it is before we can make that change. And there's a lot of people that get in the way of that, but so. Sofoundation.org 501 C3. Good, good.

00:36:30
Well done. That hurt my head. I know. It's so funny. I always flip.

00:36:39
Took me a while to remember that one. Yeah, I always flip it and then I'm always like, wait, fuck. But that is. People can go and donate a dollar. We're actually doing a campaign right now.

00:36:49
This will. This might go out afterwards, but it is for February. If you go on your phone keypad, L O V E. I think it's 5, 6, 8, 3 or 3 8. Because I'm going to flip it again.

00:37:05
But I think it is five. I can look at my phone. But I was like, let me see if I can remember six. I got that right. Five, six, eight, three, eight, three.

00:37:17
Wow. Impressive. Impressive. Thanks. Thanks.

00:37:20
I'm good at some stuff, but that is like, it is so important and we're not here. And this is what anyone that knows me, yes, I've always was the unicorn. Positive, See positive. See positive. And I like to see the positive.

00:37:34
I like to see the good in people. Not that you don't. I'm not saying that I like to see the good in people because that actually gets me through the day. Because if I really actually think about all the fucked up evil shit bags that are out there, that would probably put me in not the best state. And I don't like that.

00:37:49
So I like to think, oh, wait, there has to be like a little smidge of positivity there. And so I like to find that. But in this world, in this dyslexic world, it is so frustrating because you see people that think they know more. They tell me, oh, but look where you are. So your dyslexic didn't really get you that.

00:38:07
But I'm like, okay, go fuck yourself, first of all. But like, there's so many different things, or, oh, that's not that big of a deal. And it's like, okay, well, let me give you the reason and what One of the podcasts that Montgomery and Bradley did, one of the things that he said that just sometimes screams in my head and it actually hurts my heart so much because I'm like, okay, I Put you there. But, like, when he says public schools, and now we're talking all schools, but, like, he had a good experience in a private school, so I'm going to say that, like, we were very fortunate, but public schools are not made for kids like me. And that was a direct quote from him.

00:38:40
And that, like, kills me. Like, really actually hurts. Like, really hurts every time I say it and think about him saying that. Because, as you said, we know from a very young age that there's something different about us, and we go about things with a lot of questions, a lot of, well, why? Why?

00:39:05
And it's. There's, it's just. It's so much. It's so much. And what you want to do and what is so beautiful about you is you want to protect all of those kids that are going through it.

00:39:19
And it's hard when sometimes parents reach out and ask you advice and they do the opposite. But then I've always said to you. Because that's happened to me a couple times, and close to my heart, where I'm like, oh, my God. But we all also need to fall on our faces sometimes. I didn't listen to my mom when I was going through the IEP and she was in education.

00:39:37
Right. It's these things that we just have to keep staying in our lane and doing what we're doing and trying to stay above water on the days that are hard, on the days that, you know and you feel that you don't have any understanding and that no one's there and that you're just banging your head against the wall constantly, constantly. And it takes you down, and it takes you down, and you go through the cycles of it and. But you're like. It's just, it's, it's, it's wild.

00:40:13
I'll just say that. Well, it's a long, you know, building something that's never been built for it, you know, isn't easy. What do they all say? Rome wasn't built, you know, in a day. Never been to Rome.

00:40:27
Don't want to go to Rome. Oh, I love Rome. Don't care to go to Rome. No. It's like, one of my favorite cities.

00:40:32
I love Rome. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. So good. But that's for another podcast.

00:40:42
Who wants to travel? I know. Well, you've traveled all. I mean, you've done so much traveling, but that is one city. I, I, if I could speak Italian, I would live there.

00:40:52
And I love Rome. Oh, my God. There's so much just love. Oh, what I mean, for just the food, the architecture, the people, the. The energy.

00:41:03
It's all. I love. I love it. Well, food. Why?

00:41:08
What kind of food? Italian, Terrible architecture, Boring. No cares. I know you've been. You've been.

00:41:18
It's you. You've been everywhere. So, you know. No, some of the art is like breath. It's just breathtaking.

00:41:23
Breathtaking. I had to take a grab of paint and throw it against the wall, too, and looks exactly the same thing. No, no, not this. Not. Not this.

00:41:31
But we're not here to talk about Rome. Not here to talk about Rome. Attention deficit sidetracked.

00:41:40
It's hilarious. But I think everyone can understand and feel where we are, what we're doing and support. I mean, seriously, go and. And share this, but share the foundation, because there's someone in your life that's dyslexic. And whether it's a neighbor or whatever, there's someone in your life that's dyslexic.

00:42:09
We know that. And it's so interesting. And I will leave it at this. I was out somewhere, and I was talking to this woman. She's a special ed teacher, and her daughter and husband are dyslexic.

00:42:22
And her daughter actually went into special ed. And I was like, oh, I'm so interested. Lived in my. The area that I'm in now. And she said.

00:42:31
And it was interesting because she's like, oh, you have a. You know, you. What do you tell me about. And I mentioned idea. She got very quiet.

00:42:37
So I think she probably liked Ida. So I was like, okay, I know where not to go there. But what she said was, she's like, I'll never forget my daughter came home one day in third grade, and it was like, you know, everyone is in their book groups, right? And both boys talked about this. Like, this is like torture.

00:42:58
Like, we need to change this. Like. And it was like, okay, everyone go to your bin to get your book. And she went to another bin. And the special ed teacher yelled out throughout the whole class, whatever her name is, you're in the wrong bin.

00:43:19
You have to go down to a. And she said, that broke my kid that day. She goes. And I. But she went in and she, you know, reamed and freaked out.

00:43:31
But this is where, okay, as a human being, you think that's okay to shame a child. Like, why are you a teacher? Why are you a special education teacher? Why are you even on this planet if that's how you talk to a child without awareness that you think that that's okay. And that's where, like, people need to be self aware and think how they are interacting and speaking and dealing.

00:43:58
Because you and I both have had many of these situations where school, outside of school, someone says something and you're like, okay, first of all, that hurts my feelings. Did you, like, does it, like, think before you fucking speak? Yeah.

00:44:19
Yeah.

00:44:22
That's a whole new rabbit hole. So we'll leave it there. I'm. Stop it. Right.

00:44:26
Okay. So thank you for joining. Word blindness, dyslexia exposed. You guys know what to do. I say it every single fucking time.

00:44:33
Like, rate, review, and share. Because you don't know who needs to hear this. We'll see you for next episode. Thanks, Brent.