Reading... it is not all the same.

I get asked sometimes what it is like being Dyslexic. More specifically, what things look like to me verses what they look like to someone without a reading disability. This is a hard question to answer. I would love to be able to tell you exactly how it is different, unfortunatly, however, I can not. I can't because I do not know what it is like to be able to read normally. What I can tell you is that sometimes letters jump all over the page. Sometimes I have to look away or close my eyes for a little bit, and then I can see to read something. Sometimes, the words appear to be just right, but my mind does not process them, making me slow down and really focus. I know that it takes me twice as long as my piers to read anything. I know that when asked to read something to myself in a classroom setting I often do not because I know that I will just get frustrated when I am halfway through and the class starts discussing the passage. I know that it is embarising to be the person in class holding a lecture up because I can not manage to get the words down fast enough. I know that when traveling with my sister to Washington DC, while visiting Arlington we were visiting a memorial of Women in Combat and I would read only about half of what was written because I felt like I was taking too long. When I say that I can not explain it, it is not because I am being difficult. It is because I honestly, truly, have no idea how to explain it.