What it Was Like to Grow Up with Dyslexia
About Emanuel von Spee
Emanuel is a husband, a father, and a brother. He always had a wild imagination. His parents used to talk about how he would invent these incredible stories about dragons and pirates when he was younger. At first when you see him it might come to your astonishment that he has dyslexia but once you hear him talking in French or English, it is quite obvious.
Were you ever bullied because of your dyslexia?
“ My friends never bullied me. They were almost sugaring with me. It was probably because I had lots of other talents or characteristics. I would definitely say that I was always more of a social type than a person that studies hard and finishes my work on time. For example, I had this one teacher in my boarding school that always gave me a hard time. He would always point at me with the finger and say, “This child got only 10 percent on the test, which is the worst grade I have ever seen in my entire career. After he said that, I never listened to what the teacher said to discourage me.”
If you would have never had dyslexia, would you say that it would have had a big impact on your life?
“Yes, definitely. First of all, I would have had a better school finish. I would have done completely different studies. Because in my time they were not considering that dyslexia was a difference, they just expected [students with dyslexia] to do the exact same thing as everyone else. But I obviously couldn't because I didn't have the right tools to do it. That was why I always had bad grades in school, but there was always one thing where I got great grades. [This] was when I had to do something orally. It was always easier to do things orally than writing. For example, when I was in French class and they asked me to do something orally I would always try to do my best.
“I was never bullied by my friends or classmates, but sometimes I was by my teachers.”
-Emanuel von Spee
