An introduction to what I bring to the table - Ep. 1

In this first episode of Unmasking Dyslexia, host Carleen Ross shares her personal journey of discovering her dyslexia at 49 and rewriting her self-story. Through the lens of positive psychology, she explores how embracing all parts of ourselves leads to healing and self-acceptance. Join her as she unpacks both the struggles and strengths that come with seeing the world through a dyslexic brain.

Thank you for listening to Unmasking Dyslexia. This podcast is dedicated to reframing how we understand dyslexia—shifting the narrative from deficit to difference.

If you found today's episode valuable or think someone you know could benefit from its message, please share it. By doing so you become apart of the positive shift society needs around what it means to be dyslexic. 

To learn more about Carleen Ross’s work in positive psychology, coaching, and neurodiversity advocacy, visit https://www.carleenross.com 

Book a coaching session here: https://www.carleenross.com/book-online

Enrol in one of her programs here: https://www.carleenross.com/virtual-programs

Or connect with her directly, email her at connect@CarleenRoss.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Unmasking Dyslexia. I am Carlene, your host, and with each episode we will challenge the story that surrounds dyslexia. We'll explore the strengths, the struggles, and the science behind the dyslexic experience so that you can better understand yourself or someone you love. Welcome to my first episode of Unmasking Dyslexia. My name is Carlene Ross, and I'm your host. I thought what would be the most beneficial use of my time was to share with you a little bit about my background of dyslexia, why I think it's important, and how I'm going to use these podcasts to help re-educate and share the meaning and mattering of what it of what it means to be dyslexic. My background is extremely diverse. And I encourage you, if you'd like to understand a little bit more about my education, to please visit my website. The link is in the show notes below and see what it is that I bring to the table to offer a little bit. I have a master's of science in applied positive psychology coaching psychology. I have a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. I am a licensed health coach. I am a certified life coach. I have heart math training. I am a grief recovery methods specialist. I bring a diverse background with me. In addition, I also have holistics in that I help support people through connecting with what could be something that is beyond self. Now, with dyslexia. Dyslexia was something that I actually never really thought much of, to be really quite frank. I went to school here in Canada. I struggled a little bit with reading when I was growing up. Always have. So I thought I had a number issue. In reality, I had learned that I have a working memory issue. It's not with numbers at all. My arithmetic is actually just fantastic. It's normal. What it is is retaining information for short periods of time. Now, in that response to my son with those numbers, I said to him, look, I'm a little bit dyslexic, just undiagnosed. Because that's what I would do every single time. I would make some sort of little mistake that somebody would notice. They both looked at me perplexed and confused and concerned all at the same time. And I reflected to them that I noticed this. And I asked them what was going on in their heads. What are you thinking about? And they said, Don't you think it's time for you to find out, mom? And so that you're not just the little bit and you know whether you are or you're not. And it was actually that comment by them that really it actually had me take a great pause. I started researching what it meant to be dyslexic while we waited for that flight. And I started realizing how many of the traits I actually had. So when I got home, I booked an appointment with an educational psychologist to get assessed to see whether or not for sure I really was. I went through the testing. I actually found it quite grueling. The psychologist thought it was easy. He never asked me my experience. He told me my experience because I was calm and seemed quite confident throughout the whole test. I went home with a migraine that lasted for almost a week. It was a couple days for sure, totally mentally exhausted. The exam lasted two to three hours. So to me, it was beyond anything. I remember crying on the car ride home. The results came in, and the psychologist told me everything that I excelled in. I was off the charts and intelligence and certain aspects of the test. But where I failed was phonetics. And I always knew that. I always knew that my phonetics was a struggle for me. In fact, to the point that I would have nightmares about how my tongue and mouth couldn't speak. And I used to think it was because of fear of mouth appliances or any of those things. But in reality, I've come to realize that it is my fear of not being able to say the words correctly. He told me I was a classic dyslexic because while I'm off the charts for intelligence on certain aspects, I am below average for others. Okay, so I was 49 at this time, and I had to sit and think, how do I have to rewrite my history? I'm in my master's program at this point. I am receiving distinction marks, and then to be told that I'm dyslexic. And dyslexic is considered a learning disability or a learning difference. Doesn't make sense. How could I be getting these kind of marks if I have a learning challenge? While the psychologist kept telling me how intelligent I was, that was also a hard thing for me to reframe because how can I be so intelligent when my whole life I thought I was unintelligent, to the point that that's actually how my family would introduce me to others. This is the unintelligent sister. This was my belief system. This was my identity. So that classification or diagnosis had me have to re-look at my identity. It is not telling me my processing style, it is reshaping how I see myself. Because I was in my master's and I was in a science master's where we look and dive into the research. I dove into the research of dyslexia. And what I found was alarming. And that caused me to dive into the research even more because only one side of the story is being told to society and being publicized everywhere. And there is a whole prolific amount of research that says something else about dyslexics, and it's not being talked about. I decided to reshape my research dissertation in my master's, and I focused on dyslexia and meaning and mattering. And that is what I want to bring forth with this podcast is the research that I have found, and how else to look at dyslexia, because so much of it is linked to the written word, yet it is through our language that we define who we are. My identity changed. My identity changed for the good because I understood why I showed up the way I did, why I have some of the challenges I have, and that there was nothing wrong with me. It was just the way my brain functioned. I also luckily found beautiful books that talked about the strengths of dyslexia right away. So I got that language right away. But most people aren't as lucky as that because they only see what's wrong with a dyslexic versus what is right and what is powerful. Because my degree was in positive psychology, I was looking for the strengths. I was looking for the other narrative or a positive psychology lens on the data that was being actually broadcasted. My identity changed because I now have to check off learning disability on all of my forms. Society sees me differently. Once I even had my diagnosis, people treated me differently, which was actually quite alarming. Dyslexia is more than society thinks. And I want to use this podcast to share the social aspects of dyslexia, because there are so many that show and highlight the educational aspects. It's important to realize that educational psychology has predominantly dominated the research and the definitions of dyslexia. And it's time for us to come up with a new definition of what it means to be dyslexic and a dyslexic person within society. I will use this space to talk to you as if I am talking to any of my friends, you are going to notice slight imperfections in my voice, in maybe me struggling to find the words where I showcase actually how dyslexia shows up for me. I want it to be honesty, have pure honesty and integrity in sharing the information with you. Because I believe that if we show up accurately to who we are, then we actually can create a better and a bigger shift to those around us than if we try and pretend to be someone else. Until next time. If this episode resonated with you, know that you are not alone and make sure to share it with someone else who might need it. Through my work at All That I Am, I offer courses and coaching to help you reconnect with your strengths, your meaning, and your sense of mattering. There are links to what I offer in the show notes, and don't forget to follow the podcast so you don't miss what's coming next.