When our daughter Abigail was little, she struggled with reading. I'm not talking about the usual preschool alphabet-mix-up kind of struggle; I mean, she really struggled. We didn't learn until much later that this struggle had to do with a learning difference. Finally, two years ago, she was diagnosed with dyslexia.
Yet even before she'd begun to close the gap with her peers, Abigail was way ahead in the communications realm. As they say, our obstacles often lead to strengths elsewhere. When a rolling stream meets a barrier, it redirects to another passageway with equal or greater force. Such was the case with Abigail. She couldn't read, but (wow!) could she speak! In fact, she was able to articulate ideas more clearly and eloquently than most people I know. So we decided to "write" about her experiences in her first book, The Gift of Being Different (coming out on October 18!).
Abigail didn't want to feel ashamed anymore, nor did she want other kids like her to feel ashamed. Instead, she wanted to convey the idea that often, our greatest gifts are hiding within our struggles. In other words, our differences can be our superpowers!