Henry Winkler on Dyslexia

Caught a segment on NPR this weekend with Henry Winkler talking about discovering his own dyslexia at age 31 when his step-son was being diagnosed with the same. Really interesting segment. When he first found out, he was very angry. He couldn't believe how much easier his life would have been had he known his suffering was due to a condition versus being stupid. But now that he's older, he thinks he wouldn't be where he is today had he known and gotten help for the dyslexia. He got his tenacity (and maybe his sense of humor) from it -- or perhaps in reaction to it.

I'm not making the point we ought to ignore dyslexia or other learning disabilities. But we might want to be a bit more circumspect at social efforts to "fix" people, or to attempt to end all unpleasantness. Human beings are surprisingly durable and adaptive if they're allowed to be. I wonder if American society has now swung too far in the direction of protecting ourselves from pain at the expense of creating durable, tenacious people.