Bullying. It's getting a lot of attention. We hear almost daily of another story where someone who is considered "different" is laughed at, teased, pushed around -- or worse. And where teasing and bullying can lead to sad consequences.
Young adults with learning disabilities understand how hard it is to be "different." I am no stranger to these difficulties because I have learning disabilities, or as I like to call them, learning differences.
People like me have challenges with relationships and with school as a result of our differences. And these difficulties don't go away when we "leave the nest." Entering the "real world" only presents new challenges: dating, employment, managing finances, and more.
To me, independence is the scariest word in the English language. It's like sex, in a way. You're very curious about it. And you don't really know what it is until you experience it.
The truth is that I'm not really prepared to be fully independent. For one, my financial skills, on a scale from 1 to 10, are at about a 1. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to balance a checkbook. My sense of direction is pretty screwed up, too -- I get lost really easily, just kind of turned around. Even though I have a navigation system in the car.
And I don't just get lost, I lose things, too. Whether it's my keys or my medicine, I'm always having trouble finding something or other.
But you do the best you can with the hand you're dealt. And hopefully you don't go it alone. It's really hard sometimes, and I've wanted to throw in the towel. But it helps to know that there are people who believe in me.
And that's part of the reason I started FriendsOfQuinn.com, the only social website out there for people with LD -- so that everyone who feels just a little bit different or left out can meet others who understand, and know that it's okay. We're all in this together, and we can succeed.
"Friends of Quinn" was born and lived on Health Central, a health-related site, for several years. Recently I decided to branch out on my own, and today I'm launching a more social version of the site, with lots of new features:
I want to help make people feel comfortable that it's okay to be learning-disabled. It's not just kids. There are grown-ups who are diagnosed with LD as adults. People are still finding out that they have learning disabilities, even into middle age.
Ever since I was diagnosed with LDs, a lot of people told me and my parents that I'd never do a lot of the things that I've done. One of my favorite things in life is proving those people wrong.
So many folks with LD are too afraid to tell their story. I'm willing to tell mine. It's not the world's most exciting roller-coaster ride or anything, but it's what happened to me. Maybe if I open up about my problems, no matter how embarrassing they might be, other people with learning disabilities might feel free to open up about theirs. I hope the website can be a forum for that.
Whenever I've been willing to tell my story, people usually respond. I've seen firsthand that it helps. On a sailing trip once with a group called Action Quest, I told the other kids that I was dyslexic. At the end of the trip, we all had to write letters to each other, saying what we learned from each other. One of the other kids wrote to me and told me that he was dyslexic, too, and that I was the first person he had ever told. And he never would have told me if I hadn't told him first.
This website fills a real need. There's nothing quite like it out there. In my biggest dream, the site can be a call to action for the whole LD community, to get people involved and connected. We are different. We've been bullied. And we've felt left out. But FriendsOfQuinn is a place where we can embrace our differences, laugh at our mistakes and celebrate our triumphs.
We have a motto at Friends Of Quinn: OWN IT!
For more by Quinn Bradlee, click here.
For more healthy living health news, click here.
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I'm not sure if it and my anxiety are related, or my tendency to over think things, but it's messing up my life. Even DARS (Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services) hasn't classified it as a real learning disability, even though they were paying a huge chunk of my tuition. Maybe this site could help me, or at least help ME, help me.
becoming an electrician,plumber,car tech is not a crime.they are good paying jobs and society needs them.
it is terrible what society does to the LD.
Granted I was born with a clubbed hand, so we both understand disabilities a bit more than the average person, but it's never been a source of anguish, only comedy.
One of the biggest problem I suffer from are mini strokes. There's nothing anyone can do. I have 'em 2-3 times a month. The symptoms vary. Sometimes I can understand what I read sometimes not. I forget words. I see the object, know exactly what it is, but it comes out as totally different. Or sometimes I can't even speak at all. It's tough rewiring myself all the time because as a hobby writer, when the words are crowding in your head like a traffic jam and you can't get them out right with dropped letters, no punctuation, and you go back later and see what you didn't before you want to find the nearest rock to climb under. Only I wouldn't know it's a rock. It's that big hard thing over there. LOL! My spelling has been worse lately as I'm rewiring myself again. Just when I get all 'fixed' bam another hits and it's back to the funny lookin' writing.
I find that too. I get somewhere, but I can't remember how to get back. I have to be shown over and over. I have to actually see the way. People can tell me how to get somewhere all they want and it won't make a difference if I've never seen the route even walking. How people can memorize ways instantly is mind boggling.
Streets mean nothing to me either. Landmarks are easier to see for me. Just don't move those landmarks!