Right-brained and left-brained, masculine and feminine, blue-eyed and brown-eyed: Are certain kinds of people more creative than others? Many of the super creative designers I have worked with seemed to have one thing in common; they suffered from dyslexia. Looking back in history, Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Jørn Utzon, Agatha Christie and Albert Einstein were all dyslexic. So, is dyslexia linked to creativity?
Good news for those who can spell, the answer is no. It appears that more dyslectic people simply elect to work in the non-linguistic creative professions. To be successful, dyslectic people actually have to work harder to overcome their linguistic challenges. Fortunately, the best predictor of anyone's performance is not their IQ or personality, it is the amount of time one spends on a particular task.
Dyslexia is hereditary and, fortunately, one can learn to live with even severe dyslexia. A dyslectic person may not be well suited for teaching English or working as an editor in a publishing house, however, it does give them a distinct advantage in other creative professions. Having struggled with reading and writing, the dyslectic person has failed early and often, thereby teaching them to persevere. As Winston Churchill, another dyslectic, creative individual, noted: "Never give up - -never, never, never give up."
What then are the advantages, if any, of being dyslexic in overcoming challenges? The early age confrontation of apparently insurmountable challenges teaches the dyslectic person to persevere in the face of failure. They learn early to look at problems from multiple angles and use other skills to succeed. Dyslectic people often color-code information to aide their learning, use three-dimensional drawings to solve algebra problems and come up with intricate mnemotechnical cues to improve retention. Working on small creative tricks to overcome challenges may help make them better prepared to solve problems. It has been said that "luck is when opportunity meet preparation" and dyslectic people could thus appear to be "luckier" problem solvers.
This prompts the question: Might people who are actually good at spelling be at a disadvantage? Since reading, writing and arithmetic are given a high priority in most school systems and IQ and other standardized tests favor people with linguistic skills, perfecting what one is being rewarded for can narrow one's development in other areas where there was the possibility to excel.
One of the secrets to life is to avoid chastising oneself over what is not done well. A dyslectic may never become the best speller; however, a person can live happily with being mediocre in this area and simply delegate the more demanding writing tasks. Being content with being average in one area, dyslectics are freed up to invest the over 10,000 hours required to become an expert in another area. They can then leverage their inborn abilities and turn those abilities into a strong competitive advantage in an area in which they excel.
The Creative Economy may be the fastest growing segment of the Western World and creativity is now, more than ever, the source of this progress. By encouraging people early on to find and grow their unique natural abilities to innovate and appreciating them for what they create, rather than for what they consume, we will have created yet another novel way of spelling success.
Special thanks given to retired child psychiatrist, Dr. Anna Koch, for researching this article.
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This ability allows sculptors to ‘see’ what is inside a block of marble. It enables designer to imagine things into reality. It’s this brilliant gift that makes creativity come easily. Their problem solving ability is not a result of their challenge with words. Creative problem solving IS their gift.
It's NOT a fall back plan to be creative because they have more time on their hands. This article makes dyslexia sound like a handicap. Just like the antiquated education system that doesn’t recognize strengths or skills beyond IQ. Dyslexics have special intelligence and exquisite creative problem solving skills. The gifts of dyslexia can put academia to shame.
The dyslexic mind is challenged with 2 dimensional words because it literally moves letters around to try and make sense of them. At a young age, letterforms have no meaning and the creative mind manipulates the letters to try and discover meaning within these 2 dimensional shapes. The list of creative minds and the many other brilliant thinkers of centuries past that were dyslexic are a testament to these incredible gifts that won’t be limited by the written word.
A dyslexic and very creative mind wrote this comment.
The creative side of my brain is predominately stronger than the language side of my brain due to nature and not by nurture. The weak language side of my brain wasn't equipped with the skills to complete written assignments at school; I didn't persevere or look for an alternative approach but instead became inhibited.
Perseverance, in my opinion stems not from failure, but from a passion gained from engaging in a practical experiences. I believe this is because we have a multi - sensory learning style and excel when we are allowed to use this approach. The dyslexic person's ability to engage in a learning experience using this approach also gives them the ability to tackle a problem from more than just one angle.
I find it frustrating that dyslexia is considered a spelling problem I would prefer to think of dyslexia as a language problem. At school, I found the most debilitating aspect of my dyslexia was the inability to follow verbal instructions. A typical scenario in any classroom is of a teacher setting the work for the subject by relying verbal instructions. In spite trying to listen really carefully the verbal instructions just don't register for a dyslexic person.
If catering for different learning styles became an integral part of a teachers lesson plan, maybe children within the mainstream education system displaying a range of different learning styles would be given a much fairer chance of achieving in the academic environment.
So the mindset persists inside education and beyond that dyslexia and other learning disabilities are a problem because they don't learn the way the system wants them to. And as a result, there are many creative minds that suffer from self-perception of inadequacies rather than celebration of unique gifts that can make a real difference in the world.
The ‘dyslexic’ mind is a more highly evolved creative problem-solving mind that is capable of developing concepts beyond the barriers of language. And if your brain is capable of highly creative thought what a wonderful place to play. Perhaps it is the preference toward playfulness that distracts the mind from the mundane nuances of the antiquated education system. It's overhaul is long overdue.
Let us celebrate and honor the creative mind and be wary of labels that limit thinking. Be playful and deliberate in looking at the world from different angles. Anyone can experience this wonderful gift with a little creative training and a desire not to be ‘normal’.