Dyscalculia

Just finished reading “The Thirteenth Winter
– A Memoir” by Samantha Abeel, published by
Sholastic Inc. 2004 - author suffering from
dyscalculia, a learning disability affecting her
capacity to learn skills based on sequential
processing such as math, music, spelling
and grammar

Dealt with her disability exactly the same way
I dealt with mine, falling prey to anxiety and
sleeping and eating disorders - she was
diagnosed and received special help for
the disabled, published books and did
public speaking, while I simply forged
on until I broke down

The author describes the way I experienced
and processed the concomitant depression
exactly the way it was; except that I had a
twin sister and two older brothers behind
whom I could hide; as well as a granny
to help me cope until I fell ill

Learning how another human being dealt with
the same shame, suffering and humiliation, I do
not feel so bad any more, realising my perfor-
mance can never be up to standard; instead
of it being a shame, it is a miracle that I have
managed to work hard and hold a job
for all this time!

Thank you to all who helped me for so long and
are still helping me with polishing my writing as
I just cannot force my mind to master sequential
skills which I do not naturally possess