‘Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.’ Overcoming learning disabilities can be challenging as it affects the learning process. But the world offers personalities who turned their disabilities into capabilities.

Actors

Acting is a profession that demands a well vocal projection and clarity of speech along with physical expressivity. Difficulties like learning disorders might seem like obstacles preventing people from aspiring to the field. But the profession indeed has actors who overpowered their disabilities.

Abishek Bachchan

The Indian actor was diagnosed with Dyslexia at the age of 9 when reading and writing difficulty was noticed, but only knew himself as dyslexic after graduation. Nevertheless, his parents acknowledged his troubles and ensured a proper education and support. Thereby rose above his struggles to become a bona fide Bollywood star. He neither hid his childhood difficulty in front of the media nor missed an opportunity to spread awareness about dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Promoting various awareness campaigns, he always stated that it's important to recognize the problem in the field of education, and the indifference shown to slow learners should be stemmed.

Hrithik Roshan

Well-known for his dancing skills, the Indian Bollywood actor had acquired great acclaim in the Hollywood film industry for his acting skills. Having problems speaking fluently, actor Hrithik Roshan was diagnosed with dyslexia at an early age. He often spoke about how he was teased as a kid and struggled to talk fluently so he could fulfill his dream of becoming an actor. The actor seems to have taken help through therapy sessions for stuttering and did speech exercises every day;which took a long time to evolve to a state, where we see him today.However these struggles never let him down, and he continues to be one of the leading actors in the film industry.

Businessmen

Being in the entrepreneurship industry, an individual needs to have the quotient for excellent ideas, but beyond that, communication skills and problem solving nature are of utmost importance, so that, one could put the views across to his team and associates. However, learning disabilities can pose a significant challenge to these skills.

Tommy Hilfiger

The renowned fashion icon describes himself as a dyslexic kid who miserably failed in school due to undiagnosed dyslexia. Though he never went to a fashion design school, he had a successful journey building his company from the ground up, at age 18. One of the world’s premier fashion designers revealed the embarrassment he had, to talk about his difficulty to his teachers and family. Yet, they inspired him to get into business and build a world class fashion brand. The designer talks about the issues experienced till date, and how he needs to concentrate very hard. Opening up about his struggles and giving credit to Dyslexia behind the motivation suggests everyone to ask for help sooner and talk about one’s problems with close ones.

Steven Paul Jobs

American business tycoon and inventor is well-known for being Apple's co-founder and chief executive officer. From his early days in elementary schooling to college, he grew frustrated with the classroom atmosphere due to dyslexia and obsessive behavior. His difficulties often made his coworkers uncomfortable working along with him. When turning his disabilities into his assets, Steve states that be it the obstacles faced in life, every aspect will somehow help a person down the road.

Scientists

Everything we see, feel or imagine, might be theoretically possible but scientists have the quotient to prove them practically, if possible. With that in consideration, while people with learning disorders are mistaken for having inferior intelligence, the scientists with these disabilities prove it to be wrong.

Louis Pasteur

The renowned chemist Louis Pasteur had both dyslexia and dysgraphia and was only an average pupil in his studies. Yet, he defied these learning disabilities and became a person who saved countless lives through his discoveries, also creating vaccines for rabies and anthrax. Today he is considered one of the founders of microbiology.

Michael Faraday

The English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism spoke and wrote with great difficulty and struggled with the symbolic language of mathematics. Being dyslexic, his memory played tricks on him and had trouble with punctuation. For this genius educated in a bookbindery, lover of children and nature, the electric inventor had near mystic means for seeing through the very core of things. He swapped his ailment into an advantage, gained manual knowledge and mechanical dexterity from the bookbindery, and used to built a mental picture in his mind’s eye and broke them down into parts that other people could understand.

Mathematicians

Most of us struggle with geometry and algebra at school, but for some, these struggles either break them or become the motivation to explore their strengths. A few people, who proved that the latter was possible are:

Norbert Wiener

The famous mathematician was a computer pioneer who developed the field of cybernetics, which profoundly impacted other diverse areas such as electrical engineering and system controls. He had revealed that he was not particularly strong with basic arithmetic as a child, and had dyscalculia, also known as mathematical dyslexia at the time. Through his father's constant support, he could recognize his talent, which offered a great challenge and stimulus to his imagination.

Issac Newton

We are well aware of the theories of gravitation and motion and its discoverer Sir Issac Newton. It is reported that he had reading and writing difficulties from an early age. It’s true to say that our disabilities can become our strengths. The difficulties helped him conceptualize whatever he learned. Dyslexia not only comes with weaknesses but also with advantages; their brain processes differently. Some of the advantages played well for Newton in mathematical thinking.

The count doesn’t limit to these personalities, there are many more inspirational figures around the world. Neither of their disabilities locked them down to limitations, instead, it triggered them to be ambitious and fly high. These famous people tackled their problems with a coping mechanism as they knew how to adjust to the obstacles while maintaining a positive self-image.

https://www.understood.org/en/articles/tommy-hilfiger-fashion-icon-with-dyslexia-gives-advice-to-his-younger-self-in-a-new-campaign