- Erin Brockovich
Labelled in school: “The Girl Least Likely to Succeed”, Erin Brockovich is dyslexic and struggled in early education, but thanks to some inspiring teaching experiences went on to become an internationally renowned lawyer.
She helped win the largest class-action lawsuit in US history, worth $333 million, and had to read through thousands of pages of medical records and legal briefs that she often found difficult get through. Brockovich maintains that it’s actually dyslexia that helped work as a lawyer and she remains a powerful advocate for people with literacy differences in the workplace and in education.
- Agatha Christie
She was the world’s #1 mystery writer, the creator of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, and by some people’s reckoning, the bestselling author of all time!
Christie herself described herself as struggling to read and write from an early age with: “writing and spelling being extremely difficult,” and wasn’t expected to learn to read properly until she was around eight years old (although, due to extraordinary determination, managed to teach herself at around the age of five).
Agatha Christie is a powerful inspiration to many authors all over the globe and exemplifies the idea that dyslexia or literacy difficulties make no difference to someone’s natural storytelling ability.
- Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE
Diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of eight, Dr. Maggie is a British space scientist and educator well-known for raising the profile of physics in the public eye. She won the William Thompson, Lord Kelvin medal from the Institute of Physics in 2020 for her public engagement work, and is well-known for visiting schools as an advocate for women and BAME people getting into the sciences. She’s presented a number of TV programmes as well as leading research on the Aeolus Satellite, a key part of monitoring climate change, too!
She was awarded an MBE in 2009 for her tireless work in the field of science education.
- Carol Greider, Ph.D.
Carol Greider was a 25-year-old graduate student when she established herself as one of the world’s pioneering health researchers.
Despite being put in remedial classes in school and having difficulty spelling and sounding out words, Greider and her research team discovered telomerase, an enzyme that plays an important role in cell division and has real potential to fight cancer and age-related disease. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2009, and believes that it’s dyslexia and its problem-solving ability that is at the core of her outstanding skills as a scientist.
- Nancy Brinker
It wasn’t until her son was diagnosed with dyslexia that Nancy Brinker—winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and former White House Chief of Protocol—identified that she had dyslexia too. She struggled with math and spelling in school but found ways to use memorisation techniques and in-class performance to supplement her poor scores in standardised testing.
She’s made history, both in her governmental roles and in spearheading cancer research and treatment strategies, and urges parents and children not to fear dyslexia.
“You can’t be discouraged just because you’re a round peg that doesn’t fit in a square hole.”
- Cher
Whether you know her for her pantheon of 80s top-ten hits, her role in Mamma Mia, or her antics going viral with her hilarious and pithy tweets, Cher is a household name. What’s less well-known is that she has dyslexia, and often found herself struggling in school and having to learn solely by listening as her reading skills struggled to keep up. As a result of this, she ended up dropping out of eleventh grade after just two weeks of classes.
However, she dedicated herself to a career in music and television to win acclaim that’s spanned over five decades, and even bagged herself an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1988.
taken from https://www.succeedwithdyslexia.org/blog/6-inspirational-women-with-dyslexia-on-international-womens-day/
