Andrew Ahumada

I am a current college student attending the University of Texas at San Antonio, who is currently living with my learning disability of Dyslexia. In this essay I will describe the many challenges that dyslexia has brought in my life, along with those challenges it has also brought me my values and morals I have today. In this essay I will give my readers an understanding of my obstacles that I have faced growing up with dyslexia. I will also give my readers an understanding about how dyslexia may effect one’s self and how a learning disability can be overcome. I will also explain how I am an individual who chose to survive through this disability and how I did it. To conclude, I will explain why this scholarship from Hanlon Law would benefit my future and others around me. Dyslexia was the worst thing in my life, as well as the best thing that could have happened to me.
I was first diagnosed with dyslexia in the first grade. What lead to my diagnoses of dyslexia was due to me being a slow learner in the classroom setting. At first my parents thought I needed glasses, then that was not the case. They continuously attempted to find out what was effecting me and so they conducted other tests; these eventually lead them to dyslexia. Being dyslexic in most cases causes an individual to spend twice the amount of time to study than the “ordinary” student. It is also hard to understand teachers at times while leaning, and you often times must ask them to repeat the info. It has been proven that teachers who teach children with dyslexia have to spend double the amount of time, so that the student can retain the amount of information that the “ordinary” student could do in half of the time. This was the reason teachers would get frustrated when I was a child. They simply did not understand that a child with dyslexia needed double the time or even more to learn something new. Entering middle school, I was labeled as a special education student, and many of the teachers at my school did not want to waste their time “on a student who was worthless.” Being placed in these classes resulted in my experiences with being severely bullied.
Later on, high school was even worse for me. At this point school was intimidating, I would get lost in my class work, and standardized test’s were my worst nightmare. Dyslexia at this point had pushed me to my limits; it made me believe that school was not meant for a person like me. I felt hopeless until I met various mentors who inspired me in limitless ways. They are the ones who allowed me to see my true potential and allowed me to change my life around. One of my mentors is Dr Edith Eger; she is a Holocaust survivor, a psychologist, and a motivational public speaker. One of the quotes that she told me was, “In this world, you’re either a survivor or you are a victim.” When she told me this it shook me to the bone and amazed me. After hearing her story, this was more then a quote. It was a powerful statement that inspired me. She allowed me to finally see what so many others had overlooked. I was honored to meet this powerful and influential woman, who I got to have a life long friendship with. This beautiful individual taught me to go the extra mile, and beyond. She is somebody who helped me understand that the people in life who work harder turn out to be the most successful. This got me to open up in high school and enabled me not be ashamed of my disability. My mentors allowed me to better apply myself in school and allowed me to accept my disability. They are the ones who helped me to go the extra mile and turn a challenge into a goal.
When I first began my freshman year of college I did not fully know what career I wanted to pursue. I decided that I would choose a Business major since the rest of my family has also pursued business. As I began broadening my horizon and meeting new people during my first semester, I (came to an awakening) and gained an interest in psychology. I began to think about how pursuing a psychology degree could benefit me and how it would allow me to contribute back to society by helping others who are in need. This is something that would allow me to have a greater understanding about people and about individuals like myself. A career based in psychology would allow me to one day become a successful and happy individual; it would allow me to give back to individuals who need motivation or inspiration. It would allow give back, and maybe become a mentor for someone who was in my position during my early years of high school.
This also had me thinking if I am being successful in college right now I would also like to be in mentor in the way getting the highest education as possible… While concentrating on a psychology degree I would like to take all the prerequisites for medical school. Why medical school some may ask? I would like to chose this carer because it was always a dream of mine growing up instill I was being put down my others of my disability. This would help my dream come true by making a difference in someone life by helping them to the path of success or one health care in there future. I plan to still have the same morals of not giving up like I've had at tough times in my life and would like to he a role model for others, when they have a dream they should make that dream a reality and not to just wish do and stop trying to be ordinary and start trying to be extraordinary.