This might sting a little.

For years, we've heard the Greatest Hits: 

• "Dyslexics are more creative!"
  

• "Dyslexics have superior visual-spatial abilities!"
  

• "Dyslexics are natural entrepreneurs!"
  

Books have been written | LinkedIn bios updated | And TED talks given. 

There's just one problem.

The research doesn't back it up.

Swedish dyslexia researcher and Education Scientist Arje-Aike de Hass recently compiled the science and here's what the study of over 1,000 dyslexic individuals found:

Visual-spatial abilities? 
▷ We score lower on average, and our abilities are all over the map.
(Exception: We're faster at grasping complicated patterns at a glance)

Superior creativity?
▷ Not as a group. Adult dyslexics show better performance on creative tasks, but researchers say it’s because creativity is trainable - meaning we earned it through experience, not genetics.

Entrepreneurial superpowers?
▷ The jury's still out, but the pattern holds: We got good at being independent and making our own roadmaps because processing information the traditional way was way hard. 

THE PROBLEM WITH SUPERPOWERS

You might be thinking, "Claude, why are you raining on our parade?"

Because myths invalidate your actual struggles.

• When someone tells you that your dyslexia is a superpower while you're spending 3 hours on an email that should’ve taken 20 minutes, life doesn't add up.

• You start believing you’re the problem.

• When books and social media promise 'extraordinary creative abilities' as your birthright, but creativity never shows up for you.

• You feel like you're failing at being dyslexic.

The superpower narrative was well-meaning. 

It was meant to counter decades of deficit-based thinking. 

But it swung too far in the other direction, creating a different kind of pressure.

THE HUMAN CONDITIONING 

Here's what the research tells us:

As a group, we don't have superhuman abilities. 

But you, as an individual, absolutely have real strengths.

They're just yours, not handed to you by dyslexia.

• Your creativity might not be because you're dyslexic. 

• It might be because you spent years finding workarounds, which trained your brain to think laterally. 
  
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• Your ability to see the big picture?

• That might come from years of struggling with details, forcing you to spot patterns instead.
  
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• Your empathy and emotional intelligence? 

• Likely the result of years of navigating social situations where you felt different, making you more sensitive to others' feelings.

These are not dyslexic Superpowers.

They're your powers, which is actually more impressive. 

Because they were Learned and Earned the Hard Way.

The science says…

There’s no evidence of creative benefit accompanying dyslexia.

But plenty of evidence that you can build what you need.

THE DIFFERENCE IS WHY

You don't need to be better than others…

Aim for being different instead. 

This shift changes things because no one can compete with you at being you.

So what does that look like?

Start paying attention to:

• What doesn't drain your battery

• What people keep coming to you for

• Where you think differently than the room

What if you stopped listening to Dyslexia's Greatest Hits and started playing your own?

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