Imagine getting a check for $200K out of nowhere?

That's the estimated cost of smoking 1–2 packs of cigarettes a day for 35 years.

It started behind the bank across from our junior high school.

The cool kids wearing Timberland boots and flannel shirts would hang out there in the parking lot most days after school.

I was 13 years old and damn it if I didn't want to be cool too.

So I latched on to the cool crew, started smoking cigarettes at the spot and catching the late bus home.

But despite my best efforts, those cool kids never spoke to me during the school day.

Nor was I ever invited to sit with them at lunch in the cafeteria.

I quit smoking cigarettes almost 4 years ago. I'd been smoking for nearly 35 years.

And to think, like many Gen X'ers, we started smoking because we wanted to be accepted.

Why am I telling you this After School Sob Story Special from a pre-pubescent me?

Because I was chasing belonging instead of becoming.

And it cost me nearly a quarter of a million dollars, compromised my health and increased the risk of dying from a smoking-related disease.

By the time I knew better, I was already hooked.

DAAS: DYSLEXIA AS A SUPERPOWER

That's the trap with shortcuts to identity.

They feel easy early, but the payback hits hard.

Dyslexia-as-a-superpower follows the trend.

For some, DAAS rings true.

You've learned how your brain works, built the right systems, and turned dyslexic thinking into an advantage.

More superpower to you; you've earned your cape.

But for many others, it's progress in reverse.

They're sold the cape before the flying lessons.

Superpowering feels exciting at first.

You're handed a shiny new label: visionary, innovator, gifted.

You take it, wear it, maybe even post about it.

But shiny labels fade fast when left unpolished.

BIG DYSLEXIA

Tobacco companies convinced doctors to endorse cigarettes in the 1940s, making smoking seem sophisticated and healthy.

Dyslexia-as-a-Superpower has its own marketing appeal.

Big Tobacco sold identity. 

And Big Dyslexia can too. 

It's instantly empowering.

You get validation fast, belonging faster, and a hit of status to match.

But just like those vintage cigarette ads, Big Dyslexia skips the fine print:

• Earning the cape takes work
  

• Cigarettes can kill you
  

• Labels can limit you

Joining a "superhero club" without ever actually becoming one…

That's the Toll. 

IF THIS GAP COULD TALK

The numbers prove Big Dyslexia Marketing is working exactly as designed. 

60% of HR leaders agree that "dyslexic thinking is an asset” but only 6% of dyslexic employees feel their strengths are actually recognized. 

That's the difference between Spin and Substance.

The gap isn't just statistical; it's the daily experience of being marketed to as a valuable asset while feeling unsupported in the actual work.

That's where the toll lives - the space between inspiring messaging and actual reality.

SOLUTIONS OVER SUPERPOWERS

The Superpower Spin is exciting, validating, prideful and for some, it truly works.

It means well, but it’s incomplete.

The marketing gets folks in the door and gives them belonging.

But if you don’t stay grounded and build systems, the hype can leave you stuck.

Just because you go to Harvard, Yale or Cambridge doesn't mean you're going to cure cancer.

And just because you have dyslexia, doesn't automatically make it a superpower.

OFF LABEL

The labels we inherit (struggling, gifted, disabled, creative) start writing our stories before we get the chance to decide who we are.

Dyslexia isn't just a learning difference.

It's expectations, stereotypes, and quiet negotiations between who we've been told we are and who we actually become.

The need for validation at 13 jeopardized my health and cost me a bundle of cash.

I made those other kids' stories my story and paid dearly for it.

Who are you without someone else’s story?

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