5.5 We are masters at overcoming adversity

The final reason why dyslexics make powerful changemakers is we are masters at overcoming adversity. Dyslexics are resilient. We don't see problems, we see possibilities, springboards that help us to achieve what we need to do. Tenacious and driven, we think laterally to solve problems.

Jo Malone says 'My dyslexia means I've learned how to see around walls, climb ladders and spot the potential in something that others don't.' This drives us to make the impossible possible, to find new and different ways to solve things and never take no for an answer. Erin Brockovich talks about what her mother used to call 'stick-to-itiveness'.

So my mom helped me with the power of stick-to-itiveness. Every time I wanted to quit, or I was crying or having a fit, and I challenged her on the word. I thought it was a made up Kansas slang word. I was born and raised in Kansas. She read me the definition. ‘Noun; a propensity to follow through in a determined manner, dogged persistence born of obligation and stubbornness.' Okay, you see, ding ding ding ding. This is all you had to say to me.

‘Stubborn’ is my middle name. I'm dogged. I'm determined. I'm persistent. These are all words that I was. And so I took it as a 'Little Engine that Could'. I think I can, I think I can, I know I can, I know I can. And that really got me through life as I was constantly being challenged.

It's the power of this stick-to-itiveness that meant no matter how many obstacles Erin faced in her fight against the utility company, PG&E, whether that was from the corporation's lawyers telling her to back down, or her own boss when it appeared his small law firm didn't have the funds to take on the multi-million dollar utility company, or when it emerged it was too late for residents to bring the claim, she never, ever gave up. Let's hear more from Erin and her refusal to give up the fight.

So the case almost didn't happen because Ed was having a hard time with the funding and everybody told him we wouldn't win the case because of the statute of limitations. So those big attorneys came in and the day they left, they had to go back and think about if they're really going to help Ed. And he pulled me in his law library and said, 'I don't think we can do this, kid'. And I said, 'Why not?' He told me about the statute of limitations.

And this is something that I like about dyslexia, I'm not afraid to ask you what that means. I'm not afraid to say, 'I'm not sure I understood, run that by me again'. So he explained the statute of limitations to me and that statute had run for these people. I said, 'You really disappoint me. I'd expect more from you than that'. And whenever Ed was mad at me, his ears would move back. And I could see his ears move and he goes, 'Well, what do you mean by that?' I said, 'Well, we're sitting here in your law library, how do these laws come to be? Didn't somebody make them up. Did somebody challenge them? Did somebody create them, did somebody change a law? You can't do that?' And he goes, 'You are right'.

And that's one moment where I felt like he was thinking like me. So he went and rewrote his legal papers and stated that within one year last passed the people had learned the truth, the truth about what the chemical was. And by God he got past the statute.

What an amazing example of how a dyslexic skill of persistence and determination to right a wrong was instrumental in overcoming huge obstacles. And how, just like Muhammed Ali earlier, the courage to stand by your convictions even when everyone around you is telling you to do otherwise, is what is instrumental in creating change. This comes from a deep conviction that you're on the right path, doing the right thing. And as a changemaker, once you have this, you won't take no for an answer.

Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen to your gut. I know every one of us, and especially a dyslexic hears this. It's guttural. You sense it, and you don't always know why. Look, if my head, my heart and my gut aren't in sync, something's wrong. And until I get it in sync, I'm not going to drop what I have to do. Listen. I don't always know what ‘no’ means. When somebody tells you, 'No', and you're an adult and you’ve got that guttural sense, everything that we've been talking about, you can say, 'Okay', but just maybe quietly go ahead and pursue what it is you think you need to do.

I had to do that all the time with Ed. He’d come back and he go, 'I told you not to do that'. I'm like, 'Yeah, well, I don't always listen so well'. It's all about you. It's about how you see yourself, your perception of yourself, trusting yourself, listening to yourself and following through. With all of that, because when you do, I think you're just going to be shocked at what you've been able to accomplish.

Here are three key takeaways from this section. One, dyslexics are resilient. We don't see problems. We see possibilities and that leads to solutions. Two, we listen to our gut and have courage in our convictions. We don't get put off by naysayers. And three, we thrive on making the impossible possible and never take no for an answer. We stick to it and in our tenacity to right a wrong, change happens.