Unstoppable: How Michele Waterman Of Use Your Voice For Good Has Redefined Success While Navigating Society with Dyslexia
An interview with Kelly Reeves
1 in 5 people have dyslexia. You can think of this number in the context of an elementary school. This means that 20% of the kids learning to read and spell, are doing so with dyslexia. Understanding how common dyslexia is can help teachers and administrators become better equipped to teach children with a broad spectrum of phonological processing disorders and language-based learning disabilities.
As a part of our “Unstoppable” series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Michele Waterman Michele Waterman.
Michele Waterman is a nonprofit business strategist, professional coach, host of the Courage Unlocked Podcast, and a mental health and disability justice advocate. She coaches and empowers visionary leaders in business and consults and strategizes with nonprofit and B Corp founders and cofounders. Her mission in life is to help individuals cultivate the courage and confidence within themselves to create lasting change.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! It is really an honor. Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Do you feel comfortable sharing with us the story surrounding how you became disabled or became ill?
I didn’t know I had dyslexia until I was 41 years old when my youngest child was diagnosed with severe dyslexia at age 6 in 2009. In fact, it wasn’t until I read Dr. Sally Shaywitz’s groundbreaking book, Overcoming Dyslexia–outlining the neuroscience of dyslexia–that I found myself in those pages, as I attempted to educate myself about my daughter’s reading disability and the early intervention that would change her life for good.
Growing up with an undiagnosed invisible learning disability (dyslexia, in my case, and ADHD) led to false narratives about who I was and what was possible for me.
At age 7, I struggled to learn how to read.
I didn’t know I was brilliant. I didn’t know that reading ability and intelligence are two different lines on the graph of academic success. I equated reading level with intelligence.
I didn’t know that dyslexia bestowed me with gifts. It would take me most of my adult life to understand that one day dyslexia would become my superpower (and yes it’s still my kryptonite).
I thought I was dumb growing up because school was beyond challenging for me. I mean it makes sense right? First, we learn to read and then we read to learn. So if reading felt impossible–learning felt impossible too.
Think about this. Kids are in school 180 days a year. And I was anxious every day because I couldn’t read like my non-dyslexic peers. And for the love of the learning gods–why did we have to take turns reading out loud as a class so much in elementary school?
My strategy: Count the chairs in front of me to identify which paragraph was mine and then silently, frantically attempt to read my paragraph over and over. My sole intention: avoid sounding stupid when it was my turn to read in front of my friends.
Only I missed the whole story right? I missed the connection and unity of experiencing the story together because I could not be fully present. My nervous system felt on fire.
And forget about reading comprehension because not one word of the story was digested or appreciated. Because it’s not feasible to attend to and actively listen to all the other paragraphs read by my classmates while hyper-vigilance and hyper-focus drove me inward, as I anxiously anticipated the agony of my turn ticking away like a bomb about to blow.
Elementary school was a shit show really. Brutal in fact — because reading felt painfully hard and embarrassingly shameful. Struggling to read contributed to me feeling less than my peers. These daily micro-assaults damaged my self-esteem. Many moments of perceived learning failure and other childhood adversity fractured my self-esteem and fueled a life-long saga of never feeling smart enough or good enough.
I became the class clown doing whatever I could to distract my friends and classmates from knowing that very little learning was happening for me. Visual memory became my friend over time, and I memorized thousands of words with zero word attack strategies. I had no ability to sound out a word. It is this very concept of sounding out words called phonemic awareness that makes having dyslexia so challenging.
My self-esteem was buoyed up by the fact that athletics came naturally to me. I learned to snow ski at age 4 and was on a ski team for 10 years growing up in Colorado. I played soccer competitively growing up and sports saved me. When I was on the pitch, It didn’t matter how hard school was for me because I was fast, I could score, and I knew how to win.
Middle school and high school were more of the same. Lots of learning gaps because I didn’t know I had dyslexia. I just thought I was dumb.
What mental shift did you make to not let that “stop you”?
I did not go off to a four-year college like all of my girlfriends. Let me be very clear about why. I didn’t know that I had dyslexia (and ADHD) and I didn’t know I was smart. Timed tests like the SAT and the ACT are disasters for students like me, especially if your learning disability goes undiagnosed and one does not have accommodations like time-in-a-half for these high stakes tests. I went to community college and had to backtrack since I had huge learning gaps. I decided to sign up for a college survival class that was a game changer for me. I learned how to learn for the first time. The instructor explained several techniques to engage my brain in the learning process. When reading a textbook for example, I was told to turn all the headings and subheadings into questions so that my brain was actively looking for the answers. That helped a lot with my focus. I was also told to review the key concepts from the summary at the end of the chapter before reading any of the content. I also figured out that if I read out loud to myself (a compensatory strategy I picked up incidentally) I could retain what I read. When I read silently to myself, I would get several paragraphs into a chapter and be tired and not have a clue of what I read.
Ultimately, this college survival class helped me figure out that I am indeed smart. Dyslexia does not dictate your level of intelligence. It is a language based learning disability that affects one’s ability to read, spell, and utilize language. The reality is that my parents didn’t sit me down and tell me I have dyslexia like my dad does. Yes. dyslexia runs in families and we don’t outgrow it. My folks didn’t explain to me that dyslexia makes learning to read extremely difficult because reading is a left brain skill and people with dyslexia attempt reading from the right side of the brain according to functional MRIs. This college survival class was a turning point for me because not only did I realize that I am intelligent but it renewed my thirst for learning.
Can you tell our readers about the accomplishments you have been able to make despite your disability or illness?
Hard work, grit, determination, and perseverance got me through college. I worked full time and put myself through college at night. It took me eight years to get a four-year degree. I applied the will to win from sports to my work. I started out as the receptionist and worked my way up the corporate ladder doing everything from customer service, marketing, project management, to outside sales. I was in the top 2% of a publicly traded fortune 500 corporation. I parlayed a decade of high-performance sales and marketing expertise in business communications into community impact and grassroots activism. As a trail blazing change agent, I founded two 501c3 nonprofit organizations aimed at equity and inclusion for people that identify as neurodivergent (specifically those that are autistic and dyslexic).
My superpower is being a neurodivergent business leader with dyslexia and ADHD. I am a soulful dreamer with a compassionate heart and entrepreneurial drive to make this world a better place. My dyslexic advantage is being an exceptional communicator, a super connector, being able to step back and cast a vision by looking ahead and seeing the big picture to address complex social problems while being a courageous risk taker that thinks outside-the-box to advocate for social justice and human rights initiatives.
What advice would you give to other people who have disabilities or limitations?
Let me be very clear — we live in an ableist society. I do not know what it is like to live with a physical disability or chronic illness so I will not be giving any trite advice. I do know what it is like to live with an invisible learning disability like dyslexia and empowerment starts with the truth.
When my daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia at age six she was a non-reader and learning felt unbearable and impossible for her. I sat her down and explained that she had dyslexia and helped her understand that her ability to read was separate from her intelligence. I helped her make the connections to her right-brain gifts. I explained that we were going to provide her with reading instruction that was designed for students with dyslexia and that school would be hard for a while. And as much as early intervention is key to overcoming the reading challenges associated with dyslexia, people do not outgrow dyslexia. There will be other challenges that go along with having dyslexia and that is where accommodations and assistive technology come in to level the playing field.
One of the most imperative accommodations for folks with dyslexia is having extra time for high-stakes timed tests and projects. Using assistive technology like Speechify can be a game changer for people with dyslexia. For me, this technology eliminates the inefficiency of reading painfully slowly by converting all text in an audio file that is then read to me. I also use Audible to consume books. I can listen very fast and retain information easily through this modality. I also use Otter.ai — a transcription application, whereby I speak into a document and Otter.ai transcribes it for me, eliminating the frustration of spelling errors as I create content and respond to correspondence.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?
I would not wish my trials and tribulations on anyone. I struggled profoundly for years and thought there was something wrong with me and that I was dumb. That could not be farther from the truth. I have dyslexia — a language-based learning disability that affects 20% of the population. The truth is that having a disability is not a dirty word. It’s not something we need to hustle around. We aren’t here to inspire other people with how we have overcome existing in an ableist society. The reality is that I didn’t have much help understanding my brain and how I learn. My folks didn’t know what they didn’t know. That means I didn’t have adults in my life helping me make sense of my right brain talents and skills for creativity and innovation.
At my Catholic elementary school, Sister Grace was assigned to assist me in 2nd grade. I would meet with her a few times a week in the cafeteria behind a partition to work on reading and spelling. I don’t think there was genuine remediation happening, yet her kindness and belief in me kept me afloat. Looking back, I believe my athleticism and excelling in sports is what gave me a competitive edge and helped me believe in myself. The college survival class that I took at age 19 was the turning point for me, as it is when I figured out I am intelligent, I love learning, and I am capable of greatness.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I am a best selling author, a disability justice and mental health advocate, and a nonprofit business strategist with 35 years of experience in leadership, sales and marketing, community organizing and mobilizing grassroots.
I am a 3x founder of nonprofit organizations advancing equity for people that identify as neurodivergent. I am passionate about serving founders and co-founders committed to elevating global consciousness through visions and missions that address social justice and advance human rights.
I am also the host of the Courage Unlocked podcast. I adore featuring founders that are changing the world for good. Join me each week for trauma-informed conversations around the intersections of mental health, addiction recovery, social justice, and human rights where we will learn and grow together. Every episode promises to inspire, inform, and motivate you through the power of story by everyday heroes and thought leaders alike.
The truth is that it takes truckloads of courage to face oneself and to create lasting change. And the great news is that courageousness can be cultivated. Courage Unlocked is the place where it’s safe to face who we are, declare who we want to become so we can attend to the gap like our lives depend on it.
My current venture is launching Use Your Voice for Good, a 501c3 nonprofit organization based on the core values and guiding principles of social work. Our macro based initiatives will include continuing education conferences for mental health professionals, a nonprofit leadership academy, and crowdfunding with and for other nonprofits, as well as awarding scholarships to specific populations that are marginalized and are unlikely to receive funding. What I can tell you with certainty is that I will never stop using my voice for good and I will spend the rest of my life inspiring others to do the same.
Can you share “5 things I wish people understood or knew about people with dyslexia” and why?
- 1 in 5 people have dyslexia. You can think of this number in the context of an elementary school. This means that 20% of the kids learning to read and spell, are doing so with dyslexia. Understanding how common dyslexia is can help teachers and administrators become better equipped to teach children with a broad spectrum of phonological processing disorders and language-based learning disabilities.
- Dyslexia runs in families. We now know that dyslexia is genetic and can be passed down from generation to generation. If your child is struggling to read and spell after a year of instruction, do not wait for your child to experience academic failure before you seek intervention and remediation. I found out I was dyslexic at 41, after my daughter was diagnosed with severe dyslexia at age 6. Proper and early dyslexia diagnosis would have changed my early academic life and lived experience dramatically.
- You cannot ‘outgrow’ dyslexia. As a phonological processing disorder, there is no magic cure. Rather than focusing on a cure, our resources must be dedicated to early intervention, functional literacy, and disability justice to ensure every person with dyslexia understands their right to accommodations (more time for all tasks) and assistive technology to level the playing field.
- It’s never too late to get support. While early diagnosis and remediation is best to help students with dyslexia overcome their reading and spelling challenges, it is never too late for teens and adults that went undiagnosed to get resourced later in life. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides the framework for understanding the rights of people with learning disabilities like dyslexia. People with dyslexia have language-based learning disabilities and have rights to accommodations like more time on high stakes tests, as well as the use of assistive technology (e.g. utilizing apps like Speechify and Otter.ai).
- Some of the most creative, innovative and successful people in the world have dyslexia. Cher, Erin Brockovich, Whoopie Goldberg, Agatha Christie, Nancy Krinker founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, as well as Steven Spielberg, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Sir Richard Branson, Henry Winkler, William Hewlett, Charles Schwab, and The School of Greatness podcast host Lewis Howes had or have dyslexia. People with dyslexia attempt reading from the right side of the brain although reading is a left-brain skill. Creativity and innovation are right-brain skills which explains why folks with dyslexia become the best of the best in their respective fields despite great struggles to read, spell, and process language.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”?
I love this quote by Margaret Mead:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this 🙂
There are two people I would be honored to meet for very different reasons. First, Lewis Howes, the host of the School of Greatness podcast. He has dyslexia, was a top athlete, and started The School of Greatness podcast, as he himself had huge learning gaps too and he wanted to have people on his podcast that he could learn from. He now has one of the most popular podcasts in the world with millions of followers and downloads.
The other person that has profoundly changed my life is Dr. Brene Brown. I started following her work in 2012 when I was 11 years sober. I am now 23 years sober and I am now in graduate school pursuing my masters in social work (she has a doctorate in social work) at the University of Denver. I am also founding a 501c3 nonprofit organization called Use Your Voice for Good based on the core values and guiding principles of social work. Our macro based initiatives will be at the intersection of disability justice, addiction recovery, and mental health advocacy. I would like to personally thank her for inspiring me. She and the work of the late Bell Hooks are what inspires me most.
Thank you so much for the time you spent with this interview. We wish you continued success and good health!
Unstoppable: How Michele Waterman Of Use Your Voice For Good Has Redefined Success While Navigating… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.