Today we explore A Journey with Dyslexia: Alienation, Assimilation, Acclimation, the inspiring story of Peter James Wilson, who refused to let dyslexia define him. Peter’s is a story of resilience, discovery, and the power of the human mind to adapt and thrive. 

Subscribe with your favorite podcast player

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Let’s begin our adventure today with a journey back to the early 1950s—a time of post-war recovery and cultural transformation. It was the era when we first met Elvis Presley, watched Marilyn Monroe light up the big screen, and were introduced to iconic figures like James Bond and Peter Pan. 

Pop culture has romanticized this period in countless ways—just think of how many ‘50s-style diners you’ve seen.

But beneath the nostalgia it was a tough time for those who didn’t fit the mold. Back then, learning disabilities like dyslexia weren’t well understood. Instead of getting support, kids were often mislabeled and left to struggle in silence. 

PJ (Label) Being labeled dummy was not something that any kid likes, and I certainly was labeled that. 

That’s Peter James Wilson. He’s seventy seven years old and all those years have given him a great deal of perspective and wisdom. Like he just said, when he was growing up, children with dyslexia were often called dumb. I know it’s hard to hear but it was a different time. They were labeled by professionals as lazy, unintelligent, or “slow learners” and there was something else. 

PJ – Well, there were all sorts of things that happened that contradicted the dumb label, and I was confused for quite a while because I did things that were really smart, and other kids noticed, and some kids would say, you know, you’re only pretending to be stupid. Excuse me. And that was one of the things that I kind of looked forward to in a way because although they were trying to put me down, I was realizing that there was something else there besides the inability to read and the inability to communicate.

He struggled a bit but Peter knew he wasn’t dumb. He could solve complex problems, impress his peers and people still dismissed him—some even accused him of faking his struggles. It wasn’t until much later that he fully understood why his brain worked differently. Thankfully that is all in the past and his recent accomplishment is a book titled A Journey with Dyslexia: Alienation, Assimilation, Acclimation where he documents his experiences in overcoming dyslexia.

PJ – Yeah, I wasn’t able to learn to read until I formed neural pathways, and that was something that I got the information from a psychologist who diagnosed me as being dyslexic. He gave me the information that I needed to be able to form the plan that I formed to create neural pathways. I didn’t know about neural pathways, and neither did he, but once I formed neural pathways, I then had time to learn to read, and I wanted to learn to read because I wanted to write. I’ve always wanted to write, even when I was in primary school, I wanted to be able to write. 

I didn’t know much about Neural pathways either, at least not how they specifically relate to reading so I did a bit of research and I discovered that reading is like a team of brain pathways all working together. Your eyes see the letters, your brain figures out what they mean, and another part helps you understand the words. It’s like a road map inside your brain that helps you read and learn! Some people, like those with Dyslexia, have brains that take a different path and that can make reading trickier—but with practice and the right tools, they can become great readers! For Peter it wasn’t quite that easy because he had Autism to deal with as well.

PJ – I was 67 when I was diagnosed with autism, and it wasn’t until I was diagnosed with autism that I realized that the jigsaw pieces that I’d been putting together on dyslexia had a whole heap of other pieces mixed in with them that weren’t dyslexia. And it wasn’t until I sorted the autism pieces away from the dyslexic pieces that I was able to write this book, because along with learning about neural pathways, I was able to understand what had happened during my life with dyslexia and write the book. And that is the big thing that I wanted to be able to get across to people, is that there is a lot in this book that will help many people, not only dyslexic people, but autistic people as well.

By sharing his story, Peter hopes others can learn from his struggles, making life easier for themselves and those around them. He is hoping to raise awareness, promote research, and support teachers, students, and parents in understanding dyslexia.

PJ – It is really heartening for me to be able to say I have now helped some teachers be able to improve the reading in their classes, and that is something that is just going on in my hometown. I’d like it to happen worldwide

For Peter, reading and social skills were inter-connected. He needed to read to communicate, and he needed to communicate to learn to read. But as he worked through his struggles, he found an unexpected connection between literacy and social interaction.

PJ – That’s what held me up was having the two, because I had to learn to read to be able to learn to communicate with people and be socially responsible. And I had to get people to help me learn to read to make friends and that sort of thing, so that I could learn to read.    And when I was able to retain what I had read, because I had overcome dyslexia enough by then, to be able to start forming the social skills that allow me to make friends. It was then that I was able to learn to write…dyslexia doesn’t just stop people from learning to read. It also stops them from being able to write. And a lot of people don’t realize that dyslexia is a lot broader than modern diagnostics.

Peter is doing his part by documenting his findings and experiences in the book A Journey with Dyslexia. It includes personal stories as well as insights on dyslexic celebrities, and an appendix outlining dyslexia signs and symptoms. He says solving these kinds of problems isn’t as hard as we think. Peter’s story reminds us that understanding and supporting one another is important. Dyslexia isn’t just about reading—it’s about connection, confidence, and inclusion. If we can embrace different ways of learning, we can open doors for so many people. And really, isn’t that what making the world a better place is all about?

If you’d like to learn more about Peter you can find a link to the book in the shows notes. It’s available now at Amazon.com and many other places. His website is Peter J Wilson Writer dot com.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram.

The post A Journey with Dyslexia appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.