Juliana Pedri

How I Found Out I Had a Learning Disability

All my life, I thought I was normal. I thought I was just like everyone else, when in fact, I was not. I was different. I processed things differently than my peers. It took me longer to remember things, and to repeat back instructions. I was held back a grade without really understanding why, except that I needed to improve my social skills. I was always put in front of the class room for lectures, and always sat at a certain side of the room. I always mistook the word a friend said to a word I thought they said. I'd repeated back sentences that didn't make sense out loud to the person in front of me, which in return, they always gave me quizzical looks. Sometimes they'd laugh and say, "Noo! That's not what I said at all!" I always had to ask, "What? Huh? Can you repeat that?" many times within a lecture or story being told. I got frustrated not knowing what's going on and why I always felt different than everyone around me.