"Find Your Spark" Erica and Tom McNeil Tom (00:00) My name's Tommie McNeil. I've lived my whole life with dyslexia. Erica (00:05) I'm Erica McNeil and I'm his sister. I'm two years older than him and I've grown up watching him have dyslexia his whole life. So, Tom, what was it like for you growing up or working with dyslexia before you had the support you needed? Tom (00:20) Well, I know I was, I was younger. I'm pretty sure Dad found the book The Gift of Dyslexia because when I was growing up, kind of just always thought, I don't want to say I was like an outcast. Things just weren't clicking for me in the classroom like other kids were. Erica Right. Tom Right. But when I was in elementary school, they would send me out into the hall with a reading person and that was, that was difficult, not so much that I didn't know how to read. It was more or less, I mean, I guess when everybody looked at it, somebody who doesn't have dyslexia, it's this child doesn't know how to read because I'd fumble over words. You know, for me to read it out loud would take a real long time. And then like that, I was reading it by like to myself Erica quickly, Tom very quickly Erica (01:11) But we found out when you were older that you can really only read at that point words that have pictures associated with them, but like the to, where, from, how was hard for you to read, which is, I think, where they were confused. Tom (01:29) Right. Well, right. Because I can picture the cat. I can picture the cat. I mean, when I read out loud, know, I can be on what's coming out of my mouth is on line two, but where I'm reading with my eyes, I'm on line 10. So this is where like that fumbling of the words and now, now I'm like rereading stuff as I'm saying it. It's like, no, I know, I know how to read. I'm just here and what's coming out of my mouth is here. So it sounds not accurate. Erica Right. Tom I'm fumbling over things. So as a kid, that was hard. Erica (02:04) Growing up, it was tough because our parents knew you were very smart. Like most dyslexic kids, you were able to do things very fast and also things that other kids couldn't do. Like you would break a phone apart and then like put it together. Or you were very good at building. You did Legos without any directions, like the big Legos. You were very ahead of all of the other kids. And then when you went to school, they really wanted to label you and they couldn't. lot of the teachers wanted to label him with like ADD or like ADHD. mean, this is the early nineties. The principal wouldn't do it. My parents wouldn't do it either, but the principal wouldn't do it because during unstructured time when they would let you build or when you would be doing like something in science or something like that, you were extremely focused and you did not exhibit those, I guess, behaviors. So you did exhibit behaviors when you were reading because you were frustrated and you didn't want to like sit around. Tom (03:11) What I had those two teachers and two teachers that like stuck out the most reaction was my fourth grade teacher and my sixth grade teacher and both those teachers were very hands on learning as far as like the way they taught their class. So like I excelled those two years. I felt like the most because I was physically able to touch things like. Erica (03:30) Mom and dad were trying to figure it out because you're excelling in one thing and then we were doing a lot of work at home. Tom (03:36) I mean, I think I was a junior in high school. Erica When you actually got the 504 plan, yeah. Tom but I took, I took the test from a social standpoint that I was horrible because they took me from regular classrooms, you know, and then they jumped me right into the special ed class. And I remember I walked in that first day and my teacher was like, Tommy, you're not, this isn't a free period for you. What are you doing here? And I'm like, I, this… I have to be here now. Erica Yeah. So was there a breakthrough moment when you realized you could thrive, not just like survive with the dyslexia? When did that happen? Tom (04:12) It clicked for me as far as life is concern that I can excel with dyslexia is when I joined the fire department. Because it wasn't until then where I realized that, like, especially in the job that I do now as a welder, because you know, with rigging and welding, I can picture 40 different scenarios at once and look at it and go, okay, this is going to be the fastest, the best financially for the company and easiest for me. It clicked for me as a firefighter because you kind of only have seconds to make a decision, especially when somebody's life is on the line. And I don't know if you remember those firefighting books, where I had to get the certifications for it. They were thick, thousands of pages long. I sat down and I think I've read each of those probably about two or three times before I actually took the test. It was enjoyable to me because I was in the field doing it. It made reading those books that much better. Cause I can picture these scenarios in my head. I'm going to have to mention they also have large pictures, so that helped out too. Erica (05:12) Yes, it's it. And so when in your life did you realize that welding was going to be like your key to success? Tom (05:21) It was fascinating to me because when you bring your hood down so that the light doesn't burn your eyes or anything, I'm by myself. There's no outside distractions. I mean… Erica (05:32) You're essentially in the dark. Tom (05:33) Oh, 100 percent. You're in the dark. You're staring out a little window and it's just the piece that's in front of you. You really kind of focus on it. I had that epiphany in my head like man, my my elementary school teachers told me that I would never be able to make money staring out a window, and here I am staring out a little window. Erica (05:53) I also think you're very good at welding too because you need to be present and you know thinking on your toes. I think it's important that everybody knows that you have had moments in your life where you have said I don't want to live without dyslexia. Tom (06:08) Oh, 100 percent. Erica (06:10) Do you talk about it openly with people? Tom (06:12) I don't know if it's a if it's a childhood trauma to be honest with you, um, from it being such a negative thing. I don't know because it's a very touchy subject right because it is a learning disability. Erica (06:24) You think of it as an ability, not a disability, especially in your field. Tom (06:29) I mean, the place that I work at, the plant does know. I've made a very strong point of saying like, can think a thousand times faster than other people. What people see as dyslexia is not what it is. So like this person's stupid, they don't know how to read, they see things backwards. I, you know, sometimes feel weird telling them like, no, I have it. Cause then they'll joke around and like, have it too. I'm like, mmm, not like I do. Erica Right. Tom (06:54) Right. So. Erica Because you have what you feel, I'll say it again, is an ability. Tom Oh, 100 percent, 100 percent Erica Not a disability. And you read a lot. That's something that we should probably tell the parents of kids that are being diagnosed that feel like their kid is never going to read or is never going to succeed. It just means that you think differently. Tom (07:19) Yeah, pretty much. Having dyslexia doesn't limit you from anything that you want to do. Right. I think I'm a pretty good example of that. And then in terms of like, I guess, I excel in the trades. That is, that is what I do. But it wasn't until later on in life that like education became a very big part of my life. I guess the best takeaway from that is figure out what sparks your dyslexic, like creativity and then go with it. If your creativity is with books and with art and that kind of, like go with it. You don't have to conform to the way everybody else is learning. You can pave that new path and you should embrace it really.