Turning Dyslexia into Success
Everything changed when Zephaniah was 21 and finally learned he was dyslexic. Suddenly his struggles made sense - he wasn't going crazy, his brain just worked differently.
He became a successful poet by dictating his work to his girlfriend, who wrote it down. People thought his phonetic spelling (like 'wid luv' for 'with love') was just creative style, not realising it was how his dyslexic mind processed words. Even as a university professor, he still has to draw pictures to remember words and uses question marks when he can't spell something.
Dyslexia forces creativity - when you can't find the right word, you have to think around it, making your "creativity muscle" bigger. Zephaniah tells dyslexic kids: "We've got it going on - we are the architects, we are the designers."
His message is powerful: dyslexia isn't a defect or measure of intelligence. It's a natural way of thinking in a world designed for a different type of brain.
Key insight: High percentages of both prisoners AND architects are dyslexic - the difference is finding the right opportunities and believing in yourself.