What is math dyslexia? Jean’s story of thriving with Dyscalculia | In The Spotlight - video Dailymotion

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“I think that a lot more can be done to educate people about different disabilities, especially invisible disabilities.” Diagnosed with Dyscalculia, a learning disability affecting number comprehension, 27-year-old Jean shares her journey from math-induced anxiety to excelling in journalism and yoga teaching.  Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

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00:00You know that instinct that you tap into when you do mental calculations like

00:06calculating change for the Kopitiam auntie or you're trying to figure out how

00:11much you're saving on a 20% off sale. That kind of number sense that you tap

00:16into, I don't have that. And things really changed after my diagnosis. I was

00:23just really relieved that there was an explanation for everything that I had

00:27experienced. My name is Jean and I'm 27 this year. Nowadays I work mostly with

00:40words. I work in journalism and then before that I did curatorial research. I

00:46also recently got certified as a yoga teacher. These days life feels a lot

00:55calmer and I don't have to do a math exams and I don't experience the anxiety

01:00related to it. But more than that I think I've developed more confidence in how I

01:05think and how I express myself and how I navigate the world.

01:09I didn't always feel this comfortable and confident because I have dyscalculia and

01:18dyscalculia is a learning disability that affects a person's ability to understand

01:24and work with numbers. So sometimes it's kind of understood as like math dyslexia.

01:33Growing up I worked really hard at math. In primary school I would like drill practice

01:39papers every day. I had every kind of teaching tool imaginable. You know I had

01:44different kinds of rods and magnetic pies and toy pizzas and everything to try and

01:49understand fractions but nothing really stuck.

01:54I remember having my first panic attack quite vividly. It was doing a math exam in primary six

02:04and I really remember just freezing and I looked at the paper and I just couldn't

02:10really process what I was reading and at the end I just did the best I could and then on the last page

02:15I scribbled like a little sorry for my teacher and then I walked out feeling very confused and quite defeated.

02:26I couldn't understand why my efforts weren't paying off and I couldn't understand why math was so much

02:33more difficult than all my other subjects. I just kept trying but sometimes it felt really impossible.

02:40The lowest point for me came in secondary two when I failed my math papers so badly that my school

02:51told me I couldn't move on to sec three. So my mom and I we actually went from school to school

02:59knocking on doors begging principals to give me a chance and that entire experience was just really humiliating.

03:06Looking back my mom was really the one who helped me through that very difficult time. She never shamed me

03:16and her supportive attitude really gave me a sense of security. I never felt any kind of disappointment

03:22from her or some kind of stigma that I was now you know disabled. It was always like okay how can we move

03:30forward, what's the best course of action, how can we solve this problem kind of approach which I really appreciate.

03:39It wasn't until the school therapist at my original school suggested that I get tested for something

03:45called dyscalculia. Did you know my mom and my teachers even know that this thing existed? But we did the

03:52diagnosis test and then after two rounds of cognitive testing the results showed that there was a huge gap

04:00between my IQ and my math like reasoning ability. So according to the therapist it was a clear

04:08indicator of what she called severe dyscalculia. Suddenly everything just kind of made sense. It was

04:15confirmation that I'm not lazy and I'm not stupid. A lot of the times people conflate math and numerical

04:25reasoning with logical thinking but logic can manifest in a lot of different forms. You know of course

04:31math is important in developing and sharpening our logical thinking and critical thinking but

04:38I don't think it's the only way to really develop those skills.

04:43I studied philosophy in university and I think actually there's a lot of overlap between

04:50philosophy and math. You have to really use logic and look at a passage and distill it into its core

04:58arguments and its core premises and whether or not the argument is logically sound. I really loved

05:07studying philosophy in school and I feel very at home thinking through abstract concepts or complex ideas

05:16but just through words. I was actually invited to attend a summer school program at Cornell University

05:24two years ago to study philosophy of law. For the first time I felt like I wasn't constantly trying to

05:32outrun my own limitations. I felt a lot more at ease and learning became much more enjoyable.

05:40With that being said, dyscalculia never truly goes away because it's not something that you can

05:45outgrow. It just kind of becomes a part of how I live my life day to day and if I'm paying for

05:51kopi at the hawker center I will like count my coins out loud like 20 cents plus 50 cents is 70

05:58cents then plus 30 cents is one dollar just to kind of make it a bit easier. I've learned ways to kind of

06:06work around my disability like I use my phone calculator all the time and I always write things down.

06:12The really tricky thing about dyscalculia is that it's invisible you can't look disabled so I've had

06:19teachers and classmates even employers suggest that I was faking it and that I just got some doctor to

06:27write a report so that I can escape doing math because I'm bad at it.

06:33Usually when people think about disability or they picture someone who is disabled it's usually

06:39something more visible for example like somebody in a wheelchair or somebody that's using a white cane

06:44but with learning disabilities you can look normal which makes it difficult sometimes for people to

06:52understand how you can be disabled and I think it's something that a lot of people with invisible

06:59disabilities experience experience. That kind of pressure that you feel to perform or prove your

07:07disability just to be believed. Even though there are some systems in place you know in schools and

07:15workplaces that accommodate for differences in abilities I still do see some gaps and I think that

07:21a lot more can be done to educate people about different disabilities especially invisible disabilities.

07:32Having dyscalculia has taught me not to jump to conclusions too quickly and you know it's taught me

07:38the importance of letting go of assumptions to meet people where they are limitations and all instead of where

07:47I expect them to be.

What is math dyslexia? Jean’s story of thriving with Dyscalculia | In The Spotlight

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