70 Famous Dyslexics

June 2nd, 2008 by William

Dyslexia is a learning disability that can often be devastating if untreated. People who suffer from dyslexia primarily have trouble with written language, both reading and writing. Despite having this affliction, many people overcome it to lead normal and successful lives. We’ve compiled a list of 70 well known people who suffered (or were thought to suffer) from dyslexia, some of whom will definitely surprise you. On to the list:

Scott Adams
The trained hypnotist, vegetarian and creator of the comic strip “Dilbert” noticed his dyslexia when he worked as a bank teller and couldn’t get his totals to balance at the end of the day.

Muhammad Ali
The boxer barely graduated from high school and also has a daughter who is dyslexic.

Harry Anderson
He played Judge Harry Stone on “Night Court” and was able to deal with his dyslexia enough to be valedictorian on his high school class.

Tim Armstrong
Rancid’s singer/guitarist has never had a driver’s license or bank account due to his dyslexia.

Alexander Graham Bell
The inventor of the telephone reportedly overcome his dyslexia.

Billy Blanks
He created exercise craze Tae-Bo but struggled early on when he was placed in special education classes due to undiagnosed dyslexia.

Orlando Bloom
The actor once said, “Dyslexia is not due to lack of intelligence, it’s a lack of access. It’s like, if you’re dyslexic, you have all the information you need, but find it harder to process.” He now considers himself “mildly dyslexic.”

Laura Flynn Boyle
Known for her role in “The Practice” from 1997 to 2003.

Richard Branson
He dropped out of school at age 16 after doing poorly in school but later founded the very successful Virgin Records.

Erin Brockovich
She struggled in school and wasn’t diagnosed until later in life. She helped win a $333 million class action lawsuit that is the largest in U.S. history.

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15 Comments, add yours

15 Responses to “70 Famous Dyslexics”

On June 3rd 2008, Rockstar Sid wrote:

Great collection :-)

Stumbled!
On June 3rd 2008, Cyrious Garnetski wrote:

Dyslexia seems to be a common occurrence. It probably effects everyone at some point in their life. I am not dyslexic and yet I am constantly reading about the Hardon Collider. What does that mean?
On June 3rd 2008, me wrote:

I am a dyslexic and I want other dyslexic people to know that they should learn Chinese. The chinese character system is great for us (simplified).
On June 3rd 2008, Exposed SEO wrote:

Who is the famous movie star with dyslexia? He learns all his scripts from tapes? Can’t remember his name :(
On June 3rd 2008, Maing wrote:

The inventor of the telephone is Antonio Meucci

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Meucci
On June 3rd 2008, Callie wrote:

When one has problems with numbers it is not dyslexia but dyscalculia. A similar sort of deal though. Dyscalculaics are generally fantastic with language but horrible with grammar. Horrible at math in general but may be very brilliant in geometry. The entry on Scott Adams seems to refer to this rather than Dyslexia.
On June 18th 2008, Dyslexia Community wrote:

I don’t know if it’s just alphabetical order, but Scott Adams is an excellent lead.

Have these people really “overcame dyslexia”? Perhaps they’re who they are because of it.
On November 13th 2008, cheska wrote:

nice collection very inspiring for people with dyslexuia. i can relate because my brother has one too. he was branded as slow learner and lazy or lacking effort. but i always believed in him. and i’m glad i did.
On December 30th 2008, JRMirador wrote:

I wanted to be a medical doctor, but I thought I was too dumb to make it through medical school. It was before the concept of dyslexia even existed. Studying myself I discovered that dyslexia is more than a learning dissability. It’s an abnormal neurological configuration, in the line of autism, or schizophrenia. The clue arrived one morning upon waking, when I noticed I had dreampt backwards, that is, I dreampt the ending of my dream first, and instantaneously filled the details up to the beginning. One day I had a motorcycle accident, and found myself suspended in midair, time and movement frozen, except my thougths, enough to plan my fall. Now I’m a folk healer in the hills north of Azua.
On January 19th 2009, Jeff Dyslexia Treatment wrote:

Hi there you have some amazing content on here.

My own site just explains some famous dyslexics but what I like about yours is the pictures. For dyslexics they need pictures to make sense of the world.

Thanks for this content I will be back.

Jeff
On February 13th 2009, Designer wrote:

interesting…. thanks for the list
On April 15th 2009, Planet Bubbles Universe wrote:

Dsylexia ya that’s what I am. I used to find it a burden. Now its a blessing. It’s a bit funny that everyone has a piece on what it is and isn’t. Really it’s many different things and shows in many different ways. I can see an answer, but don’t know how I got there. In college, I used to just pick the right answer and scribble out the math part, hoping it looked good. It always worked. Now, thanks to spell check I can communicate better. Before retirement I was a teacher in public school, and my ‘disability’ was a great help to students needing my kind of help. Now I’m an artist. Some days life is hard, but mostly it’s great, just like a normal person.
On July 7th 2009, benja wrote:

really interesting, some really big names in that list!
On September 22nd 2009, grace simpson wrote:

i dont no if i am dislexcic but im am a weak speller as you can see. i read many books like Edie Blyton and Stephany Myers. i am 13 years old
On October 10th 2009, blinking nuisance wrote:

i think that everybody should learn a different language, i’m teaching my cat to bark!!