0:00:05.356,0:00:12.521 [Dr. Drennan] "Wow...you must be smart!" 0:00:12.521,0:00:15.361 That's what people say to me when the 0:00:15.361,0:00:17.309 conversation comes around, and they 0:00:17.309,0:00:19.870 find out what I do for a living. So, I am 0:00:19.870,0:00:21.631 a professor of Chemistry and Biology in 0:00:21.631,0:00:24.020 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 0:00:24.020,0:00:27.961 known as M.I.T. They say, "Wow...M.I.T., 0:00:27.961,0:00:32.968 wow...professor...You must be smart!" 0:00:32.968,0:00:34.714 Sometimes they say that and they walk 0:00:34.714,0:00:37.066 away. Other times they say that looking 0:00:37.066,0:00:39.459 at me, waiting for me to respond, either 0:00:39.459,0:00:41.555 in the affirmative, or deny the fact that 0:00:41.555,0:00:44.074 maybe I am smart. But what they don't 0:00:44.074,0:00:46.914 realize is that, asking me if I am smart, 0:00:46.914,0:00:49.994 is a really complicated question for me 0:00:49.994,0:00:51.940 to answer. 0:00:51.940,0:00:54.713 So, think about what it is to be smart. 0:00:54.713,0:00:56.912 There's....usually when you ask someone, 0:00:56.912,0:00:58.476 they'll come up with characteristics of a 0:00:58.476,0:01:02.786 smart person. They'll say, "Hmm...good 0:01:02.786,0:01:05.189 problems solver." or "A lot of knowledge 0:01:05.189,0:01:08.102 on a particular topic." , "Able to take 0:01:08.102,0:01:10.767 information and see things in that 0:01:10.767,0:01:13.410 information that other people might 0:01:13.410,0:01:17.162 miss. " "Success in a field." All of 0:01:17.162,0:01:18.869 these are characteristics of a smart 0:01:18.869,0:01:21.529 person. All of those are characteristics 0:01:21.529,0:01:24.493 of me. But there are also other 0:01:24.493,0:01:27.222 characteristics not really normally 0:01:27.222,0:01:30.465 associated with a smart person, such as, 0:01:30.465,0:01:32.842 "Having been in a remedial class in 0:01:32.842,0:01:36.650 school."--Having had to repeat a grade. 0:01:36.650,0:01:38.410 Those are things that are also true about 0:01:38.410,0:01:43.696 me. So smart, but learning disabled. That 0:01:43.696,0:01:46.372 was a term that my elementary school 0:01:46.372,0:01:48.984 teachers used for me. So what is Learning 0:01:48.984,0:01:51.312 Disability? What is being Learning Disabled? 0:01:51.312,0:01:54.422 When you think about that, you learn 0:01:54.422,0:01:56.323 differently. If there is a bunch of 0:01:56.323,0:01:58.377 information, you may see it in a different 0:01:58.377,0:02:01.294 way. You may make connections between 0:02:01.294,0:02:04.580 that information that other people miss. 0:02:04.580,0:02:06.179 So there's definitely parallels...I just 0:02:06.179,0:02:07.941 described two things: one for smart and 0:02:07.941,0:02:09.585 one for Learning Disabled, that were the 0:02:09.585,0:02:11.339 same. 0:02:12.249,0:02:14.421 So...I was a pretty odd kid, I have to say. 0:02:14.421,0:02:16.142 My parents were older when I was born, and 0:02:16.142,0:02:20.359 I was an only child, and my parents really 0:02:20.359,0:02:22.507 didn't know all that much about raising 0:02:22.507,0:02:24.828 children, to be honest with you. We would 0:02:24.828,0:02:26.626 talk about politics at the dinner table 0:02:26.626,0:02:29.335 when I was 5 years old. I worked on my 0:02:29.335,0:02:33.066 first political campaign when I was 6. 0:02:33.066,0:02:34.721 So when I started first grade, I was 0:02:34.721,0:02:36.712 discussing with my first grade teacher 0:02:36.712,0:02:38.551 what I thought about International Trade 0:02:38.551,0:02:41.639 Agreements, and they decided that, "Wow... 0:02:41.639,0:02:43.810 she must be a smart kid!"- so they put me 0:02:43.810,0:02:47.946 in the top reading group. Then I went 0:02:47.946,0:02:49.956 down, maybe I'd be more comfortable in 0:02:49.956,0:02:52.828 the second from top, and then when I hit 0:02:52.828,0:02:56.872 rock bottom, and still was below what the 0:02:56.872,0:02:58.894 other kids in this bottom reading group 0:02:58.894,0:03:00.257 were able to do, it was time to talk to my 0:03:00.257,0:03:03.805 parents and say, "She seems smart, but, 0:03:03.805,0:03:07.695 she can't learn to read." So somewhere 0:03:07.695,0:03:09.371 between first and second grade, I was 0:03:09.371,0:03:12.102 diagnosed as being Dyslexic. And my 0:03:12.102,0:03:14.574 parents were pulled aside, and said, "You 0:03:14.574,0:03:16.985 know, you should prepare yourself. Her 0:03:16.985,0:03:19.158 Dyslexia is so severe, that she is probably 0:03:19.158,0:03:20.710 not going to be able to graduate from high 0:03:20.710,0:03:24.792 school. But--my parents got me extra 0:03:24.792,0:03:28.027 tutoring, and the second time through 0:03:28.027,0:03:32.094 sixth grade, I learned to read. So the way 0:03:32.094,0:03:33.810 that I read--I don't know how normal 0:03:33.810,0:03:35.874 people read, but I don't think I read like 0:03:35.874,0:03:38.935 that. So what I did the second time through 0:03:38.935,0:03:40.984 sixth grade is, I memorized the shapes of 0:03:40.984,0:03:44.407 words, and I memorized what words looked 0:03:44.407,0:03:47.836 like that shape, and then what that word 0:03:47.836,0:03:51.402 sounds like, and what that word means. It 0:03:51.402,0:03:53.626 took a ~lot~ of time to memorize the shapes 0:03:53.626,0:03:55.600 of all of the words that you might encounter 0:03:55.600,0:03:58.617 in a book. But once I had done that, 0:03:58.617,0:04:02.150 I could read. So, after I finished sixth 0:04:02.150,0:04:04.926 grade the second time, my father retired, 0:04:04.926,0:04:06.630 he was older, and we moved to a 0:04:06.630,0:04:08.884 different state, and I started in another 0:04:08.884,0:04:13.401 school. I had been in the remedial class 0:04:13.401,0:04:16.840 in sixth grade, and then I was mainstreamed 0:04:16.840,0:04:19.280 in seventh grade. All of a sudden, I 0:04:19.280,0:04:21.493 started doing really well, and I went to 0:04:21.493,0:04:24.032 the top of the class. I had an English 0:04:24.032,0:04:26.320 teacher that said I was one of her best 0:04:26.320,0:04:30.616 students ever. English...me! Best students. 0:04:30.616,0:04:32.362 And so then the kids started teasing me 0:04:32.362,0:04:35.854 about being smart. From the bottom to 0:04:35.854,0:04:37.982 the very top, teased on one end, teased on 0:04:37.982,0:04:40.362 the other end. I feel like that's what 0:04:40.362,0:04:42.153 Dyslexia is all about. Whatever you do, 0:04:42.153,0:04:45.729 you're just going to be teased. 0:04:45.729,0:04:47.405 I wasn't supposed to graduate from high 0:04:47.405,0:04:49.610 school, but I did. I did it in three years, 0:04:49.610,0:04:51.361 so I got back on track and I went to 0:04:51.361,0:04:55.663 college. I didn't want anyone to know 0:04:55.663,0:04:57.332 about my Dyslexia in college. I didn't 0:04:57.332,0:04:58.920 want the professors to know, I was 0:04:58.920,0:05:02.260 embarrassed. I didn't want that letter of 0:05:02.260,0:05:04.955 recommendation that said, "Oh, she's 0:05:04.955,0:05:09.206 really good, for a Dyslexic person. " 0:05:09.206,0:05:10.796 I wanted the letter that said, "She's 0:05:10.796,0:05:14.990 really good." I thought, okay...I'm 0:05:14.990,0:05:18.380 going to make mistakes on the test, I'm 0:05:18.380,0:05:20.230 not going to get extra time, I won't have 0:05:20.230,0:05:22.053 time to correct my mistakes, sometimes I 0:05:22.053,0:05:23.982 won't have time to finish the test, but I 0:05:23.982,0:05:26.222 am going to learn the material that much 0:05:26.222,0:05:28.286 better than everyone else. So, if my 0:05:28.286,0:05:31.850 Dyslexia costs me five points, I'll know 0:05:31.850,0:05:34.404 five points more worth of material than 0:05:34.404,0:05:36.744 everybody else. I'll just be better at it, 0:05:36.744,0:05:38.520 I'll know it better, and that will allow 0:05:38.520,0:05:40.750 me to compensate. You know, that worked 0:05:40.750,0:05:43.000 actually, quite well. I went to Vassar 0:05:43.000,0:05:44.958 College, it's a small school. The faculty 0:05:44.958,0:05:47.145 get to know the students, they knew who 0:05:47.145,0:05:49.194 knew the material. They knew who were 0:05:49.194,0:05:51.083 cramming for the test and just trying to 0:05:51.083,0:05:52.786 get a good grade, and they knew who was 0:05:52.786,0:05:54.980 really interested in learning. This worked 0:05:54.980,0:05:57.525 very well. I discovered that I loved 0:05:57.525,0:05:59.432 science, I loved chemistry, I loved 0:05:59.432,0:06:01.703 biology, and I want to be a teacher and 0:06:01.703,0:06:04.595 professor. So...I want to go to grad 0:06:04.595,0:06:07.958 school. But there is a problem going to 0:06:07.958,0:06:10.437 grad school, and that is that there is a 0:06:10.437,0:06:13.861 standardized test that was between me and 0:06:13.861,0:06:19.280 my dreams. No matter how much better I 0:06:19.280,0:06:21.280 felt like I'd learned those vocabulary 0:06:21.280,0:06:25.551 words that no one will ever use...ever... 0:06:25.551,0:06:28.958 I knew that I couldn't do as well. I needed 0:06:28.958,0:06:32.474 more time, I couldn't compete on a 0:06:32.474,0:06:35.173 standardized timed test like that. So I 0:06:35.173,0:06:37.242 said, okay, I'm going to let people know 0:06:37.242,0:06:39.916 I'm Dyslexic, and take the extra time. 0:06:40.446,0:06:44.111 I'll never forget that day. I was in 0:06:44.111,0:06:46.548 college, I had been working at a summer 0:06:46.548,0:06:48.991 camp in the summers in the Pocono 0:06:48.991,0:06:51.096 Mountains. I had found a local college 0:06:51.096,0:06:53.607 that was offering these G.R.E. exams, 0:06:53.607,0:06:55.669 and there was a professor paid extra 0:06:55.669,0:06:58.324 money to proctor me. I was the only one 0:06:58.324,0:06:59.884 with a disability, I was the only one in 0:06:59.884,0:07:03.649 the room. I had the extra time. 0:07:03.649,0:07:05.280 I remember he came in, and he was trying 0:07:05.280,0:07:08.430 to be so nice to me. He said, "Cheer up. 0:07:08.430,0:07:12.290 There's some university that might take 0:07:12.290,0:07:16.827 you. You never know! It's possible." He's 0:07:16.827,0:07:19.292 like, "You know, there are no statistics 0:07:19.292,0:07:23.662 for people like you." And you know, I had 0:07:23.662,0:07:25.683 been embarrassed by my Dyslexia, but I 0:07:25.683,0:07:28.140 had never had really thought that it was 0:07:28.140,0:07:30.974 like, people like ~me~. Somehow, this one 0:07:30.974,0:07:33.858 thing about me just completely defined 0:07:33.858,0:07:37.299 my entire existence, that I was Dyslexic, 0:07:37.299,0:07:39.922 and that's all I was. I think...I don't 0:07:39.922,0:07:42.164 know if I said anything to him...I'm sure 0:07:42.164,0:07:44.540 I was polite, I'm always very polite. But 0:07:44.540,0:07:48.086 I remember thinking at the time, someone 0:07:48.086,0:07:49.530 will accept me, and it's going to be a 0:07:49.530,0:07:54.018 really good school, and I'll show you. 0:07:54.018,0:07:55.646 So, I did get into a good school. I went 0:07:55.646,0:07:57.619 to the University of Michigan, and I had a 0:07:57.619,0:07:59.564 wonderful adviser there, the late Martha 0:07:59.564,0:08:03.071 Ludwig. She really took me under her wing 0:08:03.071,0:08:04.917 and mentored me, and helped me reach my 0:08:04.917,0:08:07.158 full ability. I was pushing...I was like, 0:08:07.158,0:08:08.915 I want to do this, I don't want Dyslexia 0:08:08.915,0:08:12.295 to define me. I want to keep going, not 0:08:12.295,0:08:13.941 supposed to graduate from high school... 0:08:13.941,0:08:15.668 HA, I'll go to college! HA, I'll go to grad 0:08:15.668,0:08:18.641 school. I'm just going to keep going. But 0:08:18.641,0:08:20.025 you know, I always felt like there was 0:08:20.025,0:08:21.755 going to be this kind of "Dyslexia ceiling". 0:08:21.755,0:08:24.222 It's like, okay...you got that far. You got 0:08:24.222,0:08:26.280 into Grad school, but, eh...now you are 0:08:26.280,0:08:28.735 done. I didn't have a lot of confidence 0:08:28.735,0:08:31.452 and I had a really huge imposter syndrome 0:08:31.452,0:08:32.828 going on, waiting for everyone to figure 0:08:32.828,0:08:34.721 out I really didn't belong there. Somehow, 0:08:34.721,0:08:36.521 I really shouldn't have even graduated from 0:08:36.521,0:08:40.200 high school. But Martha saw in me 0:08:40.200,0:08:42.973 tremendous potential. She mentored me, 0:08:42.973,0:08:45.163 and with a collaborator, Rowena Matthews, 0:08:45.163,0:08:46.720 I had these two female professors who 0:08:46.720,0:08:49.960 really helped work with me, and gave me 0:08:49.960,0:08:51.954 tremendous opportunities. Like the 0:08:51.954,0:08:54.874 opportunity to talk about my research in 0:08:54.874,0:08:57.465 an international meeting. At that meeting, 0:08:57.465,0:08:59.352 there was another female professor in the 0:08:59.352,0:09:01.240 audience, JoAnn Stubbe. And she saw me 0:09:01.240,0:09:03.744 and said, "That's somebody we'd like to 0:09:03.744,0:09:06.399 hire on the faculty at M.I.T." So, I didn't 0:09:06.399,0:09:10.100 apply, because, what am I? Crazy? 0:09:10.100,0:09:12.363 Professor at M.I.T.? No...that would not 0:09:12.363,0:09:15.086 work out. I didn't apply, but I was 0:09:15.086,0:09:17.521 recruited, invited to come and give a 0:09:17.521,0:09:20.659 talk. Okay, I said, how fun is this? I'm 0:09:20.659,0:09:23.929 talking at M.I.T.! And then they offered 0:09:23.929,0:09:27.011 me a job, and my jaw hit the bottom. 0:09:27.011,0:09:28.424 I was like, "What do you mean?" and they 0:09:28.424,0:09:30.953 were like, you know, "We are offering 0:09:30.953,0:09:32.375 you a position at M.I.T." So I took it, 0:09:32.375,0:09:34.442 and I thought, "Okay, this is going to be 0:09:34.442,0:09:35.890 really fun for a few years. I'm going to 0:09:35.890,0:09:38.114 have the time of my life doing research, 0:09:38.114,0:09:40.387 until they figure out what a crazy mistake 0:09:40.387,0:09:43.617 they made and kick me out." But, somehow, 0:09:43.617,0:09:46.134 I was able to fool them for a long enough 0:09:46.134,0:09:48.104 to get tenure and then be promoted to a 0:09:48.104,0:09:50.500 full professor, so they can't fire me now. 0:09:50.500,0:09:53.617 They can figure it out...too late... tenure. 0:09:53.617,0:09:56.194 Awesome thing! Really awesome. 0:09:56.194,0:09:58.675 So, I was at M.I.T. with these really 0:09:58.675,0:10:03.619 smart people. My research: I really think 0:10:03.619,0:10:07.406 it was an advantage to be Dyslexic in some 0:10:07.406,0:10:08.996 of the research I'm doing. 0:10:08.996,0:10:10.485 I'm just going to tell you briefly about 0:10:10.485,0:10:13.590 my research to see how Dyslexia, I think, 0:10:13.590,0:10:16.004 was an advantage for me to be able to do 0:10:16.004,0:10:19.602 well in this area. 0:10:19.602,0:10:22.504 My research is about visualizing tiny 0:10:22.504,0:10:25.553 molecules, like protein molecules. If you 0:10:25.553,0:10:27.766 think about visualizing things--this is my 0:10:27.766,0:10:30.585 daughter, Samantha. And if I want to 0:10:30.585,0:10:33.384 visualize her moving around and doing a 0:10:33.384,0:10:35.689 dance, I can take out my cell phone and 0:10:35.689,0:10:38.927 take a picture of her. That's pretty easy. 0:10:38.927,0:10:40.852 But inside my daughter, and inside all 0:10:40.852,0:10:43.446 living creatures there are cells, and those 0:10:43.446,0:10:46.220 cells are much smaller, but still, you can 0:10:46.220,0:10:47.643 get a microscope. If you get a good 0:10:47.643,0:10:49.913 quality microscope, you can visualize 0:10:49.913,0:10:53.171 those cells moving around. But inside 0:10:53.171,0:10:56.380 cells, there are proteins, or enzymes, that 0:10:56.380,0:10:58.933 are carrying out the life functions of the 0:10:58.933,0:11:02.256 cell. If you want to see those proteins, 0:11:02.256,0:11:05.257 moving around, that's a lot harder. There 0:11:05.257,0:11:07.883 isn't such a thing--like a microscope, and 0:11:07.883,0:11:09.998 you have to use biophysical methods, one of 0:11:09.998,0:11:13.278 which is X-ray crystallography, what I do. 0:11:13.278,0:11:15.311 You need to get these images of these 0:11:15.311,0:11:17.698 protein molecules moving by taking 0:11:17.698,0:11:22.394 snapshots using this biophysical method. 0:11:22.394,0:11:24.776 That is the research my lab does. We want 0:11:24.776,0:11:27.450 to watch protein molecules shake, rattle, 0:11:27.450,0:11:30.790 and roll and carry out their function. 0:11:30.790,0:11:32.212 Let me just tell you a little bit about the 0:11:32.212,0:11:34.764 technique of crystallography. Jenny 0:11:34.764,0:11:38.087 Glusker compared crystallography to a 0:11:38.087,0:11:40.997 light microscope. In a light microscope, 0:11:40.997,0:11:44.312 you have visible light shining through your 0:11:44.312,0:11:46.619 amoeba, planararian, whatever you are 0:11:46.619,0:11:48.963 looking at. The light is diffracted, and 0:11:48.963,0:11:51.610 there is a lens which can combine the 0:11:51.610,0:11:53.502 diffracted light waves, and give you an 0:11:53.502,0:11:56.145 enlarged image. If you want to look at 0:11:56.145,0:11:58.600 something small like a protein molecule, 0:11:58.600,0:12:00.302 you can't use visible light, you have to 0:12:00.302,0:12:03.912 use x-rays. You can't just have one copy 0:12:03.912,0:12:05.590 of your molecule, you need to have 0:12:05.590,0:12:07.533 thousands of copies of your molecule 0:12:07.533,0:12:10.146 lined up in a regularly repeating pattern 0:12:10.146,0:12:12.692 or a crystal. So you shine x-rays through 0:12:12.692,0:12:16.746 your crystal, the x-rays are diffracted, 0:12:16.746,0:12:18.736 but now there is no such thing as a lens 0:12:18.736,0:12:21.913 which can combine diffracted x-rays. 0:12:21.913,0:12:24.191 The crystallographer and her computer need 0:12:24.191,0:12:27.528 to do that. We collect data that tells us 0:12:27.528,0:12:31.245 on a piece of film or a detector, tells us 0:12:31.245,0:12:33.829 about those x-rays. You get a spot on the 0:12:33.829,0:12:37.146 piece of film when the x-ray hits. Then, 0:12:37.146,0:12:39.718 we have to mathematically combine the 0:12:39.718,0:12:42.112 information about the waves, and you get 0:12:42.112,0:12:45.187 what is known as an electron density map. 0:12:45.187,0:12:47.650 This is a map in three dimensions that say 0:12:47.650,0:12:49.665 electrons are here, which means your atoms 0:12:49.665,0:12:52.320 are here. Into that, you have to put atoms 0:12:52.320,0:12:56.574 to build the structure of your molecule. 0:12:56.574,0:12:58.855 Proteins are made up of twenty different 0:12:58.855,0:13:02.651 amino acids, and those are shown here. 0:13:02.651,0:13:04.602 You know your protein has those amino 0:13:04.602,0:13:06.479 acids, and you know the order of the amino 0:13:06.479,0:13:08.663 acids in your protein, and then you get 0:13:08.663,0:13:10.936 electron density that looks like this. 0:13:10.936,0:13:13.889 This is one slice of electron density. 0:13:13.889,0:13:16.755 You have to figure out which side chain 0:13:16.755,0:13:22.582 goes in which piece of electron density. 0:13:22.582,0:13:25.416 This is just the perfect technique for me 0:13:25.416,0:13:28.170 because of the way I learned how to read. 0:13:28.170,0:13:30.293 There was the shape of a word, and I 0:13:30.293,0:13:33.295 figured what word went into that shape. 0:13:33.295,0:13:35.283 This is the same thing, but it's infinitely 0:13:35.283,0:13:38.115 easier, there's a lot of different words! 0:13:38.115,0:13:41.744 There are only 20 amino-acids. This is not 0:13:41.744,0:13:45.168 bad at all. There was a shape, and I just 0:13:45.168,0:13:47.374 had to figure out what amino acid went 0:13:47.374,0:13:49.577 into that shape, and build protein 0:13:49.577,0:13:52.636 molecules. So here is a piece of electron 0:13:52.636,0:13:54.988 density, here is the amino acid that fits 0:13:54.988,0:13:57.734 in. Here is another piece of electron 0:13:57.734,0:14:00.103 density, here is the maino acid that fits 0:14:00.103,0:14:02.560 into that piece. There is only 20 0:14:02.560,0:14:06.155 possibilities. This is not so bad. Now... 0:14:06.155,0:14:07.738 these maps, you might say...that 0:14:07.738,0:14:09.364 looks pretty straightforward, every one 0:14:09.364,0:14:11.316 could probably do that. But this is really 0:14:11.316,0:14:13.611 good quality data, and a lot of times what 0:14:13.611,0:14:15.295 we get is not very good, and the maps 0:14:15.295,0:14:18.065 don't look that good. But I am very good at 0:14:18.065,0:14:19.939 recognizing patterns that other people 0:14:19.939,0:14:22.533 don't see, and seeing things in that 0:14:22.533,0:14:25.427 density that other people miss. Sometimes 0:14:25.427,0:14:27.218 my students will be working on this part 0:14:27.218,0:14:28.687 of the structure, and they are trying to 0:14:28.687,0:14:30.496 build it ~this~ way, and build it ~that~ 0:14:30.496,0:14:31.808 way, and they can't figure out what is 0:14:31.808,0:14:33.368 going on and I walk by and go, "Oh, like 0:14:33.368,0:14:35.773 that..." They try it and they look at me, 0:14:35.773,0:14:37.770 and they are like, "How on earth did you 0:14:37.770,0:14:40.678 see that?" It's because I have these years 0:14:40.678,0:14:43.494 of experience looking at patterns. It's the 0:14:43.494,0:14:46.380 way that I read, it's what I do. So I am 0:14:46.380,0:14:49.356 able to see those shapes. Sometimes... 0:14:49.356,0:14:51.220 we had a discovery early on that got me 0:14:51.220,0:14:53.450 tenured at M.I.T., and I found out later 0:14:53.450,0:14:55.726 that other people had been stuck. There 0:14:55.726,0:14:57.775 was this one part of the protein, one 0:14:57.775,0:14:59.298 part of the map, it was a very flexible 0:14:59.298,0:15:02.839 region. The electron density was terrible. 0:15:02.839,0:15:04.662 No one else could trace it. They couldn't 0:15:04.662,0:15:06.439 finish solving the structure, they couldn't 0:15:06.439,0:15:08.691 figure out what was going on. But I was 0:15:08.691,0:15:10.054 able to do it. I did it myself early on in 0:15:10.054,0:15:13.580 the lab, and I built it and it was right. 0:15:13.580,0:15:15.421 We got the first structure, and we got the 0:15:15.421,0:15:18.949 credit. I really do believe there are 0:15:18.949,0:15:21.263 things that you see differently when you 0:15:21.263,0:15:23.659 are Dyslexic that can be a huge advantage 0:15:23.659,0:15:26.992 in certain areas. This "visualizing", this 0:15:26.992,0:15:29.859 ability to see shapes and patterns 0:15:29.859,0:15:33.582 definitely is true for me. 0:15:33.582,0:15:37.536 What kind of advice can I give going out? 0:15:37.536,0:15:41.270 I feel like one thing, "Don't listen to 0:15:41.270,0:15:44.298 what anyone tells you , you can or can 0:15:44.298,0:15:47.640 not do." --Not graduate from high school... 0:15:47.640,0:15:49.815 I think that's maybe why I am a professor. 0:15:49.815,0:15:51.691 I'm like..."I'm going to stay in school... 0:15:51.691,0:15:57.700 FOREVER!" No one really knows what 0:15:57.700,0:16:00.799 someone is capable of. Even that person 0:16:00.799,0:16:03.030 doesn't know what they are capable of. 0:16:03.030,0:16:04.892 The only way you figure out what you are 0:16:04.892,0:16:07.464 capable of is to try it! You can't be 0:16:07.464,0:16:11.134 afraid to fall on your face and fail. If 0:16:11.134,0:16:12.655 you are doing anything that's important 0:16:12.655,0:16:15.324 or significant, it's going to be hard! 0:16:15.324,0:16:17.325 There is going to be failure. The key to 0:16:17.325,0:16:20.062 success is just going, "Well, that didn't 0:16:20.062,0:16:22.790 go well...Let's try that again!" You pick 0:16:22.790,0:16:25.582 yourself up and you go right back at it. 0:16:25.582,0:16:28.341 If you do that, and you just do what you 0:16:28.341,0:16:30.346 love to do, and find things that are cool 0:16:30.346,0:16:33.308 and interesting and fun. And only work 0:16:33.308,0:16:35.982 for nice people. Life is hard enough. You 0:16:35.982,0:16:38.020 really don't want to work for people who 0:16:38.020,0:16:40.253 are not nice. Get yourself a group of 0:16:40.253,0:16:42.420 people that you really like that you can 0:16:42.420,0:16:45.389 support each other...People who will have 0:16:45.389,0:16:48.085 your back. If you don't have that support 0:16:48.085,0:16:51.144 group, look for it. You know, I could work 0:16:51.144,0:16:52.696 for a lot of different people, but I 0:16:52.696,0:16:54.365 picked someone that I knew would be a good 0:16:54.365,0:16:57.494 mentor toward me. That was really key. If 0:16:57.494,0:16:59.122 you have nice people surrounding, and you 0:16:59.122,0:17:03.339 just go for it...it's amazing. There is no 0:17:03.339,0:17:05.950 Dyslexia ceiling, it doesn't exist unless 0:17:05.950,0:17:08.079 you create it in your own mind. 0:17:08.079,0:17:10.813 Thank you very much.