i have had dyscalculia all my life. it is a learning disability involiving numbers and mathmatics. i cant read a hand clock but i can read a digital clock, i cant read sheet music but i can learn by ear, there are a few other symptoms but i dont have time to list them. it always made me feel like i was a stupid kid who was barley able to pass compared to everyone who was getting a's and b's. i have tried asking for help but it didn't work and i have been made fun of for a long time with teachers and students calling me "stupid" "worthless shit" "dumb" even my own dad and grandma laughed at me just for using a calculater for a simple game.

That's nothing to be ashamed of at all--everyone has areas of strength and weakness. I'm a teacher and I've worked with several students who have dyscalculia. You're fortunate to have received a diagnosis so that you know what's going on. I would say that you're doing a good job with compensating for this area of weakness by using digital clocks and calculators. Hold your head high and don't allow anyone to make you feel stupid because of this.

I'm sory that people have made fun of you because it's a well known disability among teachers. It just means that your brain is wired a little bit differently. People with learning disabilities tend to be of normal to above-average intelligence.

I like how you are figuring out alternate ways of getting the information that you need. Keep at it, and don't let anyone get you down. Those people are just advertising their own ignorance.

I know the feeling of not being good at math. In my case, I think it was a fear of math rather than any physical condition. Even so, it is nothing to be ashamed of.

I'm amazed at what I learn on this board. From what I see of it on the internet, it perfectly describes a girl I knew long ago. My husband was a math teacher and worked with her on higher math concepts. As long as the arithmetic wasn't involved, she was smart as a whip and picked things right up. She fought with the local state college to be admitted without all the proper math scores by claiming a disability, and she graduated. Outside school, in real life, it barely bothered her down at all.

Don't let it slow you down. Just to tell people you have a disability and then expect to be treated fairly.

Nothing to be ashamed of at all. :)


I'm wondering if there are any successful exercises or programs for improving these kinds of difficulties? Things to improve your mind's ability to work with numbers? If such things exist you might want to look into those, and see how effective they are.

But as everyone here has said, it's nothing to be ashamed of. If it's not holding you back at all, don't worry about it.

It's nothing to be ashamed of, and it's also perfectly within your rights to ask for help and insist on getting it. One of my sons has a writing disorder. His handwriting is barely legible. I've practically taken my best friend's head off when she equated his intelligence with his handwriting. You are a brave soul!

It's not too bad. I've coped by laboriously writing the letter of each note on music and by doing math on colored graph paper. (The colored background helps me see better.)

Nothing wrong with processing letters or numbers differently anymore than there is anything wrong with which hand you use.

Colored paper, or colored transparencies, or colored glasses lenses can make an enormous difference for some kinds of dyscalculia.

There's no shame in your game!

I wonder if someone I know has this.

Nothing to be ashamed off.

My official diagnosis is ADD and undifferentiated numerical learning disability. They probably have spiffier terms now but its been years since I was tested.

Don't ask me what time it is, I won't be able to tell you.

But you do what you can do. Good advice, especially for me.

Thanks for coming out here.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2013 09:51PM by lulu.

Be ashamed of that? Heck, no! What you have actually sounds very interesting.

Have you ever read any books by Oliver Sacks? If you haven't, DO! He writes a lot about people with different ways of seeing, hearing, thinking, being in the world, etc. in a very positive way.

I just googled 'dyscalculia' and on wikipedia is states that people with dyscalculia "Might do exceptionally well in a writing-related field — authors and journalists are more likely than average to have the disorder." ... cool, eh?

Chelseamarie, you will find that most people have deficiencies of one kind or another . Most of them are just not tested for or overtly apparent in school. I myself did very well in academics as a child but no one knew that I was terrified of having to find my way through a school building or school grounds on my own. Every year before school started I would have nightmares, not about math tests or mean teachers, but about getting lost and not being able to find my classroom! I vividly remember one day when my teacher asked me to deliver a message to another room and I listened very well to her about the room number and how to get there, but when I had done so I then could not remember how to get back to my own room! Oh, the embarrassment! I was probably a 4th grader and was lost in my own school building and had to ask for help.
I have since learned that this lack of a sense of direction is something wrong in my brain wiring and I have had to develop a sense of humor about it. But for many years I suffered in silence. (imagine having to consider when you are asked to dance by a young man whether or not you will be able to find your way back to your table if he should leave you on the dance floor after the dance?) If I started a job or had an appointment I needed to allow time for taking a wrong turn getting there, because, yes it would happen.

When my children were growing up, I relied on my 8 year old daughter to help find my way from shopping malls to where I had parked my car and then out of the lot to the way home.

I've rambled on too long. I just want you to know that you can still do anything you want if you don't give up finding the key that works for you.

Math-learning disability affects about 5 percent to 8 percent of school-age children nationwide, about as many people nationwide as are affected by dyslexia. - Education Week June 17, 2011

Total population of the United States is 311,591,917. Three hundred and eleven million five hundred and ninetyone thousand nine hundred and seventeen People.

24,927,353 people in our country have what you do.

That's more than the population of New York State that only has 19,465,179 people in the whole state.

They all have learned to live with dyscalculia and you will be able to do it too. You will just have to find out what type of learner you are and see if you can focus on that. Let your teachers know and you will have some good ones that may be able to find ways to teach things differently.



You have nothing to be ashamed of but our natural human emotions may make us embarrassed to talk about it or want to keep it a secret. You may feel that way but there is no evidence to prove that your dyscalculia is something you should be shamed by others for.

If 8 percent of people nationwide have this then it is VERY common but just not something that is talked about in our society.

You seem like a bright person with a promising future ahead of you.

The ones who should be ashamed are those who have treated your poorly.