Henry Winkler, the Fonz, is dyslexic.
"It was really difficult for me," Winkler said. "It molds the way you think of yourself, and you start to believe that you are stupid ... it's very embarrassing."
So he has written a series of books for young adults, the Hank Zipzer books, with co-author Lin Oliver:
"The reason I get letters from kids from all over the world relating to these stories is because we made a concerted effort not to talk down to these kids," he said. "The emotion is very real and we didn't want to sugarcoat anything; our readers are bright kids."
Winkler calls these books the pinnacle of his career.
"Being a part of this is one of the proudest moments of my life," he said. "Helping kids understand that dyslexia can be dealt with and keeping them entertained is both therapeutic for me and fulfilling."
On growing ups with dyslexia:
No one knew what dyslexia was. I was called stupid, lazy and I was told that I was not living up to my potential. It was without a doubt painful. I spent most of my time covering up the fact that reading, writing, spelling, math, science, actually, every subject but lunch, was really, really difficult for me. If I went to the store and I paid the bill with paper money and I was given coins back for change, I had no idea how to count up the change in my head. I just trusted that everyone was being honest.
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