Paul Silveira

Student

“When I found out I was dyslexic, it was a relief. When you’re not sure, you imagine a lot of things that might be wrong with you that turn out not to be true.”

When Paul Silveira was in high school neither his parents nor his teachers noticed that he had trouble with reading and writing. “It’s like an invisible handicap,” says Paul. “I passed all my courses with A’s and B’s because I memorized everything and I could read enough to get by.”

But when he entered a community college in his hometown San Diego and “just couldn’t keep up with the homework,” Paul consulted a counselor who referred him to SMC’s Learning Disabilities Center. There, after a few tests, he was diagnosed as being dyslexic, an impairment of the ability to read and write.

“SMC has a good program to help people with learning disabilities,” says Paul, who is an architecture major. The Center staff provided Paul with tutors and notetakers and got his teachers to allow him more time on exams. And they also taught him how to use a word processor with spell check. “That takes the stress off me of having to spell everything correctly,” says Paul. “This way I can get my ideas down first and then go back and correct the spelling.”

Paul feels that his teachers have been supportive and understanding. “At first I tried to hide that I was dyslexic. But that was to my disadvantage,” he remembers. “When I was asked to read something out loud in class and couldn’t, it was very embarrassing. So now I just go straight up to the teachers and tell them—and they understand.”

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