Overview
- In a television segment this week, the 64-year-old entertainer describes school as “a hell” for children with dyslexia.
- She recalls realizing at age seven that letters seemed to “dance,” while teachers and parents in the 1960s lacked understanding of the condition.
- A German teacher told her parents she was “not normal,” after which she says her mother beat her.
- The stigma led her to believe she was “simply stupid,” and earlier reporting notes she had said in 2005 she was expelled from three schools.
- She now seeks to encourage families dealing with reading disabilities, telling children, “You’re fine—we’ll get through this.”