Jonathan Mooney, author and activist, spoke Friday afternoon at the Boettcher Auditorium about his experiences growing up with dyslexia and ADD.

“The students who invited me to speak here had courage because I’m honest about how school sucked, and we’re at a school,” said Mooney.

Growing up, Mooney was considered one of “those kids”. Mooney said he was so terrified of reading that he would stay in the bathroom just to escape it. When 12, he considered suicide because adults like his guidance counselor told him that he would end-up flipping burgers or in jail.

Mooney graduated from Brown University with a degree in English literature. His talk described what got him from a sixth grade dropout to an Ivy League English major.

“I did not fix myself and cease in having ADD and dyslexia,” Mooney said. “I still read in the 12th percentile and have the attention span of a gnat.”

The three main ideas he presented for this transition were consciousness of the tyranny of normalcy, rejecting a deficit model and accepting an asset based on an empowerment approach and seeing his disability as diversity and a meaningful part of human existence.

Mooney said that students need to make the idea of normalcy the problem, not the disability. The idea of normalcy is that there is one way to think and be, said Mooney. He said people used to believe this very strongly and some of the first people Hitler killed were the disabled. According to Mooney, by the 1970s over 40,000 disabled people were forcibly sterilized in the United States.

“My disability was dis-teachia, not dyslexia,” said Mooney about the idea of normalcy.

Mooney said growing up he was called stupid, crazy and lazy. His first day in school he was labeled as a “bad” kid, but he never behaved in a violent or disrespectful manner. Mooney said in our culture, instead of being taught that being good means being compassionate and respectful to others. We are taught that being good means being compliant and sitting still at a desk. Mooney said he got the label “defiant” because he moved around so much in the classroom but that this was his learning strategy and movement actually helps many children pay attention.

Mooney talked about reading groups and how there is the “smart track” and the “stupid track” and how he feels this can create low expectations for kids. He said young people will often live up to their expectations, even if they are low.

“The world’s a better place when we value multiple ways to be. We are stronger with diversity,” said Mooney.

Mooney then urged anyone feeling depressed or suicidal to talk to someone, adding that we often overlook cries for help, such has a bad attitude toward school.

“Do not keep that in side,” Mooney emphasized.

Mooney said society has a hypocritical system that says we love individuals but then turn around and tell kids to sit down, shut up, take standardized test and be taught how to think.

Mooney said it is further important that each person has a right to accommodation and that we need to change the environment, not the child. According to Mooney, normal is the problem, not disabilities.

To learn more about Mooney and his book The Short Bus, go to jonathanmooney.com.