Junior Josephine Eltzschig sits in her second-grade classroom, staring at a reading quiz. As the minutes pass, she notices her pencil moving more slowly than everyone else’s. One by one, her classmates finish. She stops writing, realizing that reading takes her longer than the rest of the room.

“I always used to see it as a weakness.”

Dyslexia is a neurobiological disorder which affects a person’s ability to read, write and spell. Roughly 780 million people have dyslexia worldwide, and around 20% of the United States population has dyslexia.

“I sat there and just waited, because I didn’t know what to do,” Eltzschig said. “Then, I noticed everybody was finishing the quiz, and I was the last one who didn’t finish. My teacher came over to me, and I just started crying.”

Eltzschig’s teacher suggested she get tested for dyslexia, and she was diagnosed the day after. With Eltzschig’s diagnosis being confirmed at a critical time in her learning career, she had to learn to read and write with dyslexia intervention.

“Everybody would help me in some way,” Eltzschig said. “So I think that made me feel kind of different. It was challenging to feel; sometimes it made me nervous, but I was never alone in my challenges.”

In middle school, Eltzschig decided to approach her diagnosis differently — taking her “weakness” and making it a challenge to beat. She stopped letting dyslexia define her capabilities. It became about the hard work she put in and the success which came afterwards.

“I think the people who actually struggle first will put more effort into what they do,” Eltzschig said. “Even if you have that natural talent, if you don’t put an effort, then you’re just self-sabotaging yourself.”

Dyslexia has paved the way for the position as an educator at Bellaire as well. Dyslexia has shaped AP World History teacher Justin Cothran’s passion for teaching history and has made him a “student for life” — always learning or attempting to improve.

“People with dyslexia are able to recognize patterns much easier than other people,” Cothran said. “We have a natural understanding of spatial concepts. Those with dyslexia are taught to have grit, to push through obstacles.”

Those obstacles? Spelling and editing. With what may take those without dyslexia a few seconds, it may take Cothran “a few hours.”

“Practice and memorization were my early tools,” Cothran said. “Reading and summarizing in chunks helps as well. It’s a daily battle, and I’ve learned to get over my fear of imperfection. While mistakes are embarrassing, they are part of me and my journey.”

Junior Elise Phillips said she also found putting in extra effort to help her overcome the barrier of dyslexia. Ever since her diagnosis in pre-K, Phillips discovered the strategies which worked best for her: memorization and repetition. She implemented these into her schooling with the help of her parents and teachers.

“My dad and my mom have always helped me,” Phillips said. “They would always repeat, ‘What way does the letter B go? What way does the letter D go?’”

Giving herself room for growth has also been a big part in her journey. One of her struggles is not letting the mistakes she makes throw her off the path to success.

“I just give myself a moment to breathe,” Phillips said. “Sometimes just giving yourself a break, even if it’s a few seconds, helps me remember that words don’t define you.”

For junior Charleigh DeArman, her struggle was feeling different from her peers after she was diagnosed in fourth grade. That insecurity changed with the support from her mom, who helped her view dyslexia as a superpower instead of a weakness.

“Sure I didn’t do good on the STAAR test, sure I didn’t have the best English grade,” DeArman said. “But I could interpret things way differently. My creativity has expanded throughout the entirety of middle school and high school, and I think that drove me to do some of the major things that I like doing.”

DeArman has been a part of Red Bird Productions, Bellaire’s theater company, since her freshman year and said that her love for the activity stems from creativity that dyslexia supplements.

“Dyslexia taught me that there’s always a second option,” DeArman said. “I think that having a disability or disadvantage really just showed me there are ways that you can learn and interpret stuff. It doesn’t have to be perfect. There’s always a way.”