COUNTYWIDE : Dyslexia Victim Helps Others Cope

It took nearly 40 years of fear and frustration, not to mention ulcers, before Mary Taylor-Parr discovered that she had a learning disability.

Taylor-Parr, who dropped out of high school at the age of 17, tested positive for dyslexia when she enrolled at Oxnard College 23 years later.

Until she discovered the source of her disabilities, school had always been “a living hell,” Taylor-Parr said. After the test, however, her life began anew, she said.

By 1986, Taylor-Parr had formed a support group for people with dyslexia to share common problems, discuss solutions and find ways to raise self-esteem.

The Genesis Adult Dyslexia Group has a mailing list of more than 150 Ventura County residents.

It is estimated that between 10% and 20% of the population is dyslexic, she said. Dyslexia is a disability generally characterized by difficulty in learning to read, though some dyslexics also may have difficulty learning to write, spell or work with numbers.

Taylor-Parr, now 49, has always had difficulty with mathematical calculations more complicated than simple addition and subtraction. Remembering peoples’ names, let alone their spellings, is a trial. And taking phone messages sometimes leaves accuracy up to chance.

“I got by on my personality,” Taylor-Parr said.

Although she had held a receptionist’s job for nine years, she realized that she could no longer hide her problem from her employer or endure the fear of being discovered.

“I knew I could no longer just slip by in the workplace,” said Taylor-Parr. The Oxnard resident has an associate’s degree from Oxnard College and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Cal State Northridge. She is working toward a master’s degree in psychology with an emphasis in special education at Cal Lutheran University.

She also administers to students the same test that told her she was dyslexic. Taylor-Parr hopes to work within the junior college system as well as in the business community to help employers understand the disability.

“In school, there’s help” for dyslexics, she said. “However, once that child grows up, employers and society don’t want to deal with learning disabilities.”

Consequently, she added, employees must hide their problem and suffer emotional distress or be passed over for promotion.

One woman in her group with a sixth-grade education cannot get a job because her dyslexia is so severe. But the woman writes beautiful poetry.

“It’s a sad story,” Taylor-Parr said.

Genesis meets at St. John’s Regional Medical Center from 10 a.m. to noon on the first and third Saturday of each month.

“It’s a place where we can share our stories,” Taylor-Parr said. “It’s a place where we can share our strengths.”