- This topic has 32 replies, 31 voices, and was last updated 3 years ago by Laura Lovett.
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- February 10, 2020 at 5:18 am #274629
Do you have a learning disability, or did you find school unusually difficult as a child?
I have a learning disability, although it was never properly diagnosed it was suggested by teachers and some specialists that I may be dyslexic. I think these days I’d be diagnosed with an executive function disorder, but as a child in the 80s I was just lazy and disorganized.
I heard some time ago, I forget where possibly on a podcast, about a correlation between learning disabilities such as dyslexia and a tenancy to being on the transgender spectrum. This got me to wondering if there is something about brain chemistry, structure or development that people with learning disabilities and those on the trans spectrum share.
Just wondering how many of my CDH family have a learning disability of struggled in school.
- February 10, 2020 at 8:44 am #274700
I cant say was LD per se, but I did have a tough time concentrating and doing well. I was considered “relatively smart” per testing and in higher level classes, but I struggled to understand my school work. Nothing came easy for me, I wasn’t one of those kids who got it right away or read something or did it once and it clicked, I had to do things repetitively over and over again to a point of neurosis- OCD. Once I got it though it was pure gravy.
M
- February 10, 2020 at 10:23 am #274728
I had always had a hard time with school, my mind would wander all the time & when it came to Algebra I’d still be taking it if it wasn’t for the Draft Board!
Somehow though I made it thru, with street smarts and Grades of C & D’s (hey they’re the best), get’s you out of doing a lot of Smart Stuff, like “CONJUGATE AMO” ETC.
So Yes I did have difficulty, until I went back to Collage under the GI Bill–seemed I got a lot smarter seeing and doing things during my military duty. I maintained and finished with a 3.65 GPA
But now, I have no interest in reading and when I do read I can’t seem to get a grasp on any two pages.
My Best to all————GAIL
- February 10, 2020 at 2:45 pm #274804
I didn’t vote here. Admittedly, I had bad grades during most of my earlier years in school due the fact that I didn’t want to do it and didn’t care. I only improved because I was getting near the end and I came to realize that passing was the absolute quickest way to be done with it….without becoming a high school drop out.
The only struggle I had was keeping the secret that I was in love with female swimsuits and knew that my life would become miserable if that secret ever got out. I knew that it was possible that there were others out there just like me, but trying to find them could ruin my efforts to keep the secret.
- February 10, 2020 at 3:54 pm #274827
I’ve always had trouble with depression and focus. So many times my attention would wander even as I tried to my best to stay focused. Eventually, I came to understand that this was a problem for me a I began to fight it by constantly reminding myself not to drift off into the ether; stay focused. Later in life, my wife, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, noticed these issues and helped me begin medication and treatment. These have changed my life and improved my self esteem. Whether this has any correlation with my transgender feelings is not clear to me. I often wonder if my low testosterone level is playing a role, allowing my estrogen to testosterone ratio to be higher than is typical. But regardless of the reasons, I cherish my feminine side.
Hugs and love
Ellie - February 11, 2020 at 6:05 am #274957
Hey Gang,
I don’t know if we’ll ever figure this thing out, but we can’t be defensive about psychological or cognitive correlations. While I’m not troubled by the associated implications, I’ve always felt the autogynephilia theory made sense. Clearly there is something in our brains that draws us to this fascination. Years ago, so many of us got so angry about Blanchard’s analysis and today it’s hardly mentioned. Aren’t we kind of enthralled, captivated, excited, and overwhelmed by an image of ourselves as women? It might be psychology, but is that so bad? A functional disability could be a gift in disguise, I guess. Many of us are kind of savant-like in certain aspects of our lives.
FAM
- February 12, 2020 at 7:46 am #275239
I don’t think I had any learning disability linked to some physical abnormality in my head. Rather, my learning disability was based upon external environmental factors…an abusive father in childhood, a mother who was so dispirited about life that she lost any real interest in my development as a person and student in school. When I have a singular goal in mind, I am quite capable of going after it with sustained short and long term determination. I was an angry, unmotivated C+ student in grade/high school but the realities of life after high school graduation forced me to take responsibility for myself or face negative lifelong consequences resulting in a BSME and MBA. Definitely my brain is wired differently….if not, why do I wish all the time I were a cisgender woman? So I don’t see some brain abnormality linked to a learning disability as influencing my desire to dress but what else is “going on inside there” that I am unaware of?
- February 13, 2020 at 3:13 pm #277303
Yes! My infant and junior school days where terrible.
They new something was wrong but could not pinpoint it, so I went to reading school to try and sort it all out in which I excelled.
Secondary/Comprehensive faired better but still issues with writing grammar but left further education with four o levels and 2 A levels.
Still have some issues with grammar but a lot better. My partner notices I forget people’s names a lot but never dance steps. I am a Dance Teacher. I cannot handle a knife and fork in the correct hands but able to dance both male and female equally as well.
- February 14, 2020 at 10:59 am #277427
Hi Misti,
I don’t have a learning disability, however I do hava a physical disability (visual) which did make school more difficult.
Isabel
- February 14, 2020 at 2:12 pm #277475
No but I have autism.
- February 14, 2020 at 7:10 pm #277537
I definitely did, I have adhd which was so unknown back then. My mother was called many times to come to the school and get me. For any of you who don’t like me for who I am I don’t care. ADHD and Bi Polar Depression are serious diseases that must not be overlooked or made fun of.
- February 16, 2020 at 11:18 am #277992
there needs to be more research in the area of transsexualism/transgenderism. on the surface there seems (i stress the word seems enough) to be some overlap between the compulsion to cross-dress and other mental illnesses not just learning disabilities but more disabling kinds of mental illness like schizoaffective disorder , clinical depression, and border-line pd. there is evidence of trans brains being wired different then the brains of the same birth sex but no one knows why or what that even means at this point. we as individuals and as a group have alot of soul searching to and alot of empirical study to get done. all my theories lead me to some place between hard science and the spirit world ,so who knows maybe this a gift of clarity through madness or a step in evolution.
- February 16, 2020 at 10:26 pm #278184
Hey ladies,
During my childhood I was that typical hyperactive child who didn’t queue at school or simply wanted to do certain things according to my taste, not following orders. Nevertheless, I was far beyond the average when it comes to learning skills and intelligence.
After some sessions with psychologist, neurologist and many situations when my parents spanked me as well, I got “on rails” and both intelligence and trauma flourished.
When I was 17, I was accepted as a engineer student in one of the most known universities in Brazil. Three years after, my first major depression arose (and almost took my life).
Only during my second depression (in 2016, after coming back from UK to Brazil) I received a diagnosis of ADHD (predominantly hyperactive). I took stimulants during one year and stopped because of the side effects (I felt I was close to a heart stroke many times). Nowadays, I feel much better from both ADHD and depression, despite that in certain dull days I still feel typical things of both of them happening with me. Therefore, it’s likely that I’ll have to cope with those symptoms (or fake alerts) for a looooong time…..
xoxo
Daisy
- February 17, 2020 at 5:19 am #278207
Hi DeLora,
Yes, I here you, I have the same problem but I went through school in the 50’s and 60’s. I was called stupid and many times sat in the corner because I mistook WAS as SAW just that’s the way I saw it. (If there is any typo or misspelling please understand). Now that I’m in my 70ies I find that I use GOOGLE a lot to correct the spelling, but it does correct for run on sentences or just bad writing. Somehow I got through life fine, was in a business with a partner for thirty years that pulled in a 6 digit salary, retired now and able to do what I choose with very little limits.
I would say the brain works wanders and one compensates for the disability. Thanks for the post, more people I hope will understand.
Hugs
Alysha
- February 17, 2020 at 6:30 pm #278427
Hi my name is Bobbi I have a twin sister and I am dyslexic look at a twin study . When I was in school my mind was on other things like the girl in side me . Today I learn things a lot faster knowing what it is all about .Thank you
- February 19, 2020 at 12:02 am #278780Anonymous
Well lemme see, when I was in middle School and like in the 5th grade as I can remember, I was struggling with math (what child really doesn’t struggle with math!) so I was failing the subject because I just didn’t understand or really didn’t want to try to, I was placed in S.E. for math. But by the time I got to High School I didn’t need any more special education course’s. Wound up doing extremely well never failed a 6weeks throughout my 4years of High School was on All A honor Roll AB honor roll more, . I do think that the SE course that I was in truly helped me with understanding how to work out problems, thank you….
Bubbles… - February 20, 2020 at 5:18 am #279095
I have a learning disability now. I had a stroke as a result of an operation that went bad. The doctor tried to do a biopsy on my brain and he caused a bleed which caused a stroke. Now I have a real difficult time remembering anything that is new. I still remember things from when I was 2 years old but I have trouble remembering things that happened 2 minutes ago.
- February 20, 2020 at 8:41 am #279126
Not exactly CD or learning difficulty, but during a professional conversation about autism someone told me that more than half the patients at the Tavistock and Portland Clinic (the only NHS GRS clinic, they said) have autism.
- February 20, 2020 at 10:32 am #279141
I hated school. Most of it I hated math. I was not good at it, and couldn’t understand it. I remember asking myself “when will I ever need to multiply or divide fractions?”. I was good at science, English, and spelling. I even hated Social Studies & History, but now I’m a big fan of history! I hated reading, too. However, at home, I used to thumb through the Encyclopedias we had, page by page. I’d always find something that sparked my interest and actually read about it! My niche was mechanics after HS. But I didn’t use my knowledge as I should have. I worked hundreds of different jobs all my working life. (I’m retired now).
My father forced common sense into me as well. With that and my knowledge of physics, I scored very high on the IQ scale. For those who think I may be smart, IQ isn’t what you know, it’s how you use what you know.
I wasn’t a ‘troublemaker’ in school, but I got in trouble for associating with troublemakers. I wanted to learn at my own pace, not force-fed as they were doing. Yeah, I was against authority who didn’t respect me. Still am.
- August 17, 2020 at 9:56 pm #375318Anonymous
I answered no to the question. Although I have attention deficit disorder and I’m bipolar. I answered no because babe really affected me more later in life then they did early in life. As far as school goes I was a nerd I didn’t fit in. I was picked on a lot as I was very small. But oddly when things got physical I was always the one standing at the end. I took on guys that were huge just gigantic compared to me and somehow I always came out on top. Anyway as far as the actual education I had it easy I guess. School was very easy for me I love to learn I love to read. I remember in biology, I used to smoke some pot when I was a kid, I basically slept through the whole biology class all year. Then when the final came I aced the final. I was the kid that the pretty girls cheated off from.
- August 18, 2020 at 3:38 am #375354Anonymous
I had trouble learning to read. This was the mid 1960’s. I was labeled slow and lazy. By my family, I was compared to my older brother who flew threw school, even skipping a grade. Looking back, the school and teachers were awful and did more harm than good for a lot of children. This played a role in my “not feeling good enough” that has followed me most of my life. If I could have shed that feeling earlier in life or never had it, I know that I could have excelled further in life. I love learning now and reading books.
- August 18, 2020 at 4:51 am #375362
Not diagnosed with anything, but I hated school; in first/middle school I was extremely uncommunicative to the point where one of my teachers recommended that a psychologist was brought in. But, this being the late 70’s early 80’s there was no follow up. I was really advanced at reading, writing and spelling.
I have also struggled with depression and anxiety my whole adult life and never really felt like I fitted in anywhere.hope you’re all having a relaxing day.
Seren ⭐️ 🔥
- August 18, 2020 at 6:19 am #375371
I was not specifically diagnosed with a learning disability so I selected no. However, I am academically or intellectually classified as gifted. As a child, I exhibited the symptoms of ADHD of ADD, but was never diagnosed. As an educator now, I have learned the diagnostic tool of ADHD and ADD in the 80s was biased against those of higher intellectual abilities, which may say something. Also, typical of gifted children, my social development was behind that my peers.
MacKenzie Alexandra
- August 18, 2020 at 10:07 am #375443
You are definately gifted MacKenzie, and although we don’t get to hear your thoughts often, we are gifted in having you with us here.
- August 18, 2020 at 10:09 am #375444
I have ADHD but was not diagnosed until early 50s. I thought I was a terrible student. Now I know it was because I couldn’t understand what I was reading. With meds, I’m able to concentrate. Wow. Life changing.
- August 18, 2020 at 7:04 pm #375560
No way I could be disleckzick, I can’t even spell it.
- August 23, 2020 at 6:04 pm #377065
When I posted this I did wonder if anyone may fine the idea that there may be a correlation between learning disabilities and crossdressing offensive. It appears that almost 5% find this question offensive.
Would anyone care to comment on why this idea is offensive.
- August 25, 2020 at 6:20 pm #377735
I think it could be considered offensive because it implies there is a link between crossdressing and learning disabilities. In particular it can be interpreted as saying crossdressers are more likely to have a learning disability, and that is why they crossdress.
I believe there is no correlation, and there should be the same percentage of crossdressers with learning disabilities as in the general population.
- September 20, 2020 at 7:35 pm #385794
Being born in the early 50’s there was very little of this which was recognized, and even less which was diagnosed.
I learn well, but I read a description on an adult version of ADHD, and boy do I fit the bill on that one!
Amy
- September 25, 2020 at 5:39 am #387391
I actually found the learning aspect of school quite easy but the social aspect very difficult. I always felt that I didn’t fit in and my friends were few and mostly misfits like myself. I hated gym and always felt uncomfortable having to shower after class even though I had four brothers. When high school came I took band so I would not have to take gym. I guess that I always had a curiosity about feminine things but never acted on it until I retired. I have found that most here on CDH are highly intelligent people with a wide range of interests. I think that maybe difficulty in school for most was never a matter of intelligence but rather social skills. Oddly in my jobs in life I always found myself in leadership roles. I think that may be the reason why CDH is so successful in bringing such a diverse group together. I didn’t find the question offensive as it seems that there is almost equal numbers of those that had learning difficulties and those that didn’t and allowed all to tell their story. I also find that most cds are very creative, tolerant and adaptable. Stephanie
- September 26, 2020 at 12:15 pm #387795Anonymous
Hi Ladies,
Sometime back DeLora posted about learning disabilities and it got me thinking about myself and a problem that I have had since I was a small child. I like DeLora have a learning and reading disability. I am a slow reader and it takes me a while to comprehend what I am reading. I misspell common words plus I constantly lose track of where I am reading.
I had teachers in school tell me that I needed remedial reading classes. I took them for a few months in Jr. High school, Middle school for all the younger Girls here, to no avail and they didn’t help at all.
Then I went to High School continued with the same problems in reading, concentrating and understanding what I was reading. But now I was taking some tests that my teachers said that we needed to take. Unbeknownst to me that they were a IQ test to find out just how intelligent we were.
Well after the test we would have a parent / teacher’s night at the school and that is when I and my parents found out that I was in the of higher intelligence than my every day classwork was showing. My IQ was showing that I should be getting A’s and at a minimum B+ in my schoolwork but I was getting D’s and F’s instead and I was always in trouble over it.
Yesterday I found the answer with DeLora’s post on CDH dated February 10, 2020. I have Dyslexia. I am 76 years old and I am just finding this out. I looked up Dyslexia and I have most of the symptoms a Dyslexic person would have. Now I know what my problem was all through my life.
Thank you DeLora for bringing this to light for me. Now I know I was not dumb in school and that I am really a lot smarter than I sound.
Kathleen
- October 15, 2020 at 5:51 pm #395151
Kathleen, So glad you found this helpful.
D.
- October 15, 2020 at 11:28 pm #395211
Well I was near the top of every class I was in, except PE, in which I was consistently near the bottom.
After one PE lesson, when the teacher got so fed up with me, he asked in front of all the other boys whether I would like to wear a short skirt and frilly knickers, and go play hockey with the girls, I had the full on shocking realisation that I did, more than almost anything.
I attempted suicide by deliberately falling off my bicycle at speed onto my head.
Once I recovered, I found myself being transferred to the lower achievers classes in everything except music, which was the only subject in which I continued to excel.
It’s a wonder that neither the teachers or my parents questioned the sudden drop in my learning abilities across the board following the “accident” (I couldn’t tell anyone what really happened or I might have had to explain why, and that was never going to happen), there was no support network, and, moving down groups meant that I lost all my friends and have had great trouble making and keeping friends since, because that shattered my trust in people. Including myself.
So, indirectly, cross dressing led to me having learning issues.
I got over it 12 years later, when I took myself off to college 😎
Love Laura
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