14 Famous Adults withLearning Disabilities

Can you match these well-known individuals

with their learning disabilities?

Nelson Rockefeller

As a lad of nine, he did not know the letters of the alphabet. He was though of as dull and backward. He entered Davidson College, but he had to withdraw because of illness. Later he went to Princeton but his grades were mediocre.

Cher

This famous entertainer has achieved success in two major fields of entertainment. Unfortunately, because of a math learning disability, this person cannot remember telephone numbers or balance a checkbook.

Thomas Edison

His head was large at birth. His mother did not agree with those who felt that the child was abnormal. He was sent to school, but the teacher though him to be mentally ill. The mother withdrew the child from school and taught him herself. As it turned out, he might have done well in vocational education.

Frank W. Woolworth

As a child, he was labeled slow. He clerked in a village grocery store. He suggested putting slow-merchandise on a counter and selling it at a reduced rate. It turned out to be an excellent idea.

Greg Luganis

He has extreme difficulty in reading; some people used to say that he was clumsy. He has been high up in his field for many years. Because of his background, he might be labeled both learning disabled and disadvantaged.

George Patton

When he was twelve years old, he could not read, and he remained deficient in reading all his life. However, he could memorize entire lectures, which was how he got through school. That never stopped him from marching ahead.

Walt Disney

This was another child who was slow in school work. About the only thing this apparently right-brained individual had going for him was his vivid imagination, which used to bother his teachers, especially when he doodled.

Winston Churchill

This statesman could be called academically disadvantaged. He failed grade eight, did terrible in math, and generally hated school. Still he was upset by people who were “inebriated by the exuberance of their own verbosity”.

Woodrow Wilson

As a young boy, he had great difficulty in reading; in fact, throughout his life, he was unable to read well. Despite this, he was extremely successful in politics.

Albert Einstein

This person could not talk until the age of four. He did not learn to read until he was nine. His teachers considered him mentally slow, unsociable and a dreamer. He failed the entrance examinations to college but finally passed them after an additional year of preparation. He lost three teaching positions and then became a patent clerk.

Hans Christian Anderson

This boy had difficulty in reading and writing but for years, people have cherished his wonderful stories, all of which had to be dictated to a scribe.

Tom Cruise

Despite being a success in his chosen field, this entertainer can learn lines only by listening to a tape. He is formally diagnosed dyslexic.

Bruce Jenner

This individual is well spoken enough to appear as an expert on TV, following his very successful athletic career. His reading problem was severe enough that it almost cost him the chance at any athletic scholarship.

Agatha Christie

This person had a learning disability called dysgraphia, which prevented any understood or legible written work. As a result, all material had to be dictated to a typist/transcriptionist.