Dyslexia Is My Superpower Volume One Now Available!

The first volume of Dyslexia Justice League’s Comic Book, Dyslexia is My Superpower, was released at the student/parent conference. Dyslexia Justice League is a student empowerment and advocacy group founded at the Southwest International Dyslexia Association Conference in 2017. Student named and defined, the club’s goals are to raise understanding of dyslexia among teachers and parents, and to support students who are newly diagnosed or who might not yet know that they are dyslexic. And they decided to do it through the language of comics.

Over the last year, our group of 8-18 year olds have met on Saturdays, the older students mentoring the younger ones, developing our agenda for advocacy in parallel to developing their individual comics. The comics aren’t all about dyslexia, but they are all, by nature, about feeling different, conquering fear and shame and persevering in the face of the enemy, whether that’s the Joker, or Señor Cactus or Maniacal Math Teacher.

Recently, one of our successful adult dyslexic mentors said, “When you have dyslexia, you walk around every day wearing a disguise, waiting to be found out. You’re giving these kids a chance to take that mask off and be proud of who they are.” Or put the superhero mask on to give others the chance to take their mask off.

Thank you to the Southwest International Dyslexia Association, Bram Meehan our comic book genius, and Amy Stanton for spending Saturday mornings with the DJL students. Thank you to the Taos Community Foundation for sponsoring our work. Look for Volume 2 of Dyslexia is My Superpower coming in 2019.

The next Dyslexia Justice League meeting will be held at May Center for Learning from 10:00 am-12:30 pm on January 12. This session will introduce a special self-advocacy project aimed at students 10 and older. We’d particularly love to see middle and high school students there, as we’ll be focused on developing pride and confidence in advocating for what you need to thrive in school. RSVP for DJL to amy@maycenter.org. DJL is free and open to everyone, so spread the word!