"As I'm getting older I think it's more about motivation now and not so much about the disability. I think it's more how far I want to get as a person... because; you know what as a person I can make a difference. It's not about this disability that's holding me back," says 30-year-old Rocio Plasencia.
Reading and writing has been extremely difficult for Rocio since the earliest grades at school. She knew that she was different from her classmates because she was stigmatized by labels as she progressed into Junior and Senior High school. "Learning disabled", "disabled student", "bilingual student", and "special education" were the labels applied to her and those labels decided the path that her education would take.
Her placement in the Disabled Student Center in High School gave her the opportunity for extra special help but it also made it very easy for her to coast through the curriculum without being challenged. It was easy to just go along and get along.
"Because I was in the Disabled Student Center in High School, they kind of let me just pass by. Like they would let me go into my history class, let me go into my math class, all those things I had as a norm, but English wasn't a norm. They would just let me be in a room and just do nothing. I didn't have English until I was in college," says Rocio.
Rocio was born in Peru and moved to the United States in 1979 at the age of five. She said she never really understood why she always did very well with math but always seemed to be struggling with her reading and writing skills.
Others often thought that perhaps the fact that Rocio was bilingual was the reason learning to read and write was such a challenge for her. One of the requirements for high school graduation was to write an essay and she did not pass this test until the end of her senior year.
"But it [being bilingual] really had nothing to do with it. I was just dyslexic," says Rocio. "English is my first language. I think in English! I mumble in English!"
It was not until Rocio went to college that she learned she has dyslexia. She found the college-level course work extremely difficult and more than she could handle.
"I got tested. And I sat down with a psychologist and she explained it to me. I was getting really frustrated with school. I couldn't read. And I couldn't write the things that were on the board. Everything was going way too fast for me," says Rocio. "They explained to me what I had... that it was hard for me to understand the sounds and grasp everything when I read and she gave me different techniques to use but it still wasn't enough... I still have to figure out what I was going to do."
While working at the Richard Nixon Library, Rocio found a real life reason to improve her reading and writing skills.
"The opportunity came for me to work downstairs in the offices, doing the shipping," says Rocio. "Shipping for a dyslexic is a nightmare... Can you imagine taking orders from people and not knowing how to spell the orders?"
Rocio decided for the second time in her life to use the services of READ/Orange County, which provides literacy tutoring to adults who seek it.
"I decided that I couldn't be doing this for the rest of my life. I felt sometimes embarrassed at my job. I was embarrassed at school."
Rocio says that while this may be the second time she's asking READ/Orange County to help her, she believes she is more motivated and focused than the first time she sought out their services.
"The first time I was just getting started in college. And the tutor was really nice, but I don't think I was motivated. At the time I didn't know what was wrong. I didn't know that I have dyslexia. I kind of felt dumb and just thought I couldn't read," said Rocio.
Rocio feels lucky that she was matched with her tutor Leslie Yamaguchi, who was able to help her find her motivation and confidence.
"When I got Leslie, my tutor, she gave me motivation. She told me 'you could do this, it would take you longer than everybody else, but you could do it'," says Rocio. "She's very motivational and she's great. She sits with me and she's patient, and we go over the words, and she's everything... a friend, a tutor, a big sister. She's a great inspiration in my life."
Rocio's confidence in her reading and writing abilities has continued to grow and she has since won a letter-writing contest sponsored by the California Library System.
"When I finished that [the letter], I think I cried because I don't think I ever wrote anything like that," says Rocio.
The confidence that Rocio has gained because of the help she has received from tutors like Leslie has made her realize that READ/Orange County is a program that needs to stay around.
"Bottom line, this program has taught me that if you have motivation, things will happen."
She decided to take on a more active role in READ/Orange County by joining FRIENDS of READ/Orange County, which helps provide funds, volunteer recognition, and community awareness for the program. She is determined to overcome any difficulties her learning disability has created. She realizes that she cannot keep putting off opportunities that come along in her life because of it.
"This is the struggle I think that I've had all my life. I think I have the right intentions, I think that I have the right attitudes about certain things, it's just that sometimes I would get caught up in this. Can I really do this? Can I express myself--in my verbal and in my writing? Because that's part of working in the real world," says Rocio.
Rocio has doggedly pursued her Associates degree for the past ten years at both Santiago College and Fullerton College. By next semester, Rocio will have only the English 100 course left to complete for her Associate's degree requirements. Her next goal is the attainment of the Bachelor's degree.
Volunteer tutors give motivated adults and families the special gift of literacy when they teach them to read. READ/Orange County is the literacy service of the Orange County Public Library. READ trains volunteers to teach adults and families to read, write, and speak English in small groups or one-to-one throughout Orange County.
READ/Orange County offers a comprehensive training program to adults who want to be volunteer literacy tutors. No prior teaching experience is necessary and the only degree required is a degree of caring.
Get more information at the READ/Orange County website at www.readoc.org.
Please contact Marcia Tungate, Literacy Program Administrator, at 714-566-3070 if you want additional information about the READ/Orange County literacy program.
Kathrine Dela wrote the article with editing assistance by Bob West, Outreach Coordinator for READ/OC. Ms. Dela is majoring in Communications at Cal State - Fullerton and is serving as a public relations intern at READ/Orange County.
READ/OC has signed photo and publishing releases on file.
