Thomas Edison was a big influence on me when I was a kid and is still a big influence on me nowadays. I feel like I can really relate to him because he was partially deaf and had dyslexia just like I have, and yet he was able to overcome those disabilities to become a great inventor. Having a disability, like being partially deaf, is something that will never go away and it makes life even harder. The fact that he was able to take a disability like being hearing impaired and turn it into a positive, really helped me to realize that having a disability doesn't have to hold you back. For me being hearing impaired allowed me to think clearer at times because I didn't have to hear all the distractions the world has to offer. When I was in school, it was always a struggle to hear the teacher, but I never wanted to say anything because I was afraid of what people would think of me or tease me. But as I grew up I realized that why should I care what other people think of me, I should just be myself and do what I need to do so I can learn better. I also learned ways to cope with it that gave me better techniques when it came to learning and getting rid of the distractions in my life.
Coping with my dyslexia was the hardest, because I had to go to a special class and I couldn't be in the class with the regular kids. I always felt that I wasn't as smart as the other kids, and when I would mess up in front of the class they would laughed at me. But over time it became clear to me that I didn't want to be like all the other kids. I wanted to be someone to change the world like Thomas Edison did with the light bulb, and I knew that by being a regular person that it wasn't going to happen. Thomas Edison was probably thought of as a crazy man for trying to create the motion picture. At the time it was like magic to people back then, but that never stopped him. Whenever he came across something that people said couldn't be done, it just gave him more motivation to prove them wrong.