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Twice Exceptional = Exceptional Squared!

Collected by Carolyn K., director, Hoagies' Gifted Education Page

Also visit Notable Homeschoolers and Grade Skipped and Successful...

Often, only the learning disability in a twice exceptional child or adult is recognized.  But there is as much "good" as "bad" in twice exceptional learning styles.  Here's a list of successful people who have capitalized on their exceptional learning styles!

Read Overcoming Dyslexia: FORTUNE examines business leaders and artists who have gone beyond the limitations of dyslexia... and a few good lists:

Scott Adams, cartoonist, "Dilbert" creator

Welcome to the club... "I'm dyslexic..."  Positive Attitude: A Dilbert Collection and Try Rebooting Yourself: A Dilbert Collection
 

David Boies, celebrated trial attorney, best known as the guy who beat Microsoft

finally learned to read in third grade, devouring Marvel comics, whose pictures provided clues to help him untangle the words
 

Terri Bowersock, CEO, Terri's Consign & Design Furnishings

The founder of secondhand furniture retailer Terri's Consign learned to run her business through pictures...
 

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic Airlines

dyslexic, spanked by his teachers for bad grades and a poor attitude, dropped out of school at 16...
 

Gaston Caperton, former governor of West Virginia and now president of the College Board - the SAT folks

dyslexic
 

John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems

dyslexic, feared he'd never make it through school--and might not have without a tutor
 

Agatha Christie, mystery author

dysgraphic.  "I, myself, was always recognized . . . as the "slow one" in the family. It was quite true, and I knew it and accepted it. Writing and spelling were always terribly difficult for me. My letters were without originality. I was…an extraordinarily bad speller and have remained so until this day."
 

Winston Churchill,  Prime Minister of Great Britain, winner of the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature

Churchill suffered from a lisp
 

Tom Cruise, actor and producer

dyslexic. Tom, like his mother, suffered from dyslexia and was put into the remedial classes at school. Tom is right handed when writing, but does most things left handed.  He never let his learning disability stand in the way of his success...
 

Patrick Dempsey, actor, Grey's Anatomy

dyslexic. diagnosed with dyslexia when he was 12 years old. Before that, he had been misdiagnosed and put in special education classes...
 

Walt Disney, creator of Disney, Disney films, Disneyland and Disneyworld, and more...

dyslexic. Labeled "slow" as a child, and fired from the Kansas City newspaper for not being creative...
 

Bill Dreyer, inventor and professor of biology at Caltech

dyslexic, invent one of the first protein-sequencing machines, which helped to launch the human genome revolution, now placed in the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C.
 

Albert Einstein, physicist, best known for his theory of relativity

Einstein's Biographers Disprove Claim that He was Dyslexic
 

Whoopie Goldberg, actress & comedienne

dyslexic "No matter what you do.....just give it your best shot!"
 

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone and founder of the Bell Telephone Company

dyslexic
 

Temple Grandin, renowned animal scientist, inventor of humane livestock handling systems

autistic
 

Bruce Jenner, Olympic gold medalist in swimming

"I just barely got through school. The problem was a learning disability, at a time when there was nowhere to get help."
 

Jay Leno, comedian

dyslexic. Jay credits his dyslexia with enabling him to succeed in comedy. He credits his dyslexia with helping him develop the drive and perseverance needed to succeed in comedy, and life in general...
 

Craig McCaw, pioneered the cellular industry

dyslexic
 

Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko's

Orfalea worked out a symbiotic relationship with classmates on a group project at USC's Marshall Business School; they did the writing, he did the photocopying (and got the germ of the idea that led to Kinko's).  Read his biography, Copy This! Lessons from a hyperactive dyslexic who turned a bright idea into one of America’s best companies
 

General George Patten, U.S. WWII General

There has been much speculation concerning, the fact that Patton did not begin his formal education until the age of 11. It has been claimed that Patton's parents kept him out of school because he suffered from a disorder known today as "dyslexia." There is truthfully no way of proving that claim, though. Although Patton was a terrible speller throughout his lifetime, he did not show any signs of a writing problem caused by dyslexia. Even if the claim of dyslexia is true, it only adds to the admiration that should be felt for Patton. To overcome such a handicap and to complete the rigorous depth of study that he accomplished would have been in itself a marvelous feat of sheer willpower...
 

John S. Reed, Chairman and CEO of Citicorp, Citibank, and post-merger, Citigroup, former Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange

dyslexic
 

Nelson Rockefeller, politician and vice president of the United States

"I was one of the 'puzzle children' myself -- a dyslexic . . . And I still have a hard time reading today. Accept the fact that you have a problem. Refuse to feel sorry for yourself. You have a challenge; never quit!"  Biography Rockefeller: the Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller - Worlds to Conquer 1908-1958
 

Bill Samuels, Jr., the president of Maker's Mark (bourbon)

dyslexic, At Vanderbilt Law School, Samuels spent a lot of time in study-group discussions. "That's how I learned the cases," he says. His friends helped with the reading; he paid for the beer. Better than most people, dyslexics learn humility and how to get along with others...
 

Charles Schwab, founder and CEO of the Charles Schwab Corporation,

Charles Schwab was very strong in math, science, and sports (especially golf), which helped him get into Stanford. But anything involving English "was a disconnect." He couldn't write quickly enough to capture his thoughts. He couldn't listen to a lecture and take legible notes. He couldn't memorize four words in a row. He doesn't think he ever read a novel all the way through in high school. He was within one unit of flunking out of Stanford his freshman year. "God, I must just be really dumb in this stuff," he used to tell himself. "It was horrible, a real drag on me." So horrible that Schwab and his wife, Helen, created a foundation to help parents of children with learning disorders. Founded Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation is to assist dyslexic children
 

George "The Animal" Steele, professional wrestler, physical education teacher and coach at Madison High School in Madison Heights, Michigan

dyslexic. "Would you believe that I had a learning disability and could not read or write, yet I have hours beyond my Masters Degree and taught and coached at the high school level for twenty five years?"
 

Diane Swonk, former chief economist of Bank One, now Senior Managing Director and Chief Economist of Mesirow Financial

...has only recently gone public with the story of her struggle to overcome dyslexia. “I spent a lot of my time trying to be something I wasn’t, in my earlier career and education,” Diane says, “I was always trying to cover up who I was. Now, dyslexia is just a part of me.”
 

Donald Winkler, until recently Chairman and CEO Ford Motor Credit Co.

dyslexic
 

Henry Winkler, actor and director... "the Fonz!"

later identified as dyslexia...
 

Robin Williams, actor & comedian

dyslexic, AD/HD.  Refers to himself as "the poster child for ADD"
 

Loretta Young, actress

dyslexic. "I hated school.  One of the reasons was a learning disability, dyslexia, which no one understood at the time. I still can't spell..."
 

Copyright © 2007 Carolyn K.

Last updated August 04, 2008