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Down the Road: Dyslexic Bicyclist travels the world.
By Cindie Travis. (November 2003)
My husband, Tim Travis, has Dyslexia and it has haunted him all of his life. He struggled through high school scraping by on D's. At Indiana University he earned an undergraduate degree in Physical Education. He barely made it through that as well. It was at Indiana University that he met a professor who noticed his trouble in reading and spelling and suggested that he get tested for learning disabilities. When he found out that he is Dyslexic everything changed.
Tim became so interested in helping others with learning disabilities that he earned a Masters of Education in Special Education At Northern Arizona University. There he made straight A's. What a difference knowing the truth makes.
Tim became a Special Education teacher working with students with learning disabilities. He was brilliant. He told his students that they have the same or similar problems as himself. "We are all in the same boat." He told the students to never use it as an excuse to quit when things get difficult or let it stand in the way of their dreams. He was an example of how you can be successful with Dyslexia. Instead of telling the kids how "they" should deal with "their" situation he spoke of how "we" have to deal with "our" situation and the kids and parents really responded. When I would visit his classroom the kids would tell me that "Mr. Travis is the first teacher that I have known that actually understands what we are going through." and "If Mr. Travis can go to college so can I." He was a big advocate of using computers to correct spelling, enlarge text, change background colors, etc. He was using computerized reading and voice recognition - writing software with the kids long before anyone else in the school district had ever heard of it. He had dreams of earning a Doctorate in this field of study.
Sadly the school administration did not see his gifts. The day that he was observed for his evaluation by the principal he misspelled a word on the chalkboard. This was not uncommon and he had a deal with the students that if you could catch him misspelling a word and could prove it in the dictionary that you won some kind of reward. The students would all have their dictionaries out checking different words trying to win the prize. The fact that a student pointed out his mistake alarmed the principal the most.
The principal was upset that Tim could not spell correctly in front of his students. This led to a bad evaluation. Several other complaints followed like bad hand writing and disorganization. Next, the other teacher jumped in to gain favor with the administration. The computer teacher was upset that his classroom had more advanced computers and software than his. Tim got all of his computers and software donated and connected them together in the first classroom network in the district. The computer teacher did not like being shown up. He was only teaching typing.
Well, Tim only lasted two years before they refused to renew his contract and he was out. The students and their parents in his classes complained and asked the principal to keep him. On his last day several students cried and said that "This is just more proof that someone like me will never make it in life - why try - look what happened to Mr. Travis" That was 6 years ago. This killed his self esteem. In that time he has been unemployed or worked other jobs well below his ability.
Tim has always been very creative and thinks outside of the box. It is a long story but he planned and arranged a trip of a lifetime for us. We are now traveling around the world by bicycle. We saved money to travel for several years but during our first year Tim built a impressive web site about our travels and we are earning an increasing income from that. In this web site Tim started writing about our travels and taking very good pictures that occasionally sell. His writing is what I think is the best. I still have to edit his work a lot but he does all the writing. He is very gifted at telling our story on the computer. I think he likes hiding behind the internet and email because it gives him the time that he needs to write and I correct his spelling before anyone can see it. He writes "letters" about every 6 weeks. These letters are as long or longer than a chapter in a novel. He sends them out to a very large and growing email list. People sign up from his web site. He has a very big following. I am trying to talk him into turning these letters into a book. He likes the idea but is very afraid at failing at another endeavor. I am actually also afraid that if the book did not sell well or even received the occasional expected bad review that he would be crushed. This is a problem that we will have to consider.
The reason that I am writing you is that I see on your web site that you mention people with Dyslexia and their accomplishment. I believe that Tim's web site and writing is a major accomplishment for anyone. All of his long and wonderful letters are posted on the site http://www.downtheroad.org/LETTERS.htm.
Since writing this article, Tim Travis has written two books about his travels, The Road That Has No End and Down the Road in South America. More information can be found at Tim's web site at downtheroad.org/Publishing.
