“My brain is like mush today.” We have all felt like that at one time or another, but during an interview with Joel Miller- an English major here at Saint Mary’s- it sounded like it had a lot more meaning. Joel is also heavily involved with SMUSA as the resident photographer and he volunteers in the community by going to high schools to talk to students about succeeding with a learning disability.

Joel didn’t find out that he had dyslexia until he was in grade 9 and his parents went in to plead with his English teacher. Instead of having the problem identified early, he was dismissed as being lazy or simply unwilling to read. When asked what the learning disability was like, Joel said “it’s like running a marathon; maybe you could run for fifteen or twenty minutes. After that you still want to run but you just can’t anymore”.

It’s not really a moot point with Joel now and he enjoys looking back at some moments when dyslexia got the better of him. “I remember going to Taco Bell” he says laughing, “I looked- well sometimes I see a word and I just don’t know what it is. I looked at the menu and asked for a Cheesy Gorilla”

In 1999, Joel started getting involved by working with Bachelor of Education students at MSVU to simulate learning disabilities. Since then he has been going to high schools all over the province to talk about making the high school to university transition. He is a huge advocate of the Atlantic Centre for Students with Disabilities (located on the 3rd floor of the Student Centre) which, in Joel’s words, “bends over backwards to help in any way they can”.

The Joel Miller resume is quite impressive. He has won national recognition for his work with learning disabled students, and since being at Saint Mary’s, he has been the Disabilities Rep on the SRC as well as the go-to guy for SMUSA photography. Joel also works for a text-to-speech software company as a promoter. The program, WYNN (What You Need Now), helps people with dyslexia to convert books into audio clips when the reading becomes overwhelming.

Having a supportive family definitely helped. Joel remembers his parents going to see his elementary school principal regularly, trying to understand why he was struggling. His teachers all said the same thing- it will come. Reading will come in time. By grade 9 and fifteen years with a learning disability, the family finally got through to his English teacher. For comparison, most children find out that they have dyslexia between grades 3 and 6, and never as late as grade 9. “There was obviously a lot of closure when I found out” said Joel, “it explained a lot.”

Joel cites everything he’s gone through as inspiration for why he now reaches out to younger students. At his most recent school visit, students not only clung to his every word, but many stayed late to ask even more questions. And his involvement at Saint Mary’s makes him an important addition on campus too. To catch Joel getting involved and looking his best, you’ll be able to find him at the AWARE Fashion Show (Saturday March 10th 6pm Loyola 290).

Joel has certainly come a long way since grade 9, and it shows. He is determined to finish the race and not quit- and that’s probably something we could all learn from.