Reflecting On My Interviewees: Michael Douglas

I've been thinking about some of my past interviews

It was all the way back in 2014 (I can’t believe it’s been so long), that I interviewed actor Michael Douglas. We mostly talked about his experience of being a parent to a child with dyslexia. Douglas shared with me that when his son Dylan was first diagnosed with dyslexia, Douglas was relieved because they finally had an answer about why Dylan was struggling. Douglas said that “it was not earth-shattering” that Dylan had dyslexia, and they were just grateful that his school caught it as early as they did (in second grade). One thing from the interview that really stood out to me was when Douglas said “dyslexia can be debilitating and dyslexia can cause a loss of confidence and it’s frustrating and can be time-consuming. The good thing about it is that we are catching it earlier, identifying it earlier, [and when you] identify this as an issue, you [can] start to slug away at it”. 

What was tough in Dylan’s case was that he wanted to be an actor, which means lots of reading of lines… a dyslexic person’s worst nightmare. However, since he was diagnosed early with dyslexia, he had a huge step up compared to those who are diagnosed later in life. To me, it seems that discovering any LDs that a person may have is only really beneficial when they are young so that they can learn early on what techniques can help them succeed. This proved to be the case for Dylan, and many others that I know. I think that teachers need to be trained with this in mind so that they can continue to be the first line of defense for LD kids. I know that technology has improved a lot, too, since Dylan was young, which is another important part of helping LD kids and their families be even happier and more successful, and I hope that we continue to move forward on that path.

Watch the full interview using the link above, or check it out on my website.