Jonathan Mooney: ...different isn't deficient

Nobody Told Me!

Business, Entrepreneurship

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2019

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jonathan Mooney was once labeled "severely learning disabled", but beat the odds to become a Brown University graduate, a best-selling author, and highly sought after public speaker. On this episode, he talks about how he has overcome challenges related to dyslexia, ADD, depression, and anxiety and what needs to be done within our education system to help children who have different learning needs. His latest book is called Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive Outside the Lines.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Nobody Told Me. I'm Laura Owens. And I'm Jan Black.
0:16.1	Joining us on this episode is New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Mooney, whose latest book is called
0:22.1	Normal Sucks, How to Live, Learn, and Thrive Outside the Lines. Jonathan, thank you so much for
0:27.5	joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me. Really appreciate it. Your path to being a best-selling
0:32.9	author wasn't an easy one. In fact, your path to becoming a writer and even a reader was tough.
0:39.2	Tell us about the struggles you faced and what normal sucks is all about.
0:45.0	Yeah, you're right about that. Certainly wasn't what my high school guidance counselor thought I
0:50.0	would be doing. I struggled with school. I was the kid who spent most of the day
0:57.2	chilling out in the hallway with the janitor. I grew up on a first name basis with Shirley
1:01.8	the receptionist in the principal's office, struggled with reading, spent a lot of time hiding
1:06.6	in the bathroom to escape reading out loud with tears streaming down my face. I didn't learn to
1:11.7	read until I was 12. And so I had all sorts of low expectations. You know, I was told I'd flip
1:16.8	burgers for a living. I was told I'd be a high school dropout. I was told I'd be incarcerated.
1:22.3	And I beat those odds, you know, opposed to flipping burgers. I ended up writing books and opposed
1:27.1	to being a high school dropout, I became a college graduate and opposed to flipping burgers, I ended up writing books, and opposed to being a high school
1:28.4	dropout, I became a college graduate, and opposed to an inmate, I became an advocate, and somebody
1:34.1	who's dedicated his entire life to building a more inclusive world for folks who learn and live
1:40.0	differently. And that's really what the new book is all about. I know it's a subtle title,
1:45.6	normal stuff. You know, you kind of just get right to the point. It's about this idea
1:51.6	that looms over all of us, that there's a normal brain or body that we should have. It's about
1:58.1	where that idea comes from and how it's been used to to give the message to
2:02.9	folks who don't fit the myth of normal that something's wrong with them. And most importantly,
	...

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