ELCC 222 Assignment: Will Smith's Life and Dyslexia

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of Will Smith, a prominent figure with dyslexia. It begins with an introduction to Smith's background, highlighting his childhood diagnosis and the challenges he faced, particularly in reading and writing. The essay delves into the personal challenges Smith encountered, including his difficulties with dyslexia and the impact of his parents' separation. It explores the messages about disability that Smith conveys, emphasizing that disability does not equate to inability and advocating for self-belief and respect for individuals with disabilities. The essay examines how Smith has advanced the disability cause, particularly in raising public awareness about dyslexia and its causes, including genetic factors and environmental risks. The conclusion summarizes Smith's journey and his role as an inspiration to others with disabilities, encouraging them to pursue their talents and overcome obstacles. The essay uses several references to support its claims and analysis.

Running head: STUDY OF WILL SMITH 1
Study of Famous Person with Exceptionality
Student
Institution

STUDY OF WILL SMITH 2
Introduction
Will Smith is a famous person with disability; and suffers from “famous dyslexics”.
Dyslexia refers to the learning disability that changes the manner in which human brain process
written material (Brennam, 2019). Also referred to as “developmental reading disorder”, dyslexia
is associated with problems of learning to read and with different language comprehension
despite above average intelligence (Brennam, 2019). People who suffer from dyslexia normally
find it hard to recognize and spell words. In this essay, Will Smith will be analyzed as a famous
person with exceptionality; dyslexia.
The basic history of the person
Will Smith was born in the year 1968 and today remains one of the
most famous people with disabilities in the world. Smith grew up in a
middle-class suburb of West Philadelphia, when he was diagnosed
with dyslexia in his childhood age (LaVette, 2013). Will Smith found
it difficult to read and this disturbed his school life. At 17, Will Smith
started acting and has since achieved modest fame as a rapper under
the brand “The Fresh Prince”. In early 90’s, Smith’s popularity
dramatically increased on launching the popular TV series “The Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air” (Morgan, 2012). Today, Smith attributes his success to his childhood
disability/ failure to learn and read, and a role model to emulate by those people with dyslexics.
The challenges the individual faced in their life
Will Smith states two main challenges that he encountered in his young ag; inability to
read and write and his parents deciding to separate while at his youth age. Despite his current
popularity and success, Will Smith struggled with reading and writing while he was a young boy
due to dyslexia (Cucciniello, 2016). Smith encountered inadequacy feelings and was stressed up
over his future. In his school desk, Will Smith felt helpless despite his desire to read and write.
Understanding written words greatly disturbed him; his dream to study and learn was impaired
and could not become realized.

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Also, Smith suffered depression and stress because of his parents’ separation. As a child,
Smith wanted to stay with his parents. Will Smith narrates how the separation of his father and
mother affected his mental power, ability to cope with life, and social life. During this time, Will
Smith lost hope and felt like he could not make it in life, for self-pity engulfed him and made
him emotionally ill (Im, Raschle, Smith, Ellen, & Gaab, 2015). We may never know; Will Smith
thought that his dyslexia problems triggered the separation from the parents. These two
challenges made Will Smith vow to himself that this inadequacy will not disturb him the whole
of his life; he now focused on rapping and not on college matters. Again, his parents separation
never bothered him anymore.
The messages about disability portrayed by the person
In reference to Will Smith, disability is not inability (Mayo Clinic, 2017). According to
Smith, disability should not make anyone inadequate. Will Smith believes that despite his
disability, he was born for “a bigger reason”. The disabled people need to understand that they
are born for a purpose, and thus nobody should look down upon them. Despite Smith’s disability,
his parents decided to separate at his 13th age (Im, Raschle, Smith, Ellen, & Gaab, 2015).
However, Will Smith did not allow his family problems to interrupt with his focus but instead
starting rapping at his teenage. Smith says that people can only make it in life if they believe in
themselves and their innate abilities (Brennam, 2019).
Will Smith says that people with disability should not be disrespected or looked down
upon. To the disabled people; Will Smith advices them to never allow anyone to show disrespect
against them (Sleeter & Grant, 2017). When associating or speaking with disabled people, Smith
advices the world to focus on their capabilities and not to focus on their disabilities. In the
instance when Smith was cheated by his ex-girlfriend, this was a high code of disrespect. The
message to people without disability is clear that the disabled people need their assistance
(Morgan, 2012). The manner in which we interact with disabled people should also show
humility.
Also, Will Smith calls for patience among people with disability, their family members,
and caregivers. Learning about disability needs patience in order to overcome the misperceptions
hold by both the family members and the disabled (LaVette, 2013). Caregivers need to

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understand that they have to help the disabled. However, Will Smith’s work is focused more on
inspiring the disabled people and says that they should not fear success since fear is a choice.
Just being born with a disability does not mean your suffer in your whole life, Smith became a
millionaire in his early 20’s, and today eats his talent (Mayo Clinic, 2017).
Has this person advanced the disability cause or raised public awareness about disability issues.
If so, which issues?
Will Smith is a famous public icon with disability. In his interviews, Smith is against fear
and loss of focus by the disabled people. In his public interviews, Will Smith narrates his
childhood difficulties mainly dyslexia, his parents’ separation, and her girlfriend cheating on him
due to his inability to read and write (Cucciniello, 2016). Despite these challenges, Will Smith
never gave up nor did he allow anything to stop his focus and dream.
In reference to dyslexia, Will Smith advances the causes of this reading and writing
disorder. Smith links the causes of dyslexia with gene disorders, a disorder inheritable in a
family lineage (Brennam, 2019). In educating the public about the problem of reading and
writing, Will Smith says that people whose parents have dyslexia have a more likelihood to have
the disorder. With dyslexia, Smith tells the public that the brain is unable to process language.
Also, Smith makes the public aware those risky factors in the environment that people live in
cause this problem. Other main causes singled out by Smith include low birth weight/premature
birth, exposure to nicotine, infection, and alcohol during birth and individual differences in the
brain (Cucciniello, 2016). With dyslexia, Smith educates the public that victims endure learning
troubles, social issues such as aggression, low self-esteem, anxiety, and withdrawal from friends,
and educational issues.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Will Smith is a good example of famous celebrities with disability.
Despite his struggles and inability to read and write, Will Smith never gave up but instead
focused on building his talent. Today, Will Smith is one of the richest rappers and actor in the
music and film industry. The society should emulate Will Smith and use him as an example
when inspiring other disabled people that “disability is not inability”.

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References
Brennam, D. (2019). What Is Dyslexia? WebMD Medical Reference, 1-6. Retrieved from
https://www.webmd.com/children/understanding-dyslexia-basics
Cucciniello, A. (2016, September 6). 5 Tips from Will Smith on Overcoming Obstacles.
Retrieved from Medium.com: https://medium.com/@antoniocucc/5-tips-from-will-smith-
on-overcoming-obstacles-1d7fe1e6db2
Im, K., Raschle, N. M., Smith, S. A., Ellen, G. P., & Gaab, N. (2015). Atypical sulcal pattern in
children with developmental dyslexia and at-risk kindergarteners. Cerebral cortex, 26(3),
1138-1148.
LaVette, D. (2013, September 27). Will Smith’s Success Story and His Struggle to Reach the
Top. Dawn the Screen Writer, 6-16. Retrieved October 8, 2019, from
https://dawnthescreenwriter.com/2013/09/27/will-smiths-success-story-and-his-struggle-
to-reach-the-top/
Mayo Clinic. (2017). Dyslexia. Nairobi: Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dyslexia/symptoms-causes/syc-
20353552
Morgan, D. (2012, November 2). Famous Dyslexics: Will Smith. Retrieved October 7, 2019,
from David Morgan Education: https://dm-ed.com/news/famous-dyslexics-will-smith/
Sleeter, C. E., & Grant, C. A. (2017). Race, class, gender, and disability in current textbooks. In
The politics of the textbook, 78-110.