A person with short brown hair sitting at a table by a whiteboard

Cole Arthur is a senior Honors student at Montana State University in Bozeman studying Mechanical Engineering, while pursuing minors in Physics plus Aerospace Engineering. Additionally, Cole is a recipient of the Joseph James Morelli Legacy Foundation Scholarship. Here are some of his candid thoughts.

My best advice to someone who recently learned they have dyslexia is to figure out how it affects you. Because dyslexia gets lumped together a bit too much, like there are many different types. I know there are people who it impedes their ability to do math. For me, the main impact is it cripples my ability to spell. One of the more common types causes a hard time reading. So figure out exactly what it is that causes you issues, and at the same time, discover how it gives you an advantage.

Basically, find out how to use those advantaged areas to counter the disadvantaged areas. Try to figure out other workarounds for those disadvantaged areas. Technology has made this a lot easier. I know it works great for some people, but the same technology will only work for some.

Also, getting formally diagnosed has been very valuable for me. Receiving actual accommodations from the school that allow me to use certain things for classes is helpful. Even if you don’t use the accommodations all the time or even necessarily often, it’s nice to have them in place when you run into a spot where you realize your dyslexia is hampering you. That happens fast, and getting accommodations is a complex process.

To succeed, I’ll figure out everything I need to do every day and put these lists into three individual categories. Some things absolutely “must be” done today. That’s like an assignment that’s due today. For example, something that was scheduled a long time ago with other people. Then there are items that “should be” done today. Something that basically, it’s not necessarily the end of the world if it doesn’t get done, but it’s going to make tomorrow much more difficult if it’s not done.

And finally, there’s a “nice to be” done today category. Sometimes, stuff will sit on there for two, three weeks, a month, but stuff that would be nice to get done—many things like cleaning are put into this category.