Vice President and Member Board of Directors
Stephanie Setmire (aka Super Dyslexia Girl) helps us reframe dyslexia from a “disability” or “disadvantage” to a “superpower”. She has been changing people’s minds and mindset around dyslexia through dyslexic empowerment and community awareness.
As a dyslexic, Stephanie faced self-doubt and challenges during her early school days. She thought she was like every other student and did not know why school was challenging. She thought everyone learned the same way. Until one day, she met other dyslexics that helped her realize why school felt so hard sometimes.
Stephanie began to explore her uniqueness throughout her young adult life and became very interested in nurturing the whole child & early childhood education. She pursued her degree in Early Childhood Education from La Verne University and began her career as an Early Childhood Educator. In these roles, she focused her attention on the whole child, early detection of learning needs, and parent & teacher awareness around what dyslexia or other learning differences are really about and how to constructively approach them.
Many children don’t discover their superpowers until adulthood. And others never discover them. Teachers, parents, and the community often play into feelings of self-doubt, consciously or unconsciously. Different isn’t bad. Different isn’t stupid. Different is just simply different. In fact, it can be an amazing gift!
In 2004, Super Dyslexia Girl first emerged as an embodiment of dyslexia as a super power in a parade in Los Angeles. Stephanie discovered her superpower of thinking in 3D, which is quite uncommon. Dyslexia has also afforded Stephanie other gifts like playfulness to innovate & discover, patience with herself and others, creativity in problem solving, and resilience. As Super Dyslexia Girl, she began to uncover how each dyslexic has their own story of superpowers.
Since then Stephanie Setmire has continued her work in dyslexic empowerment and community awareness. Some examples include appearing as dyslexia girl at the Chapman dyslexia summit in October 2015. Was one of the speakers for the breakout sessions for the tri county IDA conference in March 2018 Navigating Life as an Adult with Dyslexia.
Stephanie offers a fresh perspective and voice to the dialogue around dyslexia in her partnership with Dyslexia Voice. As a Board of Director, Stephanie Setmire serves as a Dyslexia Superhero changing the conversation about dyslexia and what it means to be a dyslexic. What’s your superpower?