William Manzanares IV - I Can’t Read: A Guide to Success Through Failure

B.G. had been living at a homeless shelter when we met.

One of my employees volunteered there. When B.G. found out where he worked, he began showing up to one of my businesses, offering to help however he could. My employees gave him money or bought him things to eat, though he never expected any of it in return.

I hadnt heard about him until it came to my attention that one of my employees abused his generous nature, taking advantage by having him pick up garbage without offering him anything. I was less than happy with that fact, so the next day, I introduced myself to B.G. I liked him immediately, and we got to know each other well.

Never so well, though, as on a short road trip we took together.

Id rented a truck to move some equipment for one of my businesses and asked B.G., along with another employee, to help. During the drive, I told my employee about how I wanted to write a book for people with reading difficulties. I told them that I was bouncing around the idea of I Cant Read for a title. At that moment, B.G. piped up from the back seat. His eyes were lit up with excitement.

Id read that book, Will, he said. Because I cant read.

I was shocked. I decided to test himnot because I didnt believe him, but because I wanted to see exactly what he meant by saying he was unable to readto see if it meant the same thing to me as it did to him. I pointed out street signs and billboards as we drove. He sounded them out, most with only a small amount of difficulty. We then approached a sign for a street named Weyerhauser Way. I knew people who could read who struggled pronouncing that one. Even though he had to sound it out slowly and deliberately, he was able to say it. I was amazed.

Whoa, wait a minute, I said. Who told you that you couldnt read?

He talked about taking an aptitude test at a point in his life that had to do with his present situation. While the circumstances of that time arent important, what is important are the results. He failed a standardized test that identified him as one of the millions of people in our country unable to read, even though he showed with the signs that he clearly could.

I told him so, but he didnt believe it, or wouldnt, so I decided to tell him something else.

Theres a specific reason Im writing this book, I said. He guessed that it was because I was a successful businessman who wanted to pass on that success to others.

No, B.G., I said. You can do what I cant. You can see letters and use them to sound out words. I cant read.

If youre reading this book, chances are you have someone in your life who has some kind of difficulty with reading. The problem is, you might not know it. For whatever reason, those who cant read find ways to hide it. They avoid reading in public or invent strategies to memorize words by sight, anything to keep anyone from finding out the truth about their challenges.

Maybe you know but have struggled with how to help. Maybe you have reading difficulties, too, and dont know how to help your loved ones without first helping yourself.

No matter who you are, no matter if these challenges are yours or belong to someone you care about, you probably feel alone. You might feel like no one understands how hard it is for you to watch your sons or daughters or partners suffer with this condition.

You are not alone.

Im going to tell you the story of a young boy who discovered at a very early age that he couldnt read. Im going to tell you how he learned to reframe his condition and developed strategies well into adulthood that turned him into the successful independent business owner he is today.

Im going to tell you about me.

Im going to tell you about my path of self - discovery in the hopes that you will find some inspiration in my struggle. I understand those feelings of fear, frustration, and embarrassment associated with illiteracy.

Ive experienced the frustration of looking at a word and having no idea what it was. Ive lived in fear of having to read something in a public setting or a classroom.

Ive been there. Not only that, Im here to tell you that with work, with a shift in mind frame about reading disabilities, success is possible.

There is hope.

There is hope because of technology. There is hope because the people who suffered reading disabilities before these advances in technology existed had a hand in creating them.

You will learn the importance of reframing the struggle to read in a positive light. You will learn how to see it as a superpoweror a path to developing oneinstead of thinking of it as a hindrance to your success.

As a parent, you will learn how you must never make excuses for your child, neither for their disability nor for their avoiding the work it takes to overcome it. When you reveal their struggle, you will discover that you and your child arent always supported. There will always be those who look down on their disability, both children and adults. Not everyone will be an ally.

In realizing that, youll be able to take from this book how to be the best team member possible, to help them push through the difficult times, and how to get them excited about reading by giving the act purpose.

Youll learn all this from stories from my own personal journey, both the highs and the lows, from my past challenges to the methods and tools I use to this day.

From the second I told more than three people in my life about my struggle, I have discovered a number of things. While many of them gave me the motivation to write this book, there is one that stands out more than any other. This last is the most important motivation of them all but more on that later.

So many who share this struggle with reading dont want to share their story. As a result, they suffer alone.

No more.

When I revealed my truth to my employees, the reactions were not what I expected. Those results drove me to research the amount of illiteracy in our country, and the discovery that it is as common, if not more so, than some of the worst diseases in history was shocking to me. Worst of all, no one is talking about it in a real and personal way.

No more.

I decided to stand up for those who cant because they dont know how, and for those who wont because they think its impossible. While Ive found solutions to my own disability, I am no more special than you, your child, or anyone who shares this challenge. Like I did, anyone with the willingness to put in the work can make reading easier.

If you bought this book expecting an academic review of why reading struggles are what they are and how they have gotten as bad as they have, then you should stop now. If you are looking for an in - depth explanation and examination of illiteracy in our country, you have come to the wrong place.

This book is not about the root causes of reading disabilities.

It is also not a quick fix. If youve purchased this for someone in your life or for yourself, expecting that you will solve reading challenges overnight, you are in for a disappointment.