Otis Discusses His Struggles With Dyslexia
According to Yale, dyslexia affects 20% of the population. Dyslexia involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words.
Though fans might not know it from his on-screen persona, Otis struggles with dyslexia. And while many believe he’s joking when he reveals the information, it’s a very real problem for him.
“When I first started tagging with Tucky, we’d be on the road — It’s like when you say something and it stings people inside, but they don’t say anything about it. It’s the same where a joke is. Every time I’ve mentioned it, I’ve gotten a giggle and they say, ‘Yeah, me too.’ You just kind of go with it, but don’t tell anybody. It took me six months to tell Tucky…we got together as a team and didn’t know each other that well but we started becoming friends and getting our work in the ring fine-tuned. I told him, ‘I really can’t read this.’ I remember at finals in college, getting this weird pain in the back of my head, I was getting severe headaches. The doctors said the nerves and tension in the back of my head is high stressed from trying to read. Tucky fully understands. I can only look at my phone for like a good…my brain starts going, ‘okay bro, put it down, take a break.’ My attention is weird, but somehow in wrestling, it comes together,” Otis told Lilian Garcia on Chasing Glory.
Otis went on to say he’s still angry at how his academic career ended with college because there wasn’t enough support to help him with his dyslexia compared to high school.
Otis currently holds the Money in the Bank briefcase after it fell into his hands on the top of the roof at WWE HQ.
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