Dyslexia Profile: Rachel Newman
Written by Savannah Rake
Photo by Katherine Rountree
Second year interior design major Rachel Newman from Knoxville, Tennessee, is eager to clear up the misconceptions surrounding her major.
“I’m majoring in interior design, not interior decorating,” said Newman. “I just like to make that clear because there’s a difference.”
According to Newman, interior design is much more manually involved than interior decorating. Design includes knocking down walls and changing the space, whereas decorating revolves around changing decor and rearranging existing spaces.
Newman’s experience in school has been challenging in part because of her learning disability.
“I was in second grade, and my teacher noticed that I would keep mixing up letters,” said Newman.
Her dyslexia makes it hard for her to read, write and do math in her head.
Since October is Dyslexia Awareness Month, SCAD students expressed their disabilities to District as part of a series. Like the interior design major, dyslexia is also commonly misunderstood.
Third year industrial design and historical preservation major Brendan Faulkner from Kennebunkport, Maine also has dyslexia.
In an interview conducted earlier this month, he explained bullying was never a problem for him, but it bothered him when others diagnosed themselves as dyslexic.
Newman and Faulkner experience opposite sides of the same struggle. While Newman does not have issues with the portrayal of her disability, she has encountered bullying.
“You kind of had to fit into a certain mold, especially at my school where pretty much everyone was the same,” said Newman. “If you were a little bit different, you got made fun of for it.” She attended the Christian Academy of Knoxville, a private school.
“They’ll make fun of everyone, all the girls,” said Newman. “It doesn’t really matter.”
According to her peers, Newman is a well-rounded student. She is double minoring in historical preservation and architecture; she played soccer in high school and participated in the arts program there.
Newman takes advantage of the accommodations offered to her through SCAD. She uses the school’s private rooms to take tests in a distraction-free environment, is allowed extended time on her tests and the use of calculators.
Newman has found support within the SCAD community. She is no longer bullied and she enjoys the creative atmosphere.
She finds her dyslexia is no longer one of her primary identifiers and that “everyone [at art school] is kind of different, kind of accepting.”
