My Super Power
by Dave Conway

Dave Conway of Victoria, BC came to see WHO KNEW at the Star Cinema on Oct 8, 2026.

He is a storyteller, wonderfully talented dyslexic, and is a member of Confabulation.

He has given us permission to share the first draft of the story he shared at their last
meeting: My Super Power.  

And more! Check out his YouTube channel full of amazing creations, such as the Marvellous Marble Machine!
https://youtube.com/@daveconway7109?si=PTZu8zjDPAf1M1cG

© 2026 Dave Conway. All rights reserved.

This story is shared by The Whole Dyslexic Society with the author's permission. Copyright remains with the original author. No part of this work may be reproduced, republished, distributed, or otherwise used without the author's prior written permission.

My Super Power:

I remember my first years at school like it was yesterday.

It would have been about 1958 in Liverpool.

There I was sitting in the back of the class as usual, thats where they put you when you were deemed slow, disruptive, or lazy.
Or they’d make me stand in the corner facing the wall.

The teacher would be droning on about something and writing on the blackboard.
But I couldn’t read what she was writing, so I spent my time looking out the window wondering how I’m going to get those pennies out of the ink well hole.

The desks we sat behind looked really old and battered, they were made of wood and each had a hole in the top right hand corner that held a little pot of ink to dip our pens in, too bad if you were left handed.

Somehow over the years an old English penny or two had found its way to the bottom of home of those inkwells, those old pennies were just less than an inch and a quarter in diameter, almost the exact same size as the hole.

At playtime I’d ask the girls kind of nicely if I could have their hair clips and I’d bend and shape them into a kind of hook, and since I was sitting in the back of the class the teacher didn’t notice I was busy digging, I could tune her out and I was able to extract those Penny’s, and we’d all go the the sweet shop after school and buy little bottles of pop and lollipops.

I didn’t like school for the most part, I liked arts and crafts though that was a different story, that interested me and challenged me, and I always did well at that.

When I was seven my parents decided to move us to Manchester, I hated school there even more there, I had a strong Liverpool accent much different then theirs.

I still couldn’t read though, in fact I couldn’t read till I was nine.
Then one day I was with my Mum shopping in downtown Manchester when I started reading the signs on the shops, I started reading everything,

It was like a light went on, my reading skills rapidly got better and soon I’m reading as good or better than my classmates.
My spelling never improved though I still sometimes had trouble spelling even simple words.
I still had trouble with comprehension remembering what I’d just read.
I’d constantly loose my place while reading then have to re read,

I would lose focus when listening to the teacher and drift off somewhere far far away, facts and figures were hard to remember, times tables, peoples names.
But I could remember things that happened years earlier vividly.

I liked telling stories though and I was selected to take elocution lessons, I actually enjoyed
that, I could focus in and give talks on subjects that interested me.
I eventually ended up in a judged event and I did very well, I was proud of that but it didn’t
make school any easier.

When I was twelve my parents decided to emigrate to Canada and I was excited.

When I got to Canada and started school I was given tests to determine what grade I should be placed in, I ended up in a grade below my age level.

That didn’t do my self confidence a lot of good, but even at that level I was behind and constantly struggled,

I’d find any excuse not to go.
I got job, I was selling subscriptions door to door to the Globe and Mail newspaper I worked for an American guy called Bob who would pick several of us after school and on weekends and take us all over Southern Ontario in his Cadillac he’d drop us off on street corners or at apartment buildings then pick us up at pre determined time.
I was competing in a contest for top salesman for an all expense paid trip to the Calgary Stampede,

Now that was a challenge that I could focus in on.
I came up with a way to Jimmy the locks in those big high rise apartments in Toronto,
I’d always carry a pocket comb and I could use it to slip it in the lock on the main door in the lobby and hook the latch and I was in.

Then up the elevator to the top floor knocking on doors all the way down floor by floor, you couldn’t get away with that now though.
I ended up winning that trip to the Calgary Stampede
but that’s a whole other story.

By now I’m spending more time out of school than in and getting into trouble with the authorities.

My parents thought it best to take me back to England.

At Sixteen in England I was too old to go back to school, which suited me fine.
I had to get a job, but I had no idea what I wanted to do,

So youth employment sent me to a Psychologist who gave me a bunch of tests and
determined something I already knew, I was mechanically minded, I got the second job I interviewed for, an apprentice Plumber.
Unlike school everything now made sense I could visualize how things worked and problem
solve and I was very good at it, the company sent me to trade school, Salford Institute of
Technology, an actual university, I found all the academic stuff much easier now as it applied to what I was doing.

But there was a problem, I had difficulty getting to work on time and I eventually got the boot.

But I used my salesman skills to get another job and I got my trade certificate and graduated.
I got married and my wife and I decided to move back to Canada.
I changed profession a few times and eventually settled in as a woodworker.

I started a business on a shoestring making custom furniture.
That seemed to come to me naturally, customers would come to me tell me what they’d want and I’d draw a sketch.

I didn’t need to make cut lists or plans or anything I could just make it.

As things got busier and I’d need a piece of equipment or machine but couldn’t afford it, so I go to junk yards and find parts that I could repurpose and I learned how to weld.

Actually making money remained a bit elusive though and we almost went broke a few times.

Then everything changed, I invented a way to make a building product that happened to be in great demand at the time, and that was the ticket I needed.

We didn’t struggle after that.

Although both my Sons were diagnosed with Dyslexia at around age six and were both sent to special education.
It didn’t dawn on me at the time that I may also be Dyslexic

I never really thought to look into it, I knew I had trouble reading earlier and still have trouble spelling and differentiating left and right right quickly amongst other things.
But I never actually looked into it till I was in my mid fifties.
Then everything started to make sense,

A few years ago my Son noticed my granddaughter starting to show signs of reading difficulties and lack of focus, she was frustrated and not understanding what was going on.
My Son and my Daughter in-law had her tested and she was diagnosed with both Dyslexia and ADHD and prescribed medication.
My Son also decided to get tested and he was also diagnosed with ADHD as well as his
Dyslexia.

That made me wonder if I was also ADHD as they often go together.

I don’t have an official diagnosis.
I did ask my doctor about getting one as I wouldn’t have minded trying out the little magic
focus pills that you can get now,
But it’s expensive If you go private, or you wait forever under MSP
Plus she said do you really need any more pills than the ones you’re already taking, kind of
made sense.

Their diagnosis is all the evidence I need as it’s definitely hereditary. I’ve since spent a considerable amount of time looking into it.

Now looking back everything makes sense the distractions, the frustration.
Only being able to do things that interest me.

It would have been so nice to have known that back then when I felt so stupid.

All the signs are there, I can hyper focus when I’m interested, but as soon as my interest wanes that’s it for me I may never quite finish that project.
Good job I had employees in my business, I would figure out how to do things, then when I got good at it I could teach them and they would do it.

I realize now that not everyone thinks in incredibly vivid, detailed pictures, that’s a me thing,
that’s my special skill.

For instance when I hear the word cat I don’t picture the word.

I see a cat in my mind, not only that but I can fly around that cat and view it from all angles.

The same when I want to build a machine I see every detail of it,
I don’t need plans or blueprints I just start building it, inventing it as I go, I can watch a
YouTube video of something someone else has built and I can just build it.

Obviously that doesn’t include Space ships, Nuclear Reactors, and particle accelerators and things like that though,
But I did build a wooden marble machine recently, it’s huge, and it’s fascinating to watch, plus a bunch of kinetic sculptures and what I call apocalypse electricity generators.

They’re all on my YouTube Chanel,

Looking back I’m sure that my Dad was also Dyslexic and ADHD he was an amazing artist and won a scholarship to art school but was unable to go as it was pre war times, he ended up in the building trades, I worked with him when I became a plumber
We started a business together but neither of us could get out the door in the morning, we’d sit around till noon talking about what we were going to do.
Now it makes sense why.

But when my Dad got going he could turn his hand to just about anything he was a very
talented man, just wish I’d have noticed more.

As for my Sons
One has a PHD in Neuroscience
The other has his own business as a physiotherapist.
It’s going to be very interesting to watch my granddaughter as she grows up knowing what I know now, and the fact that she’s getting the help I never got.
My Son and daughter in law decided to take her off the medication as it was stifling her
quirkiness and free spirited nature

I’ve figured out a strategy though
I can have several projects on the go, I move from one to another depending on which one
interests me at any particular time.
Then I can do a full circle returning and doing a bit more on each till they finally get finished.
I recently completed a major renovation on our main bathroom,
Everything is done except for about four feet of baseboard that needs a second cost of paint, it’s only been six months, fortunately I have a fail safe plan in place, my wife reminds me of it on a daily basis I’m sure I’ll get to it one day.