Henry Winkler’s road to success was far from easy.
He struggled in school which resulted in harsh punishment from his parents, and after awhile the putdowns and name-calling, something he vowed he would never do to his own children, affected his confidence.
It wouldn’t be until decades later that he would learn there was a reason he struggled, and knowing how much it set him back he wanted to use his diagnosis to inspire others, especially children.
While Winkler is an accomplished actor, it did not come easy to him. In fact, he had to work extremely hard for all of his accomplishments.“My parents were very, very, very, very, very short Jews from Germany,” Winkler told The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity. “They believed in education. They thought I was lazy. I was called lazy. I was called stupid. I was told I was not living up to my potential.”
But Winkler did not believe his parents. He felt he was trying as hard as he could.I don’t want to be stupid.’
Despite trying nearly every trick in the book, Winkler found it extremely difficult to succeed in school, which not only resulted in punishment from his parents, but kept him from participating in school dances or plays.
“I was grounded for most of my high school career. They thought if I stayed at my desk for 6 weeks at a time, I was going to get it and they were just going to put an end to the silliness of my laziness. That was going to be that.
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