Called to pinch-hit a speaker, Bob Wimbush recounted his experiences at Florida’s statewide convention in Orlando Sanibel is not only one of the state’s largest clubs, it is unique in its freedom from membership, fundraising and management problems. Of all the clubs he talked with, he maintains Sanibel-Captiva Kiwanis is the most fun and runs the smoothest.

Already into self-serving drivel, Wimbush went on to outline the dyslexia project he proposes for Kiwanis International worldwide. Dyslexia is an inherited condition that makes it extremely difficult to read, write , and spell in one’s native language despite at least average intelligence. For a list of symptoms, go to www.CityBizDirectory.com and click on “Dyslexia.”

Because of recent breakthroughs in tutoring techniques, dyslexic tutoring has become so easy “even Kiwanians can do it,” according to Wimbush. His project proposes clubs providing Kiwanian tutors to schools, youth organizations and, perhaps, prisons – where about 75 percent of inmates are illiterate and probably dyslexic. He believes dyslexia is a cause Kiwanis can build clubs around all over the world.

According to the National Institutes of Health, dyslexia affects one in five Americans to varying degrees. It is the single most common cause of reading failure and school dropout. And, it is hereditary. The kid with one dyslexic parent has a 50 percent chance. Two dyslexic parents equals a dyslexic kid. Dyslexia crosses all socio-economic lines. It affects both boys and girls equally, and, although many dyslexics learn coping strategies, it does not go away without tutoring. Scans show tutoring actually rewires the brain.

The brain’s left lobe is 10 percent larger in non-dyslexics. In dyslexics, the lobes are the same size the brain is larger, and often more powerful. It just operates differently and often very, very well except for reading and spelling. Robert Rauschenburg, John and Robert Kennedy, Steven Spielberg, Gen. George Patton, Einstein, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., several successful local Kiwanians and many artists, actors and athletes are dyslexic.

In fact, at the convention Wimbush met so many bright creative dynamic people from all over the state that claimed to be dyslexic, he postulates Kiwanis Clubs may have more dyslexics than the general population, and suggests that also explain the strong similarities of local Kiwanians to the dyslexic studs, Tom Cruise, George C. Scott and Sylvester Stallone.